Every mark in this lesson is a shifted character, which means each one is a two-key combination rather than a single press. They also cluster on the right little finger — the weakest one — so they reward deliberate practice.
The new characters
| Character | How to type it | Finger |
|---|
? | Left Shift + / | Right little finger |
" | Left Shift + ' | Right little finger |
: | Left Shift + ; | Right little finger |
; | unshifted | Right little finger |
/ | unshifted | Right little finger |
Note that all of them take left Shift, because every one of these keys belongs to the right hand. The opposite-hand rule applies to punctuation exactly as it does to letters.
The right little finger's workload
Five characters, one finger, all of them common in ordinary writing. This is the finger that most often develops bad habits, because when it tires the hand starts rotating to bring a stronger finger across.
Keep the right index anchored on J. If it lifts every time you type a question mark, the hand is compensating.
Spacing conventions
? and : attach to the preceding word, then take one space.- Opening
" attaches to the word that follows; closing " attaches to the word before. - A colon takes one space after it, never before.
- A semicolon joins two independent clauses —
It rained; we stayed in. One space after, none before.
Straight quotes versus curly
The " on your keyboard is a straight quote. Word processors often convert it automatically to curly typographic quotes. In a typing test you will be marked on the straight character you typed, not what the software rendered, so do not try to produce curly quotes manually.
Practice notes
Dialogue is the ideal drill: it combines quotation marks, commas, question marks and capitals in the density they actually occur. A sentence like "Did you finish?" she asked. exercises nearly everything in this lesson in nine words.