Since your signature indicates you are in the Computer Science department at the University of Virginia, I assume you are learning
Java as part of your cirriculum. If this is the case,
you should be able to find explanations about Java syntax in your text book, so READ IT! If you don't find your textbook very clear on a particular topic, perhaps you can post a quote here so we can clarify what the author probably means.
If you are just learning Java on your own, rather than in a class currently, or if you want additional resources to help you learn the language, I would suggest that you check out
Sun's Java Tutorial. It has some great lessons to get you up to speed on the basic syntax of the language.
Keep Coding!
Layne