Punctuation Year Nine

Capital Letters Capital letters are used to: Indicate proper nouns Begin a sentence Write the pronoun ‘I’ Write the names of days and months

Full Stops A full stop brings an end to a sentence. You need this otherwise you wouldn’t know when to stop!

Questions Marks A question mark is just like a full stop, but we use it when we are asking a question.

Exclamation Mark This is used at the end of sentences which are an order, and exclamation with strong emotion or when somebody is shouting.

Commas The comma tells the reader when to take a short pause in a sentence. There are three main ways to use a comma To divide a sentence into parts, making the ideas easier to read and understand. For example: Eats shoots and leaves. Eats, shoots and leaves. To separate items in a list. For example: I had to buy milk, spaghetti, mushrooms, meat and marshmallows at the supermarket today. To separate an explanation within a sentence. For example: Russell, who is my husband, will be here at eleven.

Apostrophes Contractions: Apostrophes can be used to show the removal of a number, a letter or letters from a word. E.g. I am = I’m, you are = you’re, 1990s = ‘90s, I have been = I’ve been. Possession: An apostrophe followed by an ‘s’ shows possession or ownership. E.g. Madonna’s song= a song by Madonna. John’s socks= socks that belong to John.

Apostrophes Its and It’s can be confusing. Its= possessive pronoun. E.g. The snail stayed inside its shell. It’s= it is (a contraction) E.g. It’s cold outside (it is cold outside)

Inverted Commas/Quotation Marks These are used at the beginning and end of words that are spoken, to indicate speech. There must be a punctuation mark before the inverted commas open, and then all other punctuation comes before the close of the inverted commas. E.g “Paul’s coming” said Mark, “But he’s late again.” Lisa exclaimed, “I’m really angry with him!” “No you’re not,” said Mark.