1. WHY BOTHER WITH PUNCTUATION?

2. It matters for…. Exams Life EVERYTHING! You need to say what you mean.
You should mean what you say.

3. SENTENCES

4. Every sentence starts with a capital letter and finishes
THE EASY BIT…
Every sentence
starts with a capital
letter and finishes
with a full stop.

5. THE EASY BIT…
? !

6. THE EASY BIT…
i sentence myself to death for forgetting to put a capital letter at the beginning of this sentence.

7. So what goes in the middle …?
A sentence makes a
point, or asks a
question, or gives an
instruction.

8. A sentence is Complete. That is, it doesn’t need any
And …
A sentence is
Complete. That is, it
doesn’t need any
extra words to make
sense.

9. Do these stick to the rules…?
The rain fell.
That sentence about
the rain was really
boring.
That’s better, isn’t
it?

10. You can’t tell a sentence by how long it is. The rain fell.
Remember…
You can’t tell a
sentence by how long
it is.
The rain fell.
Although the rain fell.

11. Spinning wildly through the air, humming quietly.
Which one is a sentence?
Spinning wildly through the air, humming quietly.
She bit him.

12. there was a terrible collision on the motorway a lorryload of jelly wobbled so much that it fell into the road this caused a lorry carrying custard to slide into a van delivering sponge cake local residents sprinkled hundreds and thousands onto the resulting mixture to stop it being slippery the police said that traffic would be a trifle delayed.

13. There was a terrible collision on the motorway
There was a terrible collision on the motorway. A lorryload of jelly wobbled so much that it fell into the road. This caused a lorry carrying custard to slide into a van delivering sponge cake. Local residents sprinkled hundreds and thousands onto the resulting mixture to stop it being slippery. The police said that traffic would be a trifle delayed.

14. Problems …
Often people use full stops where there doesn’t appear to be a full sentence.
Yes? Welcome.
Morning. Goodbye.

15. This is because they
are short versions of
sentences which
were so frequently
used that people
didn’t bother
finishing them.

16. Morning.
Good morning.
I wish you a good
morning.

17. Don’t! Why not? Questions and orders. Because these are usually said
in response to something
happening, or as an answer to
someone, they do make sense
on their own.

18. Don’t strike the match! Why should I not strike the match?
Questions and orders.
You are about to strike a match.
Don’t strike the
match!
Why should I not
strike the match?