Look at the following sentence:
A woman without her man is nothing.
Write it down. Over the course of the lesson we will look
at punctuation to see how it changes meaning and how it
creates different effects.
Capital letters and full stops.
So you think you know it already – and you should, but
still many of you don’t use a capital letter at the
beginning of a sentence or a full stop at the end.
Here are a series of simple sentences.
Copy them down and punctuate them properly.
it was a lovely day the family decided to go for a picnic to
Sea Palling on the North Norfolk coast they took a
really big hamper full of yummy food there were tuna
salad sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, crisps and drinks
for everyone the dog came too and got so excited that
he nearly went to the toilet in the car
It was a lovely day. The family decided to go for a picnic
to Sea Palling on the North Norfolk coast. They took a
really big hamper full of yummy food. There were
tuna salad sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, crisps and
drinks for everyone. The dog came too and got so
excited that he nearly went to the toilet in the car.
Marks out of 10
When else should you use a capital letter?
For proper nouns (names of people, places, special
events and names of novels, poems, plays or films).
Even the word I, when we refer to ourselves, should be a
capital letter because it’s a name we give ourself.
Add the capital letter…
tomorrow is my birthday, i will be 23.
we are going to see ‘american beauty’, the sam mendez
film, at the cinema.
the poem is called ‘to a mouse’ by robert burns.
Add the capital letter…
Tomorrow is my birthday, I will be 23.
We are going to see ‘American Beauty’, the Sam Mendez
film, at the cinema.
The poem is called ‘To a Mouse’ by Robert Burns.
Marks out of 12
Commas, semi-colons and colons:
This is a comma - , why do we use them?
To create a pause in a sentence. However, we must be
mindful of where we put it because it can change the
meaning.
What is this thing called love?
What, is thing called love?
What is this thing called, love?
Commas, semi-colons and colons:
Look at this sentence:
Eats shoots and leaves.
Where else can the comma go to change the meaning?
Eats, shoots and leaves.
Commas, semi-colons and colons:
Commas can also be used to separate items in a list:
There were tuna salad sandwiches, hard boiled eggs,
crisps and drinks for everyone.
Really only good for short lists though. For longer lists,
you need the semi-colon and the colon.
Like this…
There were several things she liked about him: his hair;
his sense of humour; his almost terminal good nature;
his fascination with historical trivia and his fantastic
physique.
You can make a much longer list with the use of colons
and semi colons as you can see.
Colons and Semi-colons
You can also use a colon for impact in your writing. Like
this…
There was only one thing in the world that would cheer
her up now: chocolate.
He obeyed his first instinct: run.
Now…
Return to your first sentence and see if you can find ways
to make it mean something else through the use of
punctuation.
A woman without her man is nothing.
Try this:
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
2.
Apostrophes
When are they used?
1. To show possession
To show a contraction (or missing letters in a
shortened word)
Possessive apostrophes
 The dog’s dangly bits.
We know where the apostrophe comes because we
always ask who the object belongs to. The apostrophe
always comes after the correct answer.
Who owns the dangly bits?
The dog. Therefore the apostrophe comes after the
word dog and before the letter ‘S’.
Practice the possessive apostrophe.
The bees knees.
Who owns the knees?
The bee. Where does the apostrophe go?
The bee’ s knees.
***********************************************************
What if there were more than one bee? Who would the
knees belong to then?
The bees. Where would we put the apostrophe now?
The bees’ knees. This tells your reader that there is more
than one bee and they all own knees!
Try some on your own now…
Possessive apostrophe
singles and plurals
The boys bikes. (more than one boy)
The girls skirt. (one girl)
The childrens ball.
The foxs den.
The Earths core.
The mens room.
The teachers staff room. (more than one teacher)
Add the apostrophe in the correct place.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
How did you do?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The boys’ bikes. (more than one boy)
The girl’s skirt. (one girl)
The children’s ball.
The fox’s den.
The Earth’s core.
The men’s room.
The teachers’ staff room. (more than one teacher)
Contraction
We often shorten words for convenience. In writing you
will need to show how you have shortened the words
with the use of an apostrophe.
Cannot = can’t, the ‘n’ and ‘o’ are missing.
Do not = don’t, the ‘n’ and ‘o’ are missing.
Could have = could’ve, the ‘h’ and ‘a’ are missing.
Practice the contraction.
Shall not is shortened to shant. There are letters
missing in two places here but we are only going to
use one apostrophe nearest the end of the new
word. Which letter will we replace?
Shan’t. The ‘o’ is replaced
Will not is shortened to wont. Where should the
apostrophe go?
Won’t.
Contractions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Should have
Would have
Should not
Could not
Have not
Did not
Do not
How did you do?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Should have = should’ve
Would have = would’ve
Should not = shouldn’t
Could not = couldn’t
Have not = haven’t
Did not = didn’t
Do not = don’t
Good! You are all apostrophe experts now.
Here’s a quick test…
What is the never ever rule for apostrophes?
When should apostrophes be used?
Insert the apostrophe:
1.
2.
The policemans hat.
Dare not
Just one last thing…
Here is one of the most common apostrophe errors:
Its and It’s.
It’s really very simple …
It’s means IT IS – it’s a contraction …see?
Its without the apostrophe denotes possession. So this is the
only instance where we don’t need a possessive apostrophe
because it’s too confusing!
Geddit?!
So …
 What do we know about apostrophes?
 When should we use them?
A homophone is a kind of word that, whilst it has the
same sound, it has different meanings and spellings.
Can you think of an example?
Common homophones
 Their
 There
 They’re
 Your
 You’re
 Yore
- belonging to
- direction
- contraction of they are
- belonging to
- contraction of you are
- time long past
So how can we remember what means what and
how it is spelled correctly?!
Mnemonics? A way of remembering.
Try this:
Their (belonging to / possessive) has the word heir in it
which means they will inherit something which means
they will own it!!
Your turn…
Think of a mnemonic for:
There (direction)
It has the word ‘here’ in it – also a direction.
and for
They’re (contraction of they are)
Try saying the word to yourself as you write it –
remember it is two words really.
More homophones
Find another word that sounds like this is spelled
differently and means something else.
Won
Two
We’re
Know.
What do they mean?
Won – past tense of win
One - a quantity
Two – a quantity
To
- direction
Too - as well or also
We’re - contraction of we are
Were - past tense of to be
Where- direction
Know - to understand something
No
- a refusal of something
Remembering when you are writing.
You either have to learn these words as a pattern, for
example:
Here
There
Where
are all directional words – they all have the word ‘here’ in
them.
Remembering when you are writing.
You could find a mnemonic for them like we did earlier.
Or you could just learn them by going over and over
until it sticks. However you do it, make sure you do!
Quick test.
Write down the correct word to fill in the blank.
They’re / there/ their
We went to the local park, it was nice th------.
The children took th------ ball to the park.
The children played well together, th------ nice children.
No / Know?
I didn’t ------- you could get different coloured hair dyes.
I didn’t want my hair coloured anyway, so I told him -------.
Where / were / we’re
---------- going to the park. Do you want to come? -------- is
your mum, I will ask her. -------- you planning to do
something else instead?
Answers
There
2. Their
3. They’re
4. Know
5. No
6. We’re
7. Where
8. Were
1.
Apostrophe revisit.
Can you remember where the apostrophe goes?
The dogs dangly bits.
I cant come out today.
The childrens ball.
Its cold today.
Lets go to the seaside.
The boys bikes. (more than one boy)
Answers
Dog’s
Can’t
Children’s
It’s
Let’s
Boys’
Here’s test with homophones and
apostrophes.
Just write down the correct words that fit into these
sentences.
Th-------- going to the seaside in th------- mothers
car. It was warmer th------ than at home. In the
hamper was the little girls swimming costume and
the boys bucket and spade. “Y------- going to have
a lovely day” said th----- mother. “Well take a
picnic for y--------- lunch.”
There are NINE words that need to be filled in or
corrected
Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
They’re
Their
There
Girl’s
Boy’s
You’re
Their
We’ll
Your
Remember
Learn basic punctuation
Learn Apostrophes
Learn homophones