Guide to Grammar and Punctuation
St Mary’s CEVA Primary School
Year 1
Term
Word
Sentence
Letter
Punctuation
Full stop
Exclamation
mark
Question
mark
Singular
Plural
Description / Meaning
A group of sounds together that symbolise
something.
A sentence begins with a capital letter and
ends with a full stop, exclamation mark or
question mark. A sentence needs a verb and
must make sense on its own.
A written a symbol that represents a sound.
Upper case letters are used at the start of
sentences, days of the week, months of the
year and names.
The use of certain marks to clarify the
meaning of written material by grouping
words grammatically into sentences, clauses
and phrases. Punctuation marks are used to
extend, enhance and end sentences.
A full stop marks the end of a sentence.
An exclamation sentence (something loud,
exciting or dramatic) may end with an
exclamation mark.
A question sentence ends with a question
mark.
One thing.
More than one thing. A plural word is usually
created by adding ‘-s’ (table – tables)
although there are irregular plurals (e.g.
children; teeth) and plurals that end in ‘-es’
and ‘-ves’.
Examples
Table; and; run
The horse jumped over the
fence.
The boy walked home.
a; b; c
A; B; C
On Saturday, Frank visited the
zoo in Colchester.
.,!?“;:‘–()-
The horse jumped over the
fence.
The boy walked home.
I have won the lottery!
Watch out!
Where is the park?
What time is lunch?
Table; child; wolf; bus
Tables; children; wolves;
buses
Guide to Grammar and Punctuation
St Mary’s CEVA Primary School
Year 2
Term
Verb
Description / Meaning
Words that denote actions, occurrences or
states of being.
Past tense
When you are writing or talking about
something that has already happened. A
verb in the past tense usually ends with ‘-ed’.
When you are writing or talking about
something that is happening at the moment
or something that is true now.
An adjective describes a noun.
Present
tense
Adjective
Noun
Suffix
A person, place or thing. Proper nouns name
a specific person, place or thing and start with
a capital letter.
A group of letters added to the end of a word
to change its meaning.
Apostrophe
An apostrophe can show possession or
ownership.
Apostrophe
An apostrophe can be used to show when
letter have been left out (omission). This
makes a ‘contraction’ or shorter form of the
words.
Commas can be used to separate items in a
list (at the end of the list, the word ‘and’ is
used in place of a comma).
Commas can be used to separate clauses
(parts of a sentence).
Comma
Comma
Examples
The horse jumped over the
fence.
The boy is walking home.
Frank is cold.
Frank was cold.
The horse jumped over the
fence.
The boy walked home.
The horse is jumping over the
fence.
I am sad.
The frightened horse jumped
over the fence.
The small boy walked home.
table; boy; Frank; Colchester
nice + ly = nicely
hope + ful = hopeful
cold + er = colder
Frank’s football
The teacher’s desk
The boys’ toilets
Would not – wouldn’t
I shall – I’ll
I have – I’ve
I had a tennis ball, reading
book, packed lunch and
homework diary in my bag.
The boy, who had been
injured, limped home.
At the end of the play, the
children clapped loudly.
Guide to Grammar and Punctuation
St Mary’s CEVA Primary School
Year 3
Term
Word family
conjunction
Adverb
Preposition
Direct
speech
Inverted
commas
(speech
marks)
Prefix
Description / Meaning
Words that are related in meaning, form or
grammar
A conjunction is used to join two sentences
together or add extra information to a
sentence.
Examples
Run – runner – running
Extensive – extent - extend
and, but, because, if, although,
or, until
Fred wore a coat although it
was warm outside.
An adverb is used to modify or describe a
Mary was creeping slowly
verb. They tell us how something is
down the corridor.
happening. Adverbs usually end ‘-ly’.
Fred cut out the shapes
carefully.
A preposition tells us where or when
On, between, in, below, inside,
something is in relation to something else in a outside, after, before
sentence.
She hid inside the wardrobe.
The actual words of a speaker, quoted using
Frank said, “I want to go
inverted commas.
home.”
Inverted commas mark the beginning and end Fred said, “It’s home time!”
of direct speech. Inverted commas can be
used if quoting a word or phrase.
Prefixes are groups of letters added to the
start of a word to modify its meaning.
Un + happy = unhappy
Dis + interested = disinterested
Vowel
Consonant
All words have at least one vowel.
There are 21 consonant letters
A, E, I, O, U
B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N,
P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z
Clause
A clause is either a complete sentence (main
clause) or part of a sentence used to add
extra information (subordinate clause)
Subordinate clause + main
clause = complex sentence
Subordinate
clause
A subordinate clause gives us some extra
information but may not be a sentence on its
own.
When the whistle blew, the
players shook hands.
The boy, who was injured,
limped off the pitch.
When the whistle blew, the
players shook hands.
Guide to Grammar and Punctuation
St Mary’s CEVA Primary School
Year 4
Term
Pronoun
Possessive
pronoun
Adverbial
Description / Meaning
A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or
noun phrase.
Examples
He, she, it, we they
Frank limped home because
Frank had hurt his leg.
Frank limped home because
he had hurt his leg.
A pronoun that shows who something
It was my football.
belongs to.
The football was mine.
A word or group of words (a clause or phrase) We met by the park entrance.
that function as an adverb by modifying the
He went fishing after lunch.
verb in the sentence. Adverbials describe
The horse raced as fast as it
how, where or when something happened.
could.
This year is largely used to consolidate knowledge of grammar and
punctuation introduced in Year 3.
Guide to Grammar and Punctuation
St Mary’s CEVA Primary School
Year 5
Term
Relative
clause
Modal verb
Relative
pronoun
Parenthesis
Cohesion
Determiner
Ambiguity
Description / Meaning
A relative clause is a type of subordinate
clause that adds more detail about the noun
in the main clause.
Modal verbs go before other verbs in a
sentence. They include: ‘will’, ‘should’,
‘would’, ‘could’, ‘can’, ‘may’ and ‘must’.
A relative pronoun is used to add more detail
about a noun or to clarify which noun we are
referring to in a sentence. They include:
‘that’, ‘which’, ‘who’, ‘whose’ and ‘where’.
Parenthesis is a word or phrase that departs
from the main message, adding more detail
or information. Parenthesis also refers to the
two punctuation marks used to enclose the
extra information. Usually we use brackets,
dashes or commas. The extra information is
not essential for understanding the main
message of the sentence.
A text has cohesion if its meaning is coherent
and it fits together in a way that makes sense.
A determiner stands before a noun and any
other words that modify the noun.
Determiners are: ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘this’, ‘any’, ‘my’,
‘an’.
Ambiguity is when an expression can be
interpreted in different ways.
Examples
The book, which was very
dusty, fell from the shelf.
I shall do my homework on
time.
The horse, which was
frightened, jumped over the
fence.
Fred got a bike (a bright blue
racing bike) for his birthday.
On the trip – a visit to the
museum – the children
behaved well.
The horse jumped over a
fence.
They were cooking apples.
Guide to Grammar and Punctuation
St Mary’s CEVA Primary School
Year 6
Term
Active and
passive
voice
Description / Meaning
A sentence is written in active voice when
the subject of the sentence performs the
action in the sentence.
A sentence is written in passive voice when
the subject of the sentence has an action
done to it by someone or something else.
The subject of a sentence performs the action
(‘does’ the verb).
The object of the sentence has the action
done to it.
A hyphen is used to link words to create
compound words. They can be used to link
prefixes to words and to link arts of words.
Colons can be used:
 Between two main clauses when the
second explains or ‘answers’ the first;
 To introduce a list;
 To introduce a quotation (and
sometimes to introduce direct speech).
Examples
The dog bit Ben. (Active)
Ben was bitten by the dog.
(Passive)
Semi-colon
A semi-colon can link two complete
sentences and turn them into one. The
content or ideas in the sentences should be
related.
Bullet points
Bullet points are used to draw attention to
important information. They set text out
clearly so the reader can see key facts
quickly.
Synonyms are words with the same or similar
meanings.
The door was flung open; a
shadowy figure stormed in.
Wendy was very tired; she had
performed in a play the night
before.
The dog was:
 loyal
 affectionate
 brave
Said, muttered, mumbled
Subject
Object
Hyphen
Colon
Synonym
The dog bit Ben.
The dog bit Ben.
Sugar-free
Co-own
That is the secret of my
success: always be willing to
take a risk.
The price includes the
following:
flight to Paris, hotel
accommodation and breakfast.
He yelled: “Please help us!”