GRAMMAR BUILDER - PUNCTUATION - CHEAT SHEET

FULL STOPS

Ø  Each time you change an idea in your work, you need to put in a full stop then start a new sentence.

Ø  If you don’t want to use a full stop, you need to use a joining word to join the two ideas together correctly. (It was really hot last Tuesday so Mum took us to the beach.)

·         If the word has been shortened, but the abbreviation ends with the last letter, you DON’T have to use a full stop. Dept- Department   St- Street

·         You DON’T have to use a full stop after measurements.  Kilogram- kg  centimetre- cm

·         You DON’T have to put a full stop after dates.  March- Mar   September- Sep

·         When giving the initial of a person’s name, you DO put in full stops.  Mr. S. L. James  Mrs L.V. Langford

·         You DON’T use full stops to shorten the name of a country.  United States of America -  USA

·         You DO use full stops when writing qualifications.  Bachelor of education-  B. Ed.

EXCLAMATION MARKS, COLONS AND SEMICOLONS

Ø  Use exclamation marks at the end of a word or sentence to:

o   Show we feel strongly about something

o   Say something urgent

o   Give a command

Ø  Colons usually introduces:

o   A list of things

o   An explanation

o   A quotation (when a writer repeats someone’s words to make a point)

Ø  Semicolons are used like a joining word to combine two sentences that are similar in meaning.  (Tom never goes to the movies; he prefers to hire videos.)

COMMAS

Ø  Use when you want a brief pause without talking about something new.

·         Use to separate lists of words

·         DON’T put a comma before the word and.

·         Use to separate the first part of a sentence from the rest. Helps to make the meaning clear. If I don’t feel better by tomorrow, I won’t be going to work.

·         Use to separate extra information from the rest of the sentence.  Our house, which we have just bought, is near the beach.   The commas allow for the added information which isn’t needed for the sentence to make sense.

·         Use when speech is about to be introduced.  The doctor said, “I will call you when I receive the X-rays.”

·         Use when a person is spoken to directly, you use a comma to separate their name from the instruction.  Amy, please come here.        Please come here, Amy.

APOSTROPHES

Ø  The apostrophe is used in two ways:

1. To show what belongs to something or someone (possession).  The book belongs to John= John’s book
2. In a contraction. When two words are shortened to one.  He is= He’s

• DO NOT use apostrophes anywhere else. DON’T be tricked into using an apostrophe just because you see an ‘s’ at the end of the word.
• DON’T add the apostrophe to the object that belongs to someone or something: the cats whiskers’ (incorrect).   The cat owns the whiskers so the apostrophe should be attached to the cat NOT the whiskers of the cat: the cat’s whiskers (correct).

CONTRACTIONS

Ø  A contraction is when you make two words into one.  I am= I’m

·         Always leave the 1^st word as it is but remove a letter or letters from the 2^nd word.  Use an apostrophe to show where the letters were.

v  ONE EXCEPTION:  Will not DOES NOT become willn’t.  USE won’t. 

v  LEARN THIS!

o   The contraction it’s (it is) is easy to remember but what about the word its?

o   It’s= it is:  it is wrong to say the dog wagged it is tail.  You would use its in this instance.