Author: wilsonws

In order to reach a Level 4 and beyond you need to understand and apply punctuation in the correct way. This will really improve your written work!

Full stops are the most basic form of punctuation. They are used to show the end of a sentence. When you are reading your written work back to yourself you will soon realise when and where you need full stops. You will be out of breath from having read too much at once! Full stops signal a lengthy pause in your writing (longer than a comma). If you want to achieve Level 4 or above, which you all do, then remember to use your full stops! This sounds basic but you’d be surprised at how many people forget to use them!

Capital letters are another form of very basic, but very important, punctuation. There are three main jobs of capital letters. They are:
To signal the start of a sentence, e.g., The classroom was bright and colourful. I liked it.
To show when a proper noun is being used (people names, place names and organisations), e.g., Harry, France, Oxfam, Prince Harry, Atlantic Ocean.
To show the use of the pronoun “I”, e.g., I’m not sure why, but I really like school!

Commas have a number of specific jobs. You must use these if you want to get a secure Level 4 (4a) and Level 5 and above. Commas break up your sentences into shorter, manageable chunks. Below or three examples of how commas are most commonly used:
Commas in lists: When you are listing things, use a comma to separate each item, e.g., “I bought a DVD, a CD, and three games for my X Box 360.”
Joining commas: Commas can be used to join two short sentences to make one longer one, e.g., “Wait a minute, I’ll be very quick.”
Comma pairs: These are used to insert more information into a sentence, e.g., “I like school, especially English, because I enjoy working hard.”

The clue is in the name of this piece of punctuation. A question mark is used to show that a question is being asked. Try reading a question that hasn’t been punctuated using a question mark. It sounds flat and hard to tell how the sentence is being used. If you are asking a question, remember to always to a question mark. It makes sense, doesn’t it?
E.g., How are you today?
Do you like ICT?

Exclamation marks are used to show strong feelings (such as surprise) or high volume. They can signify an actual exclamation, a command or a sentence that is astonishing in some way.
E.g., “Stop that right now!”
“I didn’t see you there!”
“He’s going to jump!”

Speech marks are used to indicate when a character in a book is talking. They indicate when a piece of speech starts and ends. You may have heard these being referred to as “66 and 99”. If you want to put speech marks into a word processed piece of text, hold down the shift key and press 2 at the same time. Do this at the start and end of the speech. Remember a new set of speech marks are needed when a different character speaks.
E.g., “I don’t want to do that” screamed Alice. Mam sighed. “You have to, love.”