The Essential Guide

Contents

Title
What is a sentence?
Capital letters
Full stops
Questions marks
Commas
Exclamation marks
Speech marks
Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverb
Apostrophes
Conjunctions
Colons
Semi colons
Brackets and dashes
Hyphens
Adding to the end of words
Words ending in y
Words ending in f, fe and ff
Rules and tips
Slang English
Writing tips
Plurals
Using a dictionary
Homophones
To or too
Vowels and consonants
A or An
Punctuation patterns
Sentence check list

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The first letter of a

new sentence must
be a capital letter.

Basic Punctuation
Fact sheet

What is a sentence?

A sentence is a group of words that makes sense on its own.

For example:
Bill went to the shops.

A sentence should make full and complete sense. It begins with a capital letter
and ends with a full stop.
At the end of every sentence you need a full stop, a question mark or an
exclamation mark.
Capital letters
Capital letters are used for all proper nouns.
All names and words in titles have capitals.
Places, days of the week and months have capital letters.
I is a capital letter when used by itself.
Talking must begin with a capital letter.
Addresses on envelopes have capital letters.
Letters at the beginning of paragraphs have to be capital.
Sentences always begin with a capital letter.

Full stops
Full stops are used much more than the other punctuation marks. They are placed
at the end of a statement.

Question marks

The question mark is placed at the end of a question. As it completes a sentence (in the
same way as a full stop), the next word begins with a capital letter.
Question marks are placed after a question.
For example:

Is this true?
When will you go?
Where was the ship found?
Why was the ship abandoned?

The comma
The comma has three main purposes.
1. It shows a link between the different parts of a sentence.
2. It separates the different items in a list.
3. It marks off a name or description within a sentence.

For example: Miss Smith, the new English teacher, will be starting work tomorrow.
I hope to see the headmaster, Mr Roberts, at the meeting tomorrow.

Exclamation marks
Exclamation marks are much less common and are often placed after a command.
For example: Come here! Sit down!

Exclamations marks are also used to show surprise

or that someone is shouting loudly.
Never!

Let me out!

Speech marks

Speech marks are used to show that the words have been spoken by
somebody.
Only words actually spoken go inside the speech marks; all other words are outside.
For example:
Could you tell me the time please? I asked.
It is just two oclock, he replied.
Im not surprised, said the gorilla.

Nouns
The name of something.
Example
Northampton, Cardiff, table, cat, John, apple, sheep, Eiffel Tower, camera.

Verbs
An action or doing word.
Example
Run, pull, shout, argue.

Adjective
A describing word
Example:
Lovely, kind, purple, English, Welsh

Adverb
A word that describes how something is done.
Example
Quickly, suddenly, slowly, happily.

Apostrophes

Using an apostrophe, when letters are missing

Connecting Words (Conjunctions)

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Homophones

Homophones are words that are:

-

Pronounced the same

Usually spelled differently
Have different meanings.

Theyre
Is the shortened form of they are
Theyre going to take the dog for a walk.
There
To show a place or thing
There are not enough seats in the stadium.

Their
To describe that something is belonging to someone
That is their coat.

To or Too?
To
To is used in expressions like to walk, to
run and to paint.
To is also used to explain and expressions
such as
- she handed the post to the stranger
- I am going to the park.

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Too
Too portrays the idea of in excess or
more than it should be.
-

This cat is too chubby.

The shoes were too expensive.

Too also means as well or also

- I can do it too!
- Did you think that too?

Vowels and Consonants

When to use A or An

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Sentence check list

Does each sentence make sense?

Does it have a verb?
Is it clear who or what is doing the verb (Subject)
Does it start with a capital letter?
Have you put a full stop or a question mark at the end?
Do at least two of the sentences include a conjunction?

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