Tag: SPAG

The Apostrophe: Possession…



An apostrophe is used to show that a person or object belongs or relates to someone or something.

Instead of saying “the mother of Sally” or “the rays of the Sun”  we simply say Sally’s mother or the Sun’s rays.


With singular nouns and most personal names add an apostrophe plus -s

The party was at Pete’s  house.
The dog’s bowl was empty.
Mum’s  car broke down on the way home from town.
Last Friday’s  concert was excellent.

With personal names that end in -s, if you would naturally pronounce an extra -s when you say the name out loud, then add an apostrophe plus an -s :

The nurse worked at St. James’s hospital in Leeds.
Charles’s brother is a professional footballer.

With personal names that end in s but with which you would not pronounce the extra -s, just add an apostrophe after the final -s :

A Christmas Carol was the shortest of Dickens’ novels.
Wesley Snipes’ best film was probably Demolition Man.

With plural nouns ending in -s, add an apostrophe after the final -s :

Edward borrowed his parents’ car.
Just inside the door was the ladies’ cloakroom.
Footballers’ wives sit together to watch the game.

With plural nouns that do not end in -s, add an apostrophe plus an -s:

The men’s cloakroom was at the end of the corridor.
The children’s centre is closed on Saturdays.
Top Shop sells women’s clothing.

Note: possessive pronouns/determiners do not need an apostrophe to denote possession ( his, hers, ours, yours, theirs)

The Apostrophe : Omission…



Apostrophes are used to show that some letters have been missed out. This usually happens when two words are run together to make a single word.

This is called a contraction and happens quite a lot – particularly in spoken English. This being the case, students will find that they use this type of apostrophe most often in their writing when they are using direct speech.

There is a case for suggesting that, unless they are using direct speech, contractions should be avoided.

Here are some examples of apostrophes letters have been left out:

We’ll – short for we will.
We’ll get a dog when we move into our new house.
I’m – short for I am.
I’m happy that l can have tomorrow off work.
I’d – short for I would.
I’d like fish and chips for tea, please.
Can’t – short for can not.
Mum can’t afford a new car just yet.
Didn’t – short for did not.
Jenny didn’t go to the party on Saturday.

There are many other examples of contractions and the way in which apostrophes are used to indicate where letters have been omitted.

Click here to see a list of words that use an apostrophe to indicate that there is a letter or letters missing.

An apostrophe can also show that numbers have been omitted:

Can you remember the summer of ’69?
I was in Berlin when the wall fell in ’89.

The Colon



The colon has three main uses as a punctuation mark.

A colon is used to introduce a list.

Mary had four dogs: a labrador, a German shepherd, a boxer and an old mongrel called Jess.
There are four meals available to chose from at the event: pizza, curry, spaghetti bolognese and omelette.

A colon is not needed if the list is incorporated in the sentence.

The restaurant specialises in pizza, pasta and rice dishes.

A colon is used to separate two independent clauses when the second clause is an explanation or example of the first.

John could not go out on Friday night: he had no money.
At the start of the match there were three possible outcomes: we could win and be promoted or we could either lose or draw, in which case we would not.

A colon can be used to emphasise a word or phrase at the end of a sentence in a way which is more or less in line with the way the colon separates clauses in that the words after the colon provide an explanation of what has gone before.

Standing on the cliff edge there was only one thing that Butch and Sundance could do: jump.
As the aircraft was thrown about in the turbulence, there was only one place mum wanted to be: back on the ground.

Exclamation Marks 



An exclamation mark is placed at the end of a sentence that expresses:

An exclamation:

Ouch! You trod on my toe.
Oi! Get out of my garden.
Help!

In direct speech to indicate that the speaker is shouting:

“Look out!” shouted dad as he dropped the hammer.
”Get down from there!” yelled the teacher when he saw the boys climbing the tree.

When the writer finds something amusing:

When the clown appeared at the party all the children burst out crying!

There has, lately, been a trend in informal wnting to place multiple exclamation marks in writing, especially in social media.

Presumably this is to emphasise how strongly the writer feels about a particular topic. (…!!!). However, in formal writing this is generally regarded as bad form, as is combining a question mark with a question mark (…!?)

Commas : to separate clauses 



For more about commas see our Punctuation Overview page.

A complex sentence is one that consists of a main clause and at least one subordinate clause. When writing complex sentences, commas are used to separate clauses.

Being alone in the house, Sally was feeling afraid. 
I first tried tapas in Spain, whilst l was on holiday.

In the sentences above, the intended meaning would remain if the subordinate clauses were to be removed.

Though this level of information is probably sufficient in the primary classroom, it is worth noting that there are different types of subordinate clauses. Some of these clauses do not require commas to separate them from the main clause…

A subordinate clause that begins with ‘who’, ‘whom’, ‘which’, ‘where’ or ‘that’ is known as a relative clause. A relative clause may be a restrictive relative clause or a non-restrictive relative clause.

Here is an example of a restrictive relative clause.

People who have ticket numbers between l and 50 may come to the front of the queue. 

A restrictive relative clause contains information that is essential to the meaning of the sentence. In the example, if you take out the clause ‘who have ticket numbers between 1 and 50’ then the whole point of the sentence is negated. This is a restrictive relative clause.

A restrictive relative clause should not have commas placed round it.

Here is an example of a non-restrictive relative clause:

Simon, who was simply not tall enough, could not ride on the roller coaster. 

In this example the clause ‘who was simply not tall enough’ is a non-restrictive relative clause. If it were to be removed,  it would not significantly alter the meaning of the sentence. This is similar to the way in which commas are used like brackets in a previous section.

As a rule of thumb, if you can’t miss out the clause then you can leave out the commas…

Commas : in direct speech



For more about commas see our Punctuation Overview page.

On occasions when a writer quotes the exact words that have been spoken we say that ‘direct speech’ has been used. Often, Information about who is speaking comes just before the direct speech.

When this happens a comma is used to indicate that the narrative is about to give way to the direct speech.

Jane said, “Hello.”

Note that the initial comma comes before the opening quotation mark and the full stop at the end of the quotation comes before the closing quotation mark. It is a pretty good rule of thumb that any punctuation associated with quotation marks are usually to the left of the inverted commas as you look at them on the page.

If the piece of direct speech comes before any information about who is speaking, then a comma is placed  inside the quotation marks.

“You must be joking,” remarked George.
“Have a drink,” he said.

Again, the ‘punctuation to the left’ rule of thumb works.

If the direct speech is in the form of a question or an exclamation, then instead of a comma, a question mark or an exclamation mark is used.

“Go away!” she screamed.
“Do you have any change?” asked the bus conductor.

Often, a piece of direct speech is broken up by the information about who is speaking. In this case, a comma ends the first section of direct speech and is inserted before the second section of direct speech begins.

Note that our rule about keeping punctuation to the left of quotation marks still works here too …

“Don’t do that,” said dad, “you’ll get hurt.”
“Go quickly,” she said, “it will soon be dark.”

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