What is Punctuation?

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Punctuation
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Welcome to GCSE Punctuation

• Dont worry if you are not a GCSE English
  student. This presentation is for anyone who
  wants to check out the basics of punctuation.
• A click on the left mouse button will take you
  from slide to slide (use the up arrow on the key
  board if you want to go back).

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If you come to a slide with a dark green
background it means there is an activity to
complete on the accompanying worksheet - a
coloured pen would be useful for this. The
answers then follow.There are 70 slides in all,
so dont expect to finish in one session take
your time.Here we go then
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What is punctuation?

• Punctuation consists of written marks which
  are primarily used to make clear to the reader
  how sentences are constructed.

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Without punctuation, a piece of writing can be
very confusing. As you can see below

• I wake between 5 and 6am its already busy
  outside from my window I see the men collect the
  rubbish I check the weather by looking to see if
  people are carrying umbrellas

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Just putting in full stops at the end of a
sentence and capital letters at the beginning
makes it much easier to read

• I wake between 5 and 6am. Its already busy
  outside. From my window I see the men collect the
  rubbish. I check the weather by looking to see if
  people are carrying umbrellas.

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So, you must think carefully about where your
sentences should end and remember to put in a
full stop.
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ACTIVITY 1 Practice
putting full stops and capital letters in this
passage

• I rarely have lunch occasionally, if I happen
  to be at home with my wife, we sometimes go to a
  restaurant afterwards we always walk along the
  sea front when Im working, though, its usually
  just a matter of drinking some orange juice

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Answer

• I rarely have lunch. Occasionally, if I happen to
  be at home with my wife, we sometimes go to a
  restaurant. Afterwards we always walk along the
  sea front. When Im working, though, its usually
  just a matter of drinking some orange juice.

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Some sentences are questions, of course, so
instead of a full stop, need a question mark (?)

• Are you feeling lucky today?

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ACTIVITY 2If the
sentences which follow are questions, put a
question mark after them. If not put a full stop

• Have you got the time, please
• There is no additional charge
• Will you be seeing your uncle today
• One of the players was sent off

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Answers

• Have you got the time, please?
• There is no additional charge.
• Will you be seeing your uncle today?
• One of the players was sent off.

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Occasionally sentences express (or exclaim)
strong feelings, so an exclamation mark (!) is
needed instead of a full stop

• I dont believe it!

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ACTIVITY 3 If the
following sentences seem to express strong
emotion put an exclamation mark after them. If
not put a full stop

• I think Ill have a cup of tea now
• Hes the greatest player theres ever been
• Look out, its falling
• Im going to speak to Rodney about it

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Answers

• I think Ill have a cup of tea now.
• Hes the greatest player theres ever been!
• Look out, its falling!
• Im going to speak to Rodney about it.

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Notice how you, as a writer, have to choose
whether or not you want your sentence to express
strong feelings. So punctuation is your choice to
some extent. It is part of the meaning you want
to get across to your reader.
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Sentences can have lots of different parts to
them, so sometimes it is helpful to the reader to
indicate where the parts begin and end.

• This is what we mainly use commas (,) for.

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For example, the sentence below has two main
parts and it is helpful to place a comma between
them

• After they had finished shopping, they decided to
  see a film

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This next sentence also has two parts, but as
they are joined by an and, no comma is needed

• They finished shopping and decided to see a film.

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ACTIVITY 4This sentence
has a 2nd part squashed into the middle of the
1st part, so some commas could probably help
make it clearer. Where would you put them?

• The retired cricketer who was still fond of the
  game decided to become an umpire.

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Answer

• The retired cricketer, who was fond of cricket,
  decided to become an umpire.

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ACTIVITY 5One of the
following sentences probably doesnt need any
commas. The other does. Put commas in the one
that does

• Though it had been raining all morning they had
  no intention of staying there even if it meant
  getting soaked.
• Many of the points I am about to make will be
  perfectly obvious to most of you here today.

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Answers

• Though it had been raining all morning, they had
  no intention of staying there, even if it meant
  getting soaked.
• Many of the points I am about to make will be
  perfectly obvious to most of you here today.

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Using commas in this way is one of the most
important aspects of punctuation. Its all about
forming clear sentences. So lets have a bit more
practice.
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ACTIVITY 6Put commas in
the right places in these two sentences

• Each day after work when Ive finished tidying up
  I pour myself a big glass of wine remembering to
  feed the cat first then relax in a hot bath.
• Michael walked to the restaurant found a table
  ordered a starter and carefully loaded his gun.

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Answers

• Each day after work, when Ive finished tidying
  up, I pour myself a big glass of wine,
  remembering to feed the cat first, then relax in
  a hot bath.
• Michael walked to the restaurant, found a table,
  ordered a starter and carefully loaded his gun.

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Now, I hope youve not been flicking through
these slides too quickly! Remember theres a
test at the end. Take your time.
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Lets review what weve learnt

• Punctuation marks are used to guide the reader
  about the meaning of sentences and how they are
  constructed.
• Remember to finish each sentence with a full
  stop.
• Or with question marks or exclamation marks if
  they are that sort of sentence.
• Commas are used to make clear the different parts
  of a sentence.

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Here are some other things you can use commas for

• To mark off the words in a list (eg He bought a
  plate, a spoon, a cup and a knife).
• To separate the names of people from the rest of
  the sentence (eg Where are you going, Michael?).
• To separate extra bits of description from the
  rest of a sentence (eg Mary, a maths student, was
  weak at algebra.)

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ACTIVITY 7Put the necessary
commas into this sentence

• On a bright sunny afternoon in March 1959 Robert
  Foster a young scientist nearly killed himself by
  holding his breath underwater for thirteen
  minutes forty two and a half seconds a world
  record which still stands.

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How did you get on with that one? You needed to
separate out the describing words (bright,
sunny,) put commas around the guys name and
around the description of him as a young
scientist, and then make all those minutes and
seconds clear so it should look more or less
like this
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Answer

• On a bright, sunny, afternoon in March 1959,
  Robert Foster, a young scientist, nearly killed
  himself by holding his breath underwater for
  thirteen minutes, forty two and a half seconds, a
  world record which still stands.

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ACTIVITY 8 Heres one
more to try

• From my desk which is placed under the window I
  can see the railway lines a car park several
  lines of flapping multicoloured washing and a
  distant church tower.

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Answer

• From my desk, which is placed under the window, I
  can see the railway lines, a car park, several
  lines of flapping, multicoloured, washing and a
  distant church tower.

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Youre doing very well. Weve got to look at
semi-colons, colons and brackets, and then weve
nearly finished!
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Sometimes you want a stronger break in a sentence
than a comma, but you dont want a full stop.
This is where the semi-colon () comes in useful.
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For example, this is two sentences

• Michael knew he would be in big trouble. Later
  that day his fears were confirmed.

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But the ideas are so closely related it would be
better to put them into the same sentence. A
comma would be too weak a break. A semi-colon
is just the job

• Michael knew he would be in big trouble later
  that day his fears were confirmed.

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So remember

• Comma weak break
• Semi-colon stronger break
• Full stop strongest break

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ACTIVITY 9One of these sentences
needs a semi-colon, the other just needs a comma.
Which is which?

• After leaving the class Ray chatted to Jackie
• You go if you want to Im certainly not going!

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Answer

• After leaving the class, Ray chatted to Jackie
• You go if you want to Im certainly not going!

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Semi-colons can be very useful in sentences where
there are lots of commas. As you see below, such
sentences can look confusing

• The students essay was said to be poorly
  structured, with no clear beginning or end,
  lacking in consistent punctuation, clumsy, vague
  and misguided in meaning, altogether, not very
  good.

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Can you see how some parts of the sentence needed
stronger breaks than others? Using semi-colons
for those parts can make it much clearer

• The students essay was said to be poorly
  structured, with no clear beginning or end
  lacking in consistent punctuation clumsy, vague
  and misguided in meaning altogether, not very
  good.

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ACTIVITY 10This sentence needs
both commas and semi-colons. Use the latter where
a stronger break is needed.

• Some of the men wore jackets ties and smart shoes
  others wore denims t-shirts and trainers only Bob
  was dressed appropriately.

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Answer

• Some of the men wore jackets, ties and smart
  shoes others wore denims, t-shirts and trainers
  only Bob was dressed appropriately.

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Semi-colons can also be useful when you want to
highlight an important part of a sentence. They
put a stronger break before it

• He opened the box, looked at the ticking clock,
  realised it was a bomb then he ran like hell!

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Dont worry too much aboutcolons (). They are
just used to introduce lists or explanations

• Youll need these things a hammer, a large brown
  bag and a pot of glue.
• Ill tell you why because youre hopeless!

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ACTIVITY 11One of these
sentences needs a colon, the other needs a
semicolon.

• They returned hurriedly from London next day they
  would start afresh.
• There is only one reason why boys do better in
  school than girls theyre cleverer!

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Answers

• They returned hurriedly from London next day
  they would start afresh.
• There is only one reason why boys do better in
  school than girls theyre cleverer!

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You may remember that when we add a bit of extra
information into a sentence, we put commas around
it

• Michael, who was the tallest boy in the class,
  was asked to help paint the ceiling

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Well, some kinds of writing like reports, notes
and manuals have to pack in an awful lot of extra
information. This is where brackets ( ) can be
very useful to keep everything nice and clear

• Wordsworth (born 1770, died 1850) was the oldest
  of the Romantic poets.

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You can see in that last example how the brackets
really help the eye of the reader to separate out
the bit which is additional to the main part of
the sentence. Commas wouldnt have been strong
enough, as you can see

• Wordsworth, born 1770, died 1850, was the oldest
  of the Romantic poets.

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If brackets seem a bit too strong but commas not
strong enough, then you could use dashes (-)

• Janet having finished her exams flew to Spain
  for a holiday.

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Dashes can also be used to tag on information at
the end of a sentence (but try not to use them
where commas or other punctuation marks would
normally be used)

• She won the cup again this year would you
  believe it?

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So remember

• Commas weak separation
• Dashes stronger separation
• Brackets strongest separation

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ACTIVITY 12In the
following examples the extra information is
underlined . Decide whether to use commas, dashes
or brackets

• Theres no way even if you paid a million pounds
  that Im doing that!
• John Major the last Tory PM loved cricket.
• Biggleswade 3 miles from Gracton and 2 miles
  from Hebbley is not an easy place to reach.

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Answers

• Theres no way - even if you paid a million
  pounds - that Im doing that!
• John Major, the last Tory PM , loved cricket.
• Biggleswade (3 miles from Gracton and 2 miles
  from Hebbley) is not an easy place to reach.

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Lets review what weve learnt

• Semi-colons are used where a stronger break than
  a comma is required.
• Colons introduce lists or explanations.
• Dashes and brackets are used to place additional
  information into sentences.

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And so we come to the dreaded
apostrophe!
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Oh, stop panicking - its not that bad!
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An apostrophe looks like a comma, but its up in
the air and it comes before an s like this

• s

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And you use it at the end of words which have
something belonging to them. So Susan football
becomes

• Susans football

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ACTIVITY 13Put an apostrophe
and an s on the end of any words which need
them in these sentences

• He went to Nick house to get the keys.
• The car tyres were dangerously worn.
• Angela friend had feelings for Nick brother.

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Answers

• He went to Nicks house to get the keys.
• The cars tyres were dangerously worn.
• Angelas friend had feelings for Nicks brother.

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You see that wasnt so bad.

• Admittedly, though, there is a small complication
  what happens if the word already ends in s?

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Well, then you still add the apostrophe, but not
the 2nd s. So, if theres a bloke called John
Keats and he writes some poems, then its

• John Keats poems
• not
• John Keatss poems

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ACTIVITY14Put an apostrophe or
apostrophe s where needed in these sentences

• The six girls dresses each had a ribbon attached.
• All of Alice friends mothers went to the party.
• John Keats borrowed his friends pen.

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Answers

• The six girls dresses had a ribbon attached.
• All of Alices friends mothers went to the
  party.
• John Keats borrowed his friends pen.

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By the way, you also use apostrophes when you
squash words together and miss out letters. Like
this

• You are youre
• It is its
• They are theyre

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Youve finished! Now go and pass that test. You
know you can do it.
Well done!
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The sun has set on your punctuation course. Best
wishes.