Punctuation Karate

Pupils in Oak Class have been practicing their use of punctuation.  They created silly positions to remind them of particular pieces of punctuation, to put on their working wall in the classroom.  Here are some of them with a simple reminder and example of the job that piece of punctuation can do.

Capital letter and full stop – are the  two pieces of punctuation which demarcate a sentence.

An exclamation mark –acts like a full stop and shows:
shock;
anger;
a command;
or something ironic.






A question mark - acts like a full stop and shows that a question has been asked.

An apostrophe for omission shows where a letter is missing, while an apostrophe for possession shows that something belongs to someone or something.

Speech marks - show where direct speech begins and ends.

A comma - can separate items in a list or demarcate clauses in a sentence.

Lazily, Fred lay on the sofa.
In wonderment, I stared into space.
At the new shiny skatepark, Bob attempted a backflip.
Two long days ago, I went to my grandma's house.
Although I love milk chocolate, I hate dark chocolate.
I got some crisps,whilst I was at the shop.

Brackets - are like a little aside to the reader by the author, often showing the author's opinion.

A dash – is used like a comma to separate clauses in a sentence – but with more emphasis.

A colon - says stop – here comes a list.

A semi colon - separates long phrases in a list, which often have commas within them.

An ellipses - says dum dum dum – a cliff hanger – or shows when someone’s though or speech is cut off.