Punctuation
One part of a sentence may hide a mistake with a capital, an end mark, a comma or an apostrophe. Four checks, in the same order every time, find it.
Chapter 1
What are punctuation questions?
In the exam, a sentence is cut into four parts, A to D. One part may have a punctuation or capital letter mistake. You pick that part, or N if every part is right.
The four parts. One sentence, cut into A, B, C and D.
The mistake. One at most, usually a capital letter, an end mark, a comma or an apostrophe. Chapter 5 shows the others.
The answers. A, B, C, D, or N for no mistake: five, in Rush and in the exam.
Rush’s Punctuation game asks this at its top level. Lower down it asks one mark at a time: which mark ends a sentence, or which version has the capitals, commas or apostrophe right. Tricky Words, the other Rush game here, is chapter 4.
- AMy grandad
- Bcant hear
- Cvery well
- Dany more.
Which part has a punctuation or capital letter mistake? Pick N if none.
- Option 1: A
- Option 2: B
- Option 3: C
- Option 4: D
- Option 5: N
A Verbal question from Rush, level 3.
Chapter 2
Solve it in 4 checks.
Here’s the question. Make the same four checks, in the same order, every time.
The question
- AMy grandad
- Bcant hear
- Cvery well
- Dany more.
Which part has a punctuation or capital letter mistake? Pick N if none.
- Option 1: A
- Option 2: B
- Option 3: C
- Option 4: D
- Option 5: N
A Verbal question from Rush, level 3.
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Step 1
Check the end mark.
Does the sentence ask, tell or show strong feeling? This one tells you something, so it ends with a full stop. D has one.
any more.
It tells, so a full stop. D is right.
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Step 2
Check the capitals.
My starts the sentence, so it has a capital. With my in front, grandad is an ordinary word, like my aunt, so it stays small.
My grandad
First word: a capital. Grandad: small. A is right.
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Step 3
Check the apostrophes.
Cant is short for cannot. Letters are missing, so it needs an apostrophe where they came out: can’t.
can
not can’tThe apostrophe takes the place of no.
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Step 4
Check the commas.
There are none, and none are needed: no list, no opening, no extra information. So B is the only part that breaks a rule.
Only B breaks a rule.
Two traps it sets
| The mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Giving grandad a capital. Grandad can feel like a name, so A looks wrong. | With my in front, it’s an ordinary word. It takes a capital only when it’s used as a name: Can Grandad come? |
| Picking N because it reads well. Cant has no mark to look wrong, so your eyes read it as can’t. | Ask of every word: are letters missing, or is something owned? |
So it’s B. Cant is short for cannot, so it needs an apostrophe where the letters came out: can’t. A, C and D pass every check.
Remember: End mark, capitals, apostrophes, commas.
Chapter 3
The rule for each mark.
Rush’s lower levels ask one mark at a time, and the four-part sentences hide the same mistakes. Each card has the rule, an example and the trap.
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Can you whistle?
It rained all day.
What a mess this is!
Asks, tells or shows feeling?
A question mark if it asks, a full stop if it tells, an exclamation mark for strong feeling.
A polite request still asks: Could you open the window? Trap: Mia asked if she could come. That tells you what Mia asked, so it ends with a full stop.
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How tall is the tower?
How tall you are!
How and What can go either way
Find the end of the How or What phrase, then look at the next word.
A verb next means it asks: How tall is the tower? A person or thing next means strong feeling: How tall you are! What a mess this is! Trap: going by the first word alone.
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On Monday, Mr Khan and I took the bus to Leeds.
Capital letters
The first word, I, and names: people, places, days, months, festivals, languages.
A title joined to a name counts as part of it: Mr Khan, Aunt Rosa. Trap: ordinary words stay small, however important they feel: school, park, bus, summer.
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buckets, spades, towels and a kite
Commas in a list
A comma between the things, and “and” before the last one.
We packed buckets, spades, towels and a kite. Rush never puts a comma before the and. Trap: a comma straight after packed. The list starts after it, so that comma has no job.
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When the bell rang, everyone cheered.
A comma after an opening
When a sentence starts with a when, where, how or if part, a comma follows it.
After lunch, we played outside. An opening like After lunch is called a fronted adverbial. Cover it, and the rest should still be a sentence. Trap: a comma inside the opening, as in When, the bell rang.
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Our cat,
who is old, sleeps all day.Commas for parenthesis (extra information)
Extra information in the middle needs a comma on each side.
Lift out the words between the commas: Our cat sleeps all day still works. Who is old is a relative clause. Brackets or dashes can do the same job: Our cat (who is old) sleeps all day. Trap: only one comma of the pair, as in Our cat, who is old sleeps all day.
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Tom, shut the door.
Tom shut the door.
A comma for the person you’re talking to
When you speak to someone by name, a comma sets the name apart.
Tom, shut the door asks Tom to do it. The name can come last: See you soon, Ben. Trap: Tom shut the door only says what he did, so it has no comma.
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Dad makes, the tea.
No job, no comma
A comma never splits words that belong together.
Not who does it from what they do (The old tree, fell), and not the action from what it’s done to (Dad makes, the tea). Rush’s wrong answers are full of these. Trap: a comma where you’d pause. A pause isn’t a job.
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did n
ot didn’tAn apostrophe for missing letters
It goes exactly where the letters came out.
I am becomes I’m. They have becomes they’ve. Trap: putting it where the two words met, as in did’nt. Won’t is the odd one out: it’s short for will not.
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apple’sapplesNothing belongs to the apples.
Nothing owned, no apostrophe
A word that just means more than one takes no apostrophe.
The farmer grows apples. Does anything belong to the apples? No, so there’s no mark. Trap: Sunday’s are quiet. It means more than one Sunday, so it’s Sundays.
Sometimes there’s no mistake
Pick N only when every part passes all four checks. In Rush, about one four-part sentence in five has no mistake; in practice papers, about one in eight. Trap: hunting so hard that you find a mistake that isn’t there.
Chapter 4
Owners, and Tricky Words.
Tricky Words is the other Rush game on this page. Its apostrophe questions are here; its sound-alike words are on the Spelling page.
Tricky Words gives a sentence with one or two gaps, and words that sound alike to choose from. Most of its sets, like there, their and they’re, are taught on the Spelling page.
Two are all about the apostrophe: owners, one or many, and its or it’s. Punctuation asks owners too. With two gaps, each option is a pair of words, in order.
That _ _ _ face is sticky, but these _ _ _ faces are clean.
- baby’s … babies’
- babies’ … baby’s
- baby’s … baby’s
- babies’ … babies’
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Step 1
Count the owners.
The word before the gap tells you. That, this and a mean one. These, those and two mean more than one. So the first gap is one baby, and the second is more than one.
- That baby
- one
- these babies
- more than one
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Step 2
Write the owner word, then add the mark.
Write the owner exactly: baby, or babies. If it doesn’t end in s, add ’s. If it’s a plural that ends in s, add the apostrophe on its own.
baby + ’s = baby’s
babies + ’ = babies’
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children’s men’s mice’s
Plurals without an s
A plural that doesn’t end in s takes ’s, just like one owner.
The children’s coats. The men’s race. Sheep and deer are the same for one or many: the sheep’s field. Trap: childrens’, which adds an s that children doesn’t have.
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The puppy wags its tail when it’s happy.
its: belonging. it’s: it is.
Its or it’s
It’s is short for it is or it has. Its, for belonging, has no apostrophe.
Say it is in the gap. When it is happy works, so write it’s. Wags it is tail doesn’t, so write its, like his and hers. Trap: its’ is never right.
So it’s baby’s … babies’. One baby owns the face: baby’s. The babies own the faces, and babies ends in s, so the mark goes after it: babies’.
Remember: Owner word first, then the mark.
Chapter 5: In the exam
Speech marks, and two more.
The exam uses the same four parts and N. It also checks marks Rush doesn’t ask: speech marks (inverted commas), semicolons and hyphens.
Speech marks in four parts
Find the spoken words first. Then check the marks around them: inside, before and after.
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Example
“Where are my boots” asked Dad, looking under the stairs.
The spoken words, Where are my boots, ask something, so they need a question mark, inside the closing mark. Asked stays small, because the sentence carries on. So part B has the mistake.
B should be: my boots?” asked
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“Is that yours?” asked Mum.
“No,” said Sam.
The rules for speech marks
The spoken words go inside the marks and start with a capital letter.
The mark that ends the speech goes inside too. If the sentence carries on, end the speech with a comma, not a full stop. Said first? A comma comes before the marks: Sam said, “It’s Ben’s.” Trap: forgetting that each new speaker starts a new line.
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It was cold; we wore hats.
a well-known story
Semicolons and hyphens
A semicolon joins two whole sentences that belong together. A hyphen joins words into one.
Test a semicolon by putting a full stop there: both halves must still be sentences. A hyphen has no spaces round it: twenty-one. Trap: a semicolon before a part that can’t stand alone, as in We wore hats; because it was cold.
Chapter 6
Try it yourself.
Six real questions from Rush, easy to hard, 60 seconds on the clock.
Use the steps
- Check the end mark.
- Check the capitals.
- Check the apostrophes.
- Check the commas.
Remember: End mark, capitals, apostrophes, commas.
For parents.
What parents ask us about punctuation.
Questions parents ask
Does a comma go before 'and' in a list?
In primary school, usually not: eggs, milk and bread. Some writers add one, the Oxford comma, and it isn't wrong. None of Rush's list questions use it, which matches what most children are taught.
How do I explain apostrophes for possession?
Ask who the owner is, write that word exactly as it is, then add the mark. If the owner word doesn't end in s, add 's: the dog's bowl, the children's coats. If it's a plural ending in s, add the apostrophe alone: the dogs' bowls. A name ending in s can take either: James's or James'.
What punctuation is tested in the 11+?
Capital letters, end marks, commas and apostrophes, and in practice papers also speech marks, semicolons and hyphens. Rush's Punctuation game asks the first four; this page teaches them all.
What is a fronted adverbial?
A word or phrase at the start of a sentence that says how, when or where: Slowly, After lunch, On the top shelf. A comma follows it. Children meet the term in Year 4, and comma questions test it often.
Rush: 11+ Practice & KS2 SATsPractise punctuation in Rush.
- Punctuation and Tricky Words as 100-second games, easy at first and harder as your child improves
- Every miss kept with the right answer and why
- Punctuation and Tricky Words are in Premium, and six other games are free
On the App Store for iPhone and iPad
Six other games are free, plus a new family game every day. Punctuation and Tricky Words are in Premium: all 41 games are £24.99 a year after a free week1, or £3.99 a month.