BASIC-GRAMMAR-1-Punctuation

Appendix 1

Punctuation

1. Capital

♣ Use a capital letter for …

the first letter of a sentence.

the names of people and places: Wolfgang Amadeus, Mozart, Helen Keller, Jackie Chan, Madrid, New York, Hong Kong.

the names of countries, nationalities and languages: China/Chinese, France/French, Australia/Australian, English.

days of the week and months of the year (but not seasons): Monday, Thursday, April, September.

school subjects: English, Maths, Biology.

people’s titles: Mr Brown, Doctor Smith, President Obama.

the pronoun “I”: Martha and I live in Simpson Street.

2. End of a sentence

Normally, we end a sentence with a full stop “.”:
– I live in London.

3. Question mark

Put “?” at the end of a question (not a full stop):
– Where do you live?

4. Commas

♣ Use commas for …

lists of nouns: I bought a pen, a book and a bag.

lists of adjectives: It’s an old, black, electric lamp.

conditional sentences when the if-clause comes first: If you leave now, you’ll catch the last train.

5. Apostrophe ” ’ “

♣ Use an apostrophe for …

for possessive’s (see Unit 3.4⇒): Karen’s mobile. My brother’s T shirt.

contracted verbs forms. Here are some common examples:

Verb to be

I’m = I am

he’s = he is

they’re = they are

isn’t = is not

aren’t = are not

would like

I’d like = I would like

I wouldn’t like = I would not like

Verb to have

I’ve = I have

she’s = she has

we’ve – we have

hasn’t = has not

haven’t = have not

Negative modals

won’t = will not

wouldn’t = would not

mustn’t = must not

can’t = cannot

couldn’t = could not

shouldn’t = should not

Auxiliary verb to do

don’t = do not

doesn’t = does not

didn’t = did not