Punctuation basics: from full stops to colons and hyphens
Punctuation is the road signs of writing. This page walks through every mark in the primary curriculum in the order children meet them.
Quick answer
- Key terms
- capital letter, full stop, comma, bracket, dash, colon, semi-colon, hyphen, bullet points
- Key idea
- Each mark has a job. Learn the job and the mark follows.
- Years
- Capitals and full stops from Year 1; semi-colons and hyphens in Year 6.
Capital letters and end marks
A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. Capitals are also used for names, days, months, places and the word I.
Commas
- In a list: We bought apples, pears, plums and grapes.
- After a fronted adverbial: Later that evening, we watched a film.
- After a subordinate clause at the start: Although it was cold, we went out.
- To clear up meaning: Let us eat, Grandma is very different from Let us eat Grandma.
Brackets, dashes and commas for extra information
Extra information that can be taken out without spoiling the sentence is called parenthesis. Mark it with a pair of brackets, a pair of dashes or a pair of commas.
- My teacher (Mr Okafor) is kind.
- My teacher – Mr Okafor – is kind.
- My teacher, Mr Okafor, is kind.
Colons, semi-colons and hyphens (Year 6)
- A colon introduces a list or an explanation: You will need three things: a pen, a ruler and a rubber.
- A semi-colon joins two main clauses that are closely related: It was late; we went home.
- A hyphen joins words or parts of words: a man-eating shark is very different from a man eating shark.
- Bullet points list items. Be consistent: either all start with a capital letter, or none do.
Quick quiz
8 questions. Answer them all, then check your score.
Questions
Do I need a comma before and in a list?
Not usually in British English for a simple list. Use one if it stops the meaning being unclear.
Related
Spelling lists and grammar terminology: Department for Education, National curriculum in England: English programmes of study, Appendices 1 and 2 (Crown copyright 2013), reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Example sentences, tips, explanations and questions are by Litlings.