Punctuation and capitalization
Capital letters, full stops, commas, question and exclamation marks and the apostrophe.
Punctuation and capitalization are the marks and rules that make written English clear and correct. Every sentence begins with a capital letter, and we also capitalize the pronoun 'I', proper nouns (names of people, places, days, months, languages and nationalities such as Ali, London, Monday, July, English) and the first word in direct speech. A sentence ends with one of three marks: a full stop (.) for a statement, a question mark (?) for a question, and an exclamation mark (!) for strong feeling or surprise. The comma (,) is used to separate items in a list, to mark off a person we are speaking to, and after introductory words; we do not normally join two complete sentences with only a comma. The apostrophe (') has two jobs: it shows possession (Sara's book, the boys' room) and it marks the missing letters in a contraction (do not → don't, it is → it's). Quotation marks (" ") surround a person's exact words. For example: the careless line 'tom said i live in baku' should be written 'Tom said, "I live in Baku."' with capital letters, a comma and quotation marks.
Key terms
| Mark | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Full stop (.) | Ends a statement | My name is Leyla. |
| Comma (,) | Separates items in a list and clauses | I bought apples, bananas and oranges. |
| Question mark (?) | Ends a question | Are you ready? |
| Apostrophe (') | Shows possession or a contraction | Sara's book; do not becomes don't |
| Quotation marks | Surround a person's exact words | She said, "Come in." |
| Rule | Example |
|---|---|
| Start of a sentence | My name is Leyla. |
| Proper nouns (names, places) | Ali, London |
| The pronoun 'I' | Nigar and I visited our grandmother. |
| Days, months, languages, nationalities | Monday, July, English, Turkish |
| Main words in a title | Around the World |
- 1Capitalize the first word: The sentence begins with the name 'Tom', so write a capital 'T': Tom said i live in baku
- 2Add a comma after 'said': A comma comes after the speaking verb, before the quotation marks: Tom said, i live in baku
- 3Add quotation marks and capitalize the speech: Put the exact words inside quotation marks and start them with a capital. The pronoun 'I' and the place 'Baku' are also capitalized: Tom said, "I live in Baku"
- 4Place the full stop inside the marks: The full stop goes inside the quotation marks: Tom said, "I live in Baku."
- 1Capitalize the first word: The sentence opens with 'On', so it takes a capital: On sunday we play football with kamran
- 2Capitalize the day name: 'Sunday' is a day name and a proper noun, so it needs a capital: On Sunday we play football with kamran
- 3Add a comma after the introductory part: A comma follows 'On Sunday': On Sunday, we play football with kamran
- 4Capitalize the proper noun and end the sentence: 'Kamran' is a name, so it takes a capital, and the statement ends with a full stop: On Sunday, we play football with Kamran.
Do not confuse 'its' and 'it's'. 'its' (no apostrophe) shows possession and means 'belonging to it', while 'it's' is the contraction of 'it is'. For example: The dog wagged its tail because it's happy.
Do not join two complete sentences with only a comma. Use a full stop (I was tired. I went to bed early.) or add a joining word like 'but' (The film was long, but we enjoyed it.).
Remember to capitalize proper nouns and language names. Words like 'Ali', 'Baku', 'English' and 'French' always take a capital letter, even in the middle of a sentence.
Place the comma in the right spot. In a list, put commas between the items (apples, bananas and oranges); with a joining word, the comma comes before the word, not after it (Paris, but the tickets...).
Rules
- 1Begin every sentence with a capital letter, and always capitalize the pronoun 'I' and proper nouns (Ali, London, Monday, July, English).
- 2End a statement with a full stop (.), a question with a question mark (?), and strong feeling with an exclamation mark (!).
- 3Use a comma to separate items in a list and after introductory words; do not join two full sentences with only a comma.
- 4Use an apostrophe for possession (Sara's bag, the girls' team) and for missing letters in contractions (don't, it's, I'm).
- 5Put a person's exact words inside quotation marks, and start that speech with a capital letter (She said, "Come in.").
Practice
15 easy · 15 medium · 15 hard
10 random questions per test