Punctuation

English Language · Writing: accuracy and style. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

Punctuation shows where ideas begin, end and connect. A full stop ends a statement. A question mark ends a direct question only; a reported question (‘She asked where I lived.’) is a statement and takes a full stop.

Commas separate the items in a list, mark off an opening phrase, and go in pairs round extra information that could be lifted out. Never put a single comma between a subject and its verb.

An apostrophe shows possession or missing letters, never a simple plural. A colon introduces a list or an explanation. A semicolon joins two closely linked complete sentences. Inverted commas go round the exact words spoken.

Rules to remember

Direct question: question mark. Reported question: full stop and statement word order (‘where I had been’).
List: commas between the items, none before the first item, and normally none before ‘and’.
Extra information takes a pair of commas: ‘My aunt, who lives in Karachi, is a nurse.’
Possession: one owner adds 's (the boy's bag); a plural ending in s adds only ' (the boys' bags); children's, men's, women's.
it's = it is or it has; its = belonging to it.
A colon follows a complete statement and introduces a list or explanation; a semicolon joins two complete sentences.
Speech: ‘Sit down,’ said the teacher. The comma, question mark or exclamation mark goes inside the closing inverted comma.

Common mistake

Students add an apostrophe to a plain plural (‘three mango's’) or write ‘it's’ for possession. Test it: if you cannot say ‘it is’ or ‘it has’, write ‘its’.

Worked example

Which is correct? A ‘The womens' team won it's first match.’ B ‘The women's team won its first match.’ C ‘The womens team won it's first match.’ D ‘The women's team won it's first match.’

‘Women’ is already plural and does not end in s, so possession adds 's: ‘women's’. A and C are wrong.
The match belongs to the team, so the word shows possession: ‘its’, with no apostrophe.
Test D: ‘won it is first match’ makes no sense, so ‘it's’ is wrong.

Answer: B

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