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Punctuation
Apostrophes and Quotation Marks
Possession, contractions and reported wording.
Explanation
An apostrophe marks possession or a contraction, never a plural. Quotation marks enclose direct wording, and titles of short works take quotation marks while longer works take italics.
Examples
- The teachers meeting was moved to Friday.
- He said he would be late and left.
- She read the whole novel in a week.
Common mistakes
The dog wagged its tail.
The dog wagged its tail.
Its is possessive; it is is the verb.
Three apples are on the table.
Three apples are on the table.
Plurals take no apostrophe.
The teacher’s meeting was moved.
The teachers’ meeting was moved.
Plural possessive puts the apostrophe after the s.
More Punctuation
Comma Use in Sentences
Clauses, lists and introductory phrases.
Semicolons and Colons
Joining related clauses and introducing lists.
Hyphens, Dashes and Parentheses
Joining words and interrupting clauses.
Run-ons, Fragments and Comma Splices
Recognising and repairing broken sentences.
Capitalisation Rules
What to capitalise and what not to.