Grammar Guide

Full stops
Here are the rules for full stops:
1. They go at the end of sentences.

2. They’re also in website and email addresses:

http://www.mrbruff.com/ or [email protected]
3. Finally, they are used with some abbreviations, for example:

a.m. p.m. e.g. i.e. etc. Jan. Feb.

4. In British English, we don’t use them after Mr, Mrs and Miss.

Important Note!
If an abbreviation is at the end of a sentence, you don’t need to add another full stop
because it’s already there. For example:
I need to buy some pens, pencils, a ruler, etc.
Question Marks
Question marks go at the end of a direct question. For example:
Are you doing your GCSEs?
There’s never a full stop after a question mark because it has one already.

Exclamation Marks
1. You use exclamation marks at the end of an exclamation to show surprise, a strong
emotion or pain. Sometimes, you’ll be speaking louder than usual. For example:

Oh! I didn’t see you! Sorry!

I love you to heaven and back!
Ow! That hurt!
2. They also go at the end of a command. For example:

Look at me!
There’s never a full stop after an exclamation mark because, like the question mark, it has
one already. Also, you only need one exclamation mark after a word. If you use two or more
(for example, I’m so happy!!!!!!!!!!!), this is too informal.

Test Yourself!
Read the sentences and insert the capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation
marks in the correct place. Then check your answers on the next page.
1. i have lived in spain, ethiopia, singapore and venezuela
2. have you read ‘of mice and men’
3. the history of the houses of parliament started 900 years ago with the anglo-saxons
4. some abbreviations like usa don’t have full stops
5. ‘i don’t believe it’ she exclaimed
6. i’m spending christmas at my grandparents’ house in manchester
7. is anyone at home
8. fantastic see you in august
9. wednesday is ok with me
10. did you know that i e means ‘that is’ and e g means ‘for example’

Amo Grammatica
Sentences have four purposes, called functions. These are:
Declarative: to make a statement
Interrogative: to ask a question
Imperative: to give a command
Exclamation: to exclaim
Punctuation marks simply make these functions clearer.
Test Yourself!
Read the sentences, which are about the history of English grammar in schools. Label each
sentence as declarative, interrogative, imperative or exclamation.
 1. Did you know that the word ‘grammar’ comes from the Greek word ‘gramma’, which
means ‘written character’?

2. The Greeks believed that grammar was good for developing logical thinking and speaking
skills.

3. In the eighteenth century, people analysed English grammar by using Latin grammar
rules!

4. Look it up if you don’t believe me!

5. In the early 20th century, the standard of grammar teaching in schools became so bad
that some people wanted to drop it from the curriculum.

6. It wasn’t the fault of teachers—hardly anyone knew what English grammar was because
there wasn’t any university research on it.

7. Did you know that there was also a campaign to promote literature as an alternative to
grammar?

8. From the 1960s, most schools stopped teaching English grammar!

9. Despite universities opening Language and Linguistics departments, students from other
countries ended up knowing more about English grammar rules than English people!

10. From the 1990s onwards, governments have recommended that English grammar
should be taught in schools.

Paragraphs.
Rules for Starting a New Paragraph
The famous TipTop rule is taught in Example
many schools today. You need a
new paragraph for a: Rule
Time change: Tomorrow...Later that day...At
midnight...
Place change: At school...At home...In the
park...In the village...
Topic change: Any new theme needs a new
paragraph.
Person change: EITHER a new person
OR a change of person speaking

Brackets (sometimes called parentheses)

Brackets contain extra information. If you delete them, your sentence will still make sense.
Hence:
Anything in brackets can (not) be ignored.
(That was a joke.)
Ellipsis...
This set of three dots has two uses:
1. It shows that you’re... trailing... off...hmm...I wonder what’s for tea...
2. It shows that words are missing, especially when you’re quoting. Let’s study an extract
from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. The narrator wakes up in the middle of the night
to find a ghost at his window:

Vocabulary Key:
Melancholy: sad
Discerned: slowly saw
Obscurely: in the darkness
Tenacious: clinging
...my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare
came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy
voice sobbed, 'Let me in - let me in!' [...] As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face
looking through the window. Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to attempt
shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till
the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes: still it wailed, 'Let me in!' and maintained its
tenacious grip, almost maddening me with fear.
First of all, there’s ellipsis in square brackets. Editors do that to show the original story is
longer and they’re leaving some of it out.
Let’s imagine that you want to quote from the last sentence. At four and a half lines, it’s
much too long, so we use ellipsis:
The narrator admits that ‘Terror made me cruel... I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane,
and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes’.
The ellipsis replaces the unnecessary bit in the middle and makes my quotation crisper.
There’s no ellipsis at the end of my quotation because I don’t need it. You only have ellipsis
at the end of a sentence when you’re traili...

Hyphen
A hyphen (-) is a useful punctuation mark:
Twenty-odd teachers are not the same as twenty odd teachers...
1. As you already know from chapters three and seven, you use hyphens to create a
compound word.

2. They also turn other words into one word. For example:

a. Numbers: twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, etc.

b. Some prefixes: That’s my ex-girlfriend.

3. Finally, when you’re writing an essay by hand, you might reach the end of a line and
realise that you haven’t enough space to finish your word. Put a hyphen after the bit you’ve
written (to show that you’re going to split the word) and then finish it on the next line.

Dash
Dashes are longer than hyphens (—). Never leave a space before or after them.
1. They’re an informal—and quite dramatic—punctuation mark. You can also use them like
brackets, but the main difference is that dashes emphasise the bit in the middle.

2. A dash is a lively punctuation mark, which shows a quick-thinking mind. Because of this,
you can use it for broken off thought:
Yes, I really like that song—was that someone at the door?

3. Or perhaps someone interrupts you—

Unfortunately, they’re a little too energetic for formal writing, so avoid them in exam
essays.
I'd write a lot of hyphen jokes here, but it's the end of the day—I have to dash.
Test Yourself!
Read the example sentences and in the spaces insert brackets, an ellipsis, short hyphens or
long dashes:
1. Hmmm___
2. Fifty___two people went to the party!
3. The holiday___ as we expected___was fantastic!
4. My father___in___law is visiting at the weekend.
5. Yes, it was___ WHO did you say?
6. This writing is like a song___beautiful words, good rhythm of sentences and memorable.
7. The ghost ‘wailed, “Let me in!”___ almost maddening me with fear’.
8. It was definitely a never___to___be___forgotten moment.
9. Margaret Thatcher___Britain’s first female Prime Minister___was a highly controversial
politician.
10. All my school books___including English, Maths and Physics___were eaten by the dog.

Comma
Here are the main uses of the comma:
a. Use them in lists, such as the lists of adjectives in chapter seven. You can also use them
with lists of nouns, verbs and adverbs:
I like cooking my pets and friends.
I like cooking, my pets and friends.
Yes, forgetting a comma can sometimes turn you into a psychopath.
In literature, they’re a useful device for developing atmosphere or building character. Read
this description of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol:
...a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!
The list develops the idea that Dickens doesn’t want the reader to like Scrooge.
b. Remember those relative pronouns in chapter 6? Use a comma to add extra information.
c. Remember FANBOYS conjunctions in chapter nine? Most (but not all) of the time, use a
comma before one of those conjunctions in a compound sentence.
d. Remember complex sentences in chapter ten? Use commas to divide clauses.
e. In the same chapter, do you remember splitting main clauses and inserting extra
information? The commas behave like brackets.
f. Remember those false conjunctions in the middle of chapter eleven that are called
conjunctive adverbs? Use a comma with those.

So, what else do we need to know about the comma?

1. Use the comma to separate the name of someone you’re talking to. Look at this example:
We’re going to learn to cut and paste Jane!
I sincerely hope not! This could be rewritten as:
We’re going to learn to cut and paste, Jane!
OR Jane, we’re going to learn to cut and paste!
OR We’re going to learn, Jane, to cut and paste!
2. Use a comma with introductory adverbs and phrases to mark off part of your sentence.
For example:
Suddenly, a streak of lightning lit up the night sky.
Outside, the new windows of Julie’s house looked fantastic.
The next day, the exhausted children left the sleepover and went home.
3. The final use of the comma is with speech marks, which we’ll look at soon.
Is that it? I hear you cry. The most widely-used punctuation mark and we haven’t even spent
two pages on it?
Er...yes, it is. Well...there IS one use of the comma, which is quite rare in this country. If
you’re interested in learning about the Oxford comma, read the Amo Grammatica section
that follows. Otherwise, skip it and test yourself!
Amo Grammatica
Read these sentences:
I went to the bank, the supermarket and Marks and Spencer.
With the first sentence, the word ‘and’ is repeated, making the sentence a little confusing.
One way to make the sentence clearer is to do what we’re always taught not to do: put a
comma in front of ‘and’ in a list:
I went to the bank, the supermarket, and Marks and Spencer.
This optional punctuation mark is called the Oxford comma. Its name comes from Oxford
University Press, where it was used by its editors and printers. It’s rarely used in England
today and is much more common in America.
Test Yourself!
Put the commas in the correct places.
1. This morning I woke up at seven leapt out of bed got dressed and brushed my teeth.
2. Fran pay attention!
3. Consequently we all need to use commas.
4. I received an email which was quite interesting I suppose.
5. Kieran who’s in the same class as me is moving to Australia!
6. I think Molly that you’re an excellent mathematician.
7. I may have seen them but I don’t know where they are now.
8. Following our conversation I would like an apology.
9. You look nice today Emma.
10. If however you change your mind let me know.

Speech Marks (“-“)

You can use either single or double inverted commas to show that someone is talking.
Personally, I prefer double, so I’ll use these in my examples.
Cover the rules and read the example sentences. Can you work out each set of rules? Check
your answers by uncovering the rules.
1. The speaker is first and the speech second. Examples:
She asked, “Would you like some dinner?”
He replied, “Great, thanks!”
She said, “Then you can take me to a restaurant.”
Rules
a. Use a comma before the opening speech marks.
b. The first letter of the speech should be a capital letter.
c. Put a full stop or other punctuation inside the final speech mark.

2. The speech is first and speaker last. Examples:

“That was a mean trick!” he exclaimed.
“Sorry, couldn’t resist it,” she apologised.
“Don’t do that again,” he replied.
Rules
a. Put a comma before the last speech mark.
b. However, replace the comma with a question mark or exclamation mark if this is more
appropriate.
c. The pronoun (unless it’s ‘I’) is never capitalised after speech marks.

3. The speaker splits the speech up. Example:

“On second thoughts,” he said, “let’s go out!”
Rules
a. With the first half of the speech, put a comma before the closing speech marks.
b. Then introduce the second half of the speech with another comma after the verb.
c. Note that there’s no capital letter with the second half of the speech when it’s continuing
the same sentence.
If the same speaker talks for more than one paragraph:
Start each new paragraph with speech marks, but don’t close the speech marks until the
person finishes talking. In this letter from Pride and Prejudice, the speech marks reproduce
the exact speech of Elizabeth’s sister:
"MY DEAR LIZZY,
"I wish you joy. If you love Mr. Darcy half as well as I do my dear Wickham, you must be very
happy. It is a great comfort to have you so rich, and when you have nothing else to do, I
hope you will think of us. I am sure Wickham would like a place at court very much, and I do
not think we shall have quite money enough to live upon without some help. Any place
would do, of about three or four hundred a year; but however, do not speak to Mr. Darcy
about it, if you had rather not.
"Yours, etc."
Test Yourself!
Remind yourself of the rules for speech marks and then put the correct punctuation in the
following sentences.
1. He said fancy going to London for the day?
2. Would you like to play rugby? he asked
3. The class said good morning, Mr Bruff!
4. Good morning, class! replied Mr Bruff
5. When she asked is the bus coming?
6. Let’s call it a day he said
7. That book was brilliant! she exclaimed
8. When he saw his deadliest enemy, he said so...we meet again. Of all the places in the
world, here you are.
It’s a year since you murdered my cat. She was my pride and joy. I’m still upset.
Now it’s time for my revenge.
9. I’d love she said another slice of that delicious cake...
10. When she asked is the bus coming? It’s late!

Quotation Marks (‘-‘)

1. When you drop a quotation into your sentence, the main thing to remember is that the
full stop goes at the end, after your quotation. For example:
In ‘Wuthering Heights’, the narrator admits that the ghost of the girl was ‘almost maddening
me with fear’.
Grammatically, however, it’s not a very good sentence, so remember to pick the best bits
and drop them into your sentence. For example:
In ‘Wuthering Heights’, the narrator admits that the ghost of the girl was ‘almost
maddening’ him ‘with fear’.
2. When you are writing the title of poems, books and plays in the exam, put quotation
marks around them (when typing, you can choose to use italics instead). The quotation
marks avoid confusion. Compare:

In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo loves Juliet.

In ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Romeo loves Juliet.

Now that we have quotation marks in the second example, it’s much clearer that you’re
talking about a play first and then the characters.
3. You can also use quotation marks when you’re defining something. For example:
In a dictionary, the letter n. after a word stands for ‘noun’.
4. Finally, quotation marks show that you’re disagreeing with something. You might be
feeling scorn. For example:
My ‘best friend’ let me down badly yesterday.
What if I quote speech?
Use double quotation marks for the quote within a quote. For example:
‘Why did she call the man a “traitor”?’
Common Mistakes: Test Yourself!
Read the sentences and correct the errors with quotation marks, speech marks, commas,
brackets and dashes.
Oh, there’s a catch. One of the sentences is correct. Can you spot it?
1. WRITING ON A SIGN: “Don’t walk on the grass!”
2. “You’re going home!” He exclaimed.
3. Fresh ‘eggs’ for sale!
4. I grabbed my bag school bag and ran for the bus.
5. I’m blond however my brother has brown hair.
 6. “I’m twenty one next month,” She said.
7. I thought this work would be ‘a piece of cake’, but it wasn’t.
8. Please “do not” park your car here!
9. She left the house but, remembering her phone was in her bedroom, returned home.
10. Victoria (who’s terrified of snakes) touched one today.

Apostrophe (‘)
The Apostrophe for Contractions
A contraction is a shortened word, and an apostrophe shows that at least one letter is
missing. The pregnant woman uses contractions:
Pregnant woman: You’re! Can’t! We’re! Won’t! It’s!
Husband: The baby’s coming—her contractions have started!
Contractions can also show that numbers are missing in a date. For example:
2015: ’15
Fascinating Fact!
To make a
negative contraction, add the word not to a verb. For example:
he did not  he didn’t
Do this with all verbs except I am not which becomes I’m not.
Sometimes, you have a double contraction. It’s used in very informal speech and you need
two apostrophes. For example:
could not have  couldn’t’ve
Nowadays, double contractions are incredibly rare.
Test Yourself!
How well do you know your contractions? Shorten the words in the chart below and use an
apostrophe to show where letters are missing. The first one has been done for you.

I am I’m he would
I have he had
he is she will
where is she shall
we are it is
we have it has
I am not is not
are not let us
cannot must not
could not could have
do not could not have
does not shall not
have not will not

The Apostrophe of Possession

The second use of the apostrophe is to show ownership. For example:
The boy’s computer is on the table.
The apostrophe shows that it is the computer of the boy.
Below are the rules for the apostrophe of possession.
Singular Nouns and Irregular Plural Nouns
Add apostrophe before the –s.
For example:
the ipad of the girl: the girl’s ipad.
the toys of the children: the children’s toys
Regular Plural Nouns
Add apostrophe after the –s.
For example:
the staffroom of the teachers: the teachers’ staffroom.
What if the Noun ends in -s?
Normal rules apply:
The tiara of the princess (singular noun): the princess’s tiara
The tiaras of the princesses (plural noun): the princesses’ tiaras
It’s the same with a person’s name ending in –s.
The pupils of Mrs Lewis: Mrs Lewis’s pupils
The next time you go out, look around you. Some people don’t know the rules, so you might
see exceptions with street names, place names and shop signs.
Its
This is the only word that does not use the apostrophe to show possession. For example:
The cat drank its milk.
The robot raised its arms.
The reason for this rule is that it’s with an apostrophe is short for:
it is or it has
Therefore its with no apostrophe emphasises that we’re talking about ownership.
Time and Quantity
The apostrophe can also be used for time and quantity. For example:
In the time of three days: in three days’ time
In the quantity of a metre of material: a metre’s worth of material.
Test Yourself!
Read the phrases below and insert the apostrophe in the correct place as appropriate.
1. The cars engine.
2. The boys toilets.
3. The books covers.
4. The mens names.
5. Its water bowl.
6. The womans baby.
7. The womens babies.
8. Mr Joness office.
9. In two weeks time.
10. My mothers sisters boyfriend.
Fascinating Fact! The only time you don’t add ‘s with singular nouns ending in –s is with
names from the Bible and the ancient world. For example: Jesus’ disciples, Achilles’ heel.
Common Mistakes
These are all real life examples of apostrophe abuse. Correct the errors:
1. Its not mine, sorry!
2. Ladie’s toilets.
3. On sale today: apple’s, banana’s and pear’s!
4. Citizens Advice Bureau
5. I was born in the 1960’s.
6. Is this your’s?
7. A friend of the couples’s said that they were on holiday.
8. Womens clothes
9. Hot soup’s and coffee’s
10. Saint Pauls Square

What Next?
A teacher once asked her class to punctuate the following sentence:
A woman without her man is nothing
The boys wrote: A woman, without her man, is nothing.
The girls wrote: A woman: without her, man is nothing.
It’s very interesting to see how a colon can completely change the meaning of a sentence.
Colons (:) and semicolons (;) are called advanced punctuation. If you use them sparingly and
accurately, you’re increasing your chances of boosting that all-important SPaG mark.
What’s the difference between a Colon and Semicolon?
Compare the following sentences:
He locked himself in his room; his girlfriend had ditched him.
He locked himself in his room: his girlfriend had ditched him.
With the first example, the semicolon divides two halves of a sentence that have equal
importance. It’s like drifting into a classroom, nodding casually at a few friends and then
drifting into another and nodding at those people as well.
With the second sentence, the colon is introducing something far more important than the
man locking himself in his room. Ah, yes...DRAMATIC PAUSE...his girlfriend has DITCHED
him! The colon therefore develops and adds importance to something that has happened
before.
The Colon
1. I like to think of the colon as a fanfare, announcing something important.
2. You can also use a colon to introduce a quotation, which might be on the next line:
‘Two “speech marks” walk into a school.’
Alternatively, the quotation might be on the same line: ‘Two speech marks ”walk” into a
school.’
3. The final use of a colon is to introduce items in a list. For example:
Qualities of a successful person include the following: imagination, a vision, perseverance
and learning from mistakes.
The list might also be of clauses, but we’ll look at that it a moment.

The Semicolon
In chapter 11, we examined how the semicolon is used with conjunctive adverbs. Here’s a
reminder:
I had an ice-cream; meanwhile, my friend admired the tigers.
Both sides of the sentence are of equal importance to the speaker, who is perfectly
indifferent to tigers.
You can also use a semicolon to join two independent clauses in a compound sentence.
Simply delete the conjunction and replace the comma with a semicolon. For example:
She played football well, and her friends clapped.
BECOMES
She played football well; her friends clapped.
This works best with ‘so’, ‘and’ and ‘but’. Here are more before and after examples:
He was tired, so he went to bed early.
He was tired; he went to bed early.
I checked my homework, and there were hardly any errors.
I checked my homework; there were hardly any errors.
She likes chocolate, but her brother prefers crisps.
She likes chocolate; her brother prefers crisps.

Semicolon with Lists of Subordinate Clauses

A semicolon is really useful when you are reading a long sentence that’s full of subordinate
clauses.
Test Yourself!
Identify each subordinate clause and, at the end of each one, replace the comma with a
semicolon. Remember: each clause contains one idea! Oh, and be careful—some of the
commas don’t change!
I did a lot of things on Saturday, including the following: getting up at the crack of dawn,
well, it felt like it, to drop my wife off at the airport as she was going on a business trip,
doing a grocery shop on the way home (the supermarket had just opened and it was too
good an opportunity to miss), taking my son, who’s eleven years old, to a party, cleaning our
house, which hadn’t been tackled for nearly two weeks so it was becoming a bit of an
embarrassment, collecting my son, and, finally, enjoying a game of football on television
with the rest of the family.

When you have finished checking your answers, read the passage out loud. Take a short
pause at every comma and a longer pause at each semicolon. Can you hear the semicolons?

Interesting Point
Some subordinate clauses don’t need to be introduced with a colon, because it would get in
the way. This sentence sounds better without the colon:
The main points in an exam are to read the question carefully; to underline the key words; to
spend at least five minutes—sometimes more—planning your answer; and to allow time at
the end to check your work.
Test Yourself! Read the sentences and put the colons and semicolons in the correct places.
1. I didn’t do my homework instead, I watched a film.
2. It’s coming towards us run!
3. He’s cleaning I’m doing the shopping.
4. I read a manual today it wasn’t very helpful.
5. Clean the hall before returning the keys alternatively, we can clean it and you’ll lose your
deposit.
6. Napoleon said ‘History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree
upon’.
7. I like cars she prefers motorbikes.
8. I have lots of things in my jewellery box necklaces, ear-rings, a ring, two watches and half
a dozen bracelets.
9. In the summer holidays, I would like you to do the following clean and tidy one part of
your bedroom every day get some fresh air by playing outside play your music quietly and
wash the dishes when you’ve finished with them.
10. He’s good at reading aloud in front of the class is better, particularly in challenging
situations, at mental arithmetic and is brilliant, with all his medals, at swimming.

Tony B Harper.