Punctuation study guide:
You must be able to:
-Define and identify various punctuation marks
-Place punctuation marks correctly in a sentence
-identify errors in punctuation
-determine how the meaning of a sentence is changed when the
punctuation alone is changed. For example, the difference between “Eats,
Shoots, and Leaves” and “Eats shoots and leaves”
-identify errors in a multiple choice format, matching the ITBS format- one
or more sentences is written over several lettered lines, your task is to
identify the line containing the error, or choose “no mistake”. Reading very
carefully is important for this style of question, as errors are often small and
easily missed.
Example:
A Hello, said the
B. girl to her
C. friend as they walked.
D. No mistake
-The correct answer would be “A” because the error (no quotation marks
around the dialogue statement) is in line “A”
Punctuation marks that will be included:
-Period- Used at the end of declarative (or command) sentences. Also
used for abbreviations
-Question mark- Used at the end of interrogative (question) sentences
-Exclamation point- Used at the end of exclamatory sentences. Also used
to set apart strong interjections. They show surprise, pain, anger, or
excitement
-Apostrophe- used to show possession. (Before the “S” for singular, after
for plural nouns). Also used for contractions to replace missing letters.
-Comma- A pause in a sentence, separates items on a list, sets off
dialogue, letter salutations, letter closings, to set off a contrasting phrase, to
