Spelling & punctuation reference

Capital letters

Open every sentence and every proper noun (names, places, days, months, titles) with a capital.

Example: On Monday, Aisha visited the National Museum in Cairo.

Common error: Lower-case sentence openings; “i” for the pronoun “I”.

End punctuation

Close every sentence with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark - one idea, one demarcated sentence.

Example: Why did she stop? The path had vanished. Run!

Common error: The comma splice: joining two sentences with only a comma.

Commas

Use commas to separate items in a list, to mark off a subordinate clause, and around parenthesis (a pair of commas).

Example: My bag, which was soaked through, held a torch, a map and some food.

Common error: A single comma splitting a subject from its verb, or splicing two sentences.

Speech marks

Open and close speech marks around the exact words spoken; punctuation that belongs to the speech goes inside.

Example: “We have to leave now,” she whispered.

Common error: Missing the closing speech mark, or punctuation drifting outside it.

Apostrophes

Use for omission (do not → don’t) and for possession (the dog’s lead; the dogs’ leads for plural).

Example: It’s late, and the children’s coats are still on the boats’ deck.

Common error: Confusing its/it’s; an apostrophe in a simple plural (“apple’s 50p”).