Basic Grammar Skills

Lesson 3: Punctuation and Capitalization

Quotation Marks and Apostrophes

Quotation marks can be tricky because of the other punctuation marks used at the end of sentences. For example, periods and commas are always placed inside the end quotation marks. Question marks and exclamation points are placed inside the end quotation marks if the quotation is a question or exclamation. If the whole sentence is a question, then the question mark is placed outside the end quotation marks. That's the same for exclamation points.

Quotation Marks

When someone is speaking directly to you, you use quotation marks. Let's look at the following examples. Watch where the end quotes are placed in the following sentences.

1. "Look at the new babies. Aren't they cute?"

2. "Let's go outside and play," Megan said. "Then we can come back inside and write in our journals."

3. "Megan, let's go outside," Christy said.

4. Did you say, "Let's start the meeting now"?

5. Megan asked, "Can we follow Dad again?"

What did you notice about the quotation marks in the sentences?

1. The last part is a question, so the question mark is placed inside the quotation marks.

2. Periods are always placed inside the quotation marks.

3. When using quotation marks, a comma is always placed inside the end quotes.

4. The whole sentence is a question, so the question mark is placed outside of the quotation marks

5. In this sentence, the question mark is placed inside the end quotes because the whole sentence is not a question.

Apostrophes - Singular Nouns

Apostrophes are also used to show possession. When you have a singular noun such as boy, then you would add an apostrophe and an s to make boy's.

Here are some examples.

1. Megan's journal.

2. The nurse's uniform.

3. The boy's motorcycle.

4. Sadey's toy.

5. Tippy's rawhide chew.

These words all show possession and in the singular form.

Apostrophes - Plural Nouns

Apostrophes also show possession in the plural form. If the noun is in the plural form, and ends with an s, like in boys, you just add the apostrophe at the end to show possession:

There were two boys.(plural)
The two boys' uniforms were dirty. (plural possessive}

If the plural is formed by a change is spelling, such as children, then in order to show possession, you would add 's and it would be spelled children's. An example would be:

The children's coats were hanging on the racks.

First, you have to look at the word and see if it is in the singular form or in the plural form. If it is plural and ends with s, just add the apostrophe. Or, like in the example above, children is the plural form. Therefore you add an apostrophe and an s to make children's.

Let's look at these examples.

1. The night shift nurses' uniforms were cleaned and pressed.

2. The secretaries' all kept their desk organized.

3. The women's book club met every Saturday morning.

4. The children's favorite game is Hide and Seek.

5. The Smiths' new house was larger than their other one.

  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8