Punctuation and spelling: Class 10 English

Key points

Punctuation marks guide the reader in the same way that pauses and tone guide a listener. A missing or wrong mark can change the meaning. Compare 'Let's eat, Grandma' with 'Let's eat Grandma.' Spelling is equally important, because wrong spelling loses marks in every written answer.

Capital letters are used for:

• The first word of every sentence and of every line of poetry.
• The pronoun I and the names of people, places, days, months, languages, nationalities and religions.
• Titles when they come before a name: Doctor Khan, Prime Minister.
• The main words in the titles of books, films and newspapers.
• The first word of a quotation that is a full sentence.

The full stop ends a statement or a polite command. It is also used after many abbreviations such as Dr. and etc. It is not used after a heading or a title on its own. Three dots (an ellipsis) show that something is left out or a thought trails away.

The comma shows a short pause. Use it:

• To separate items in a list: We bought apples, oranges, bananas and grapes.
• After an introductory word or phrase: However, the match continued. After the rain stopped, we left.
• Before a conjunction joining two main clauses: He was tired, but he kept working.
• Around extra information: Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, is a port.
• Before and after the name of a person addressed: Sara, please sit down.
• Before a direct quotation: He said, 'I am ready.'

Do not join two complete sentences with only a comma. This error is called a comma splice. Wrong: It was late, we went home. Right: It was late, so we went home, or It was late; we went home.

The semicolon joins two closely related main clauses without a conjunction: 'The sun set; the birds returned to their nests.' It also separates items in a list when the items already contain commas. The colon introduces a list, an explanation or a quotation: 'You need three things: a pencil, a ruler and an eraser.'

The apostrophe has two uses:

• Possession: add 's to a singular noun (the boy's bag) and just an apostrophe to a plural ending in s (the boys' bags). For irregular plurals add 's (children's toys).
• Contraction: it replaces missing letters (do not becomes don't, it is becomes it's, I am becomes I'm).
• Do not use an apostrophe for plurals (write 'two cats', not 'two cat's'). Its with no apostrophe shows possession: The dog wagged its tail. Whose shows possession, while who's means who is.

Quotation marks (inverted commas) enclose the exact words of a speaker, and punctuation goes inside them in most styles: 'I am leaving,' she said. Start a new line when a new person speaks. The question mark follows a direct question, and the exclamation mark follows a strong feeling or command: 'What a beautiful day!' Do not use more than one at the end. Neither is used for a reported question: He asked where I lived.

The hyphen joins parts of a compound word (well-known author, mother-in-law, twenty-one) and splits a word at the end of a line. Brackets ( ) hold extra information that is not essential. Do not confuse the hyphen with the longer dash used in some books to mark a break in thought.

Spelling rules and patterns:

• i before e except after c: believe, receive, ceiling. Exceptions include weird and seize.
• Final e drops before a vowel suffix: make, making; but stays before a consonant suffix: hope, hopeful.
• Consonant plus y changes to i before an ending: study, studies, studied; but vowel plus y keeps y: play, played.
• Double the last consonant of a short stressed word: begin, beginning; stop, stopped.
• Plurals: add es after s, x, z, ch and sh (boxes, churches). Nouns ending in consonant plus o often take es (potatoes, heroes) but not always (photos, pianos). Nouns ending in f or fe often change to ves (leaf, leaves; knife, knives).

Words often misspelt: necessary, separate, definitely, occurrence, accommodation, embarrass, environment, government, parliament, recommend, receive, tomorrow, address, believe, calendar, February, library, success and until. A useful aid is to break a word into parts: nec-es-sary, sep-a-rate, gov-ern-ment. Proofread your answers for the commonest slips in the last five minutes of the paper.

Study tip: Read your answer aloud in your head and put a mark where you naturally pause or stop. Keep a list of your own spelling errors from past tests and revise it often. In punctuation questions, rewrite the whole passage neatly, adding capitals, quotation marks and end marks before you check the commas.

Definitions and flashcards

Say the meaning first, then open the card to check.

Short questions with model answers

These are the kind of questions asked for 2, 3 and 5 marks. Try each one before opening the answer.

Common mistakes

• Joining two complete sentences with only a comma instead of a full stop, a semicolon or a conjunction.
• Putting an apostrophe in a plural noun, such as 'apple's for sale'.
• Confusing its and it's, and your and you're.
• Forgetting capital letters for names, days, months and languages.
• Misspelling common words such as separate, necessary and receive, and not proofreading.

Practise this chapter

Practice questions and timed test Printable worksheet