Punctuation Worksheet

Basic Capitalization Rules

To capitalize a letter means to make it an upper-case letter. Capitalization is a very
important part of grammar and punctuation.
The first letter of a sentence always needs to be in capital.
The first letter of a proper noun (name of a person, place, days of the week, months of
the year, holidays) always needs to be in capital. For example:
a. My name is Elena.
b. My favorite day is Friday.
c. Last year, I went to England for the summer.
d. I wonder what I am getting for Christmas this year.
The first letter of each word in a title has to be capitalized. For example:
a. My favorite book is Warriors by Erin Hunters
The first letter of a quote should be capitalized.
a. He said, "I love ice cream!"

The Period (.)

Also known as a full stop, a period marks the end of a sentence. It is the most common
form of punctuation that is used to conclude a sentence. Here are some examples:
I took a walk through the forest.
It was snowing this evening.
Put all the correct punctuation in each of these sentences.
1. my names bill and i come from new york
My name’s Bill and I come from New York.
2. my favorite color is blue whats yours
My favorite color is blue. What’s yours?
3. i have a dog its name is benji
I have a dog. Its name is Benji.
4. my sisters name is jenny shes twenty four
My sister’s name is Jenny. She’s twenty-four.
5. my phone numbers 459-0904
My phone number’s 459-0904.
6. her uncle jorge is from madrid in spain
Her uncle, Jorge, is from Madrid in Spain.
7. im not from london, im from chicago in the united states
I’m not from London, I’m from Chicago in the United States.
8. kevin is from australia he lives in melbourne
Kevin is from Australia. He lives in Melbourne.

The Comma (,)

A comma indicates a pause between parts of a sentence. There are several ways to use a
comma
Use a comma to separate three or more items in a sentence.
Incorrect “I have been to Italy and France and Slovenia”,
Correct “I have been to Italy, France and Slovenia.”
Incorrect “I have a cat and dog and parrot and hamster”,
Correct “I have a cat, dog, parrot and hamster.”

Use a comma to separate two adjectives (words that describe something) in a sentence.
Incorrect: “It was a cute and fluffy cat”,
Correct: “It was a cute, fluffy cat.”
Incorrect: “The sweet and red apple was hand-picked from a tree”
Correct: “The sweet, red apple was hand-picked from a tree.”
When you are introducing a person, for example My older brother and you want to
introduce their name, you have to use a comma before and after their name.
a. My older brother, Vincent, is 19 years old.
b. My dog, Koga, likes to play outside.
Likewise, when you introduce someone's name and you want to describe them, you
have to use a comma before and after the description.
a. Vincent, my older brother, is 19 years old.
b. Koga, my dog, likes to play outside.
Use a comma to separate the day of the month from the year
a. I was born on October 25th, 2001
Use a comma when you start the sentence with a word that indicates time, such as
“Today” or “Last week”. Separate the time from the sentence. For example:
a. Today, I went to the doctor.
b. Next week, I am going to Wonderland.
c. Whenever I come back home, my dog greets me at the door.
Always put a comma before a quotation, unless you are starting the sentence with a
quote.
a. She said, "I love animals!"

Correct the following sentences (Capitalization, period or comma) Use the same colours
as the punctuation mark.
Example. Claudia has two beautiful, cheerful children.
a. I went swimming with my friends, today.
b. I can't wait until Christmas!
c. I play the guitar, drums and flute.
d. Today, I met my friend Matt at the mall.
e. When I gave my sister a present, she said, “thank you!”.
f. My best friend, Tyler, loves wolves.
g. When I grow up, I want to be a journalist.
h. My friend, Caroline, is in the same class as me.
I. What's your name?
j. Today, I saw an adorable, brown dog.
k. Watch out, you almost hit me.
l. Why is the grass green and the sky blue?

Sentence Fragments
An incomplete sentence is called a sentence fragment. A fragment lacks either a subject,
a predicate, or does not communicate a complete thought. Here are some examples of
sentence fragments:
Example: Saw that it was time to leave. _ lacks a subject
Example: The king and all his men. _ lacks a predicate
Example: Before we went to soccer practice. _ does not communicate a complete
thought
Directions: Decide whether each group of words is a sentence (S) or a fragment (F).
Example: Don’t think I can do it. F
1) Daniel can come. S
2) I didn’t know that. S
3) Went to the store. F
4) Singing loudly all day long. F
5) Once they get here. F
6) What time will they be here? S
7) Went to the beach and it was fun. F
8) Without increasing his test scores. F
9) A high quality car. F
10) The thunder scared us all. S
11) Annie and her best friend Julia. F
12) I am very tired, but I cannot sleep. S
13) Five slices of pizza. F
14) Until 2:30 in the morning! F
15) While Thomas was making dinner. F
16) Didn’t have a care in the world. F
17) All of the guards at the castle. F
18) “Ahhh,” she yawned, “I am getting tired.” S
19) They were married that afternoon. S
20) Any day they want to come. F

A paragraph.
A paragraph is a number of sentences written about the same topic. The main idea of the
paragraph is usually given in the first sentence—which is called the topic sentence. The
topic sentence introduces what the paragraph is talking about and limits the information
that can be given in the other sentences The other sentences add information to the topic
and are called supporting sentences.
A topic sentence should talk about the topic, not about what you intend or are planning
to write. Students often mistakenly begin a paragraph with sentences such as: I want to
tell you about . . . or I’m going to write about . . .or This paragraph is about . . . or Let
me tell you about . . .. These are not proper topic sentences as they do not really
introduce the topic. They introduce your intent or your writing plan, but not your topic.

Begin a paragraph with a topic sentence like this:

My day was wonderful/a giant mess/a big problem/a lot of fun
Today was easier than usual/terrific!/a lot of hard work

Exercise 1
Write a paragraph about a day in your life. The day could be today, yesterday or any
day in recent memory. It must be between 80 and 100 words. Check spelling and
punctuation.
One of the best days that I’ve had, and I remember is the 16th birthday of one of my
best friends. At that time, she and I have been known each other for a short time so our
friendship was not as strong as now but that day we became more than just school
partners. It was in February 2018. After classes, me and my friends went to a friend’s
house and organized a celebration quickly with globes, cake, presents, food, music and
games. We all had so much fun and it was a special day for all of us.

Exercise 2
Choose the best topic sentence for each of the following paragraphs and put an “x” on
the line next to it.
1. a. Korea has a great variety of plant life.
b. Korea is great!
c. Korea is a nice place to visit.
There's more to Korean plant life than just rice, apple trees, and pine trees. Because of
the diversity of Korean soil and environments, it has a wide variety of plants. A drive
around the countryside will show you what an interesting assortment of plants there are.

2. a. Flying in bad weather is difficult.

b. Pilots do a lot of pre-flight preparation.
c. Pilots make a lot of money and fly all over the world.
They check their plane to make sure that it is working properly. They also make sure
that baggage or cargo has been loaded correctly. They check the weather forecast to see
if they will run into any bad weather on their trip. Pilots then decide what route they
should take, and how high and fast they should fly.