Punctuation is the use of different marks to show how a sentence is constructed and should be read and understood. It is, if you like, the written equivalent of pauses and emphasis. In English the following punctuation marks are used: apostrophes brackets or parentheses colon commas dashes or hyphens ellipsis […]
Continue ReadingPunctuating Direct Speech
This article gives the rules and conventions when it comes to Punctuating Direct Speech, that is the words actually spoken by someone, i.e. direct speech. Inverted Commas Inverted Commas or Quotation Marks are used to enclose whatever someone says. Note that other punctuation comes inside these marks. “Where are you […]
Continue ReadingPredicates in English Grammar
Most sentences have a subject; the Predicate is the rest of the sentence which tells us about that subject. In these examples, the subject of the sentence is Plato and the predicate is highlighted bold. Plato thought. Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher. Plato is the name of my dog. […]
Continue ReadingPossessive Pronouns in English Grammar
Possessive pronouns are pronouns used to show ownership. They tell us who owns what when we don’t want to or don’t need to repeat the name of what is owned. As with all pronouns, possessive pronouns replace a noun (the word pronoun comes from Latin and means in place of […]
Continue ReadingPossessive Apostrophes
Possessive Apostrophes are added to the end of a noun to show possession. This car belongs to John. It is John’s car. That dog belongs to that girl. It is that girl’s dog. Note, a Possessive Apostrophe is sometimes known as a Saxon Genitive. Plural Nouns If there is a […]
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