Grade 4 English: Commas, apostrophes and speech marks poster

1Commas in a list

Use commas to separate the things in a list. Put and before the last thing and leave out the comma before it.

2Apostrophes in short forms

• An apostrophe shows where letters are missing.
• do not: don’t; it is: it’s; I am: I’m; we are: we’re; cannot: can’t
• Many short forms end in n’t: were not, weren’t
• Its (belonging to it) has no apostrophe: The cat licked its paw.

3Apostrophes to show owning

• One owner: add ‘s
• More than one owner ending in s: add an apostrophe after the s

4Speech marks

Speech marks go round the exact words that someone says. The spoken words start with a capital letter. The end mark goes inside the speech marks.

5Capital letters and end marks

• Every sentence starts with a capital letter.
• Names of people, places and days start with a capital letter.
• . ends a statement, ? ends a question and ! shows strong feeling.

6Commas with names

Put a comma before the name of the person you are speaking to.