Capital letters Capital letters are used: 1.At the beginning of a sentence 2.For proper nouns (names, places, days and months) 3.For the personal pronoun ‘I’ 4.For titles of people and organisations 5.For the main words in titles of books, films, plays etc.

Now correct the following passage, adding capital letters where appropriate. ryan giggs is a football player. he plays for manchester united and wales. recently he won sports personality of the year. i believe he truly deserves the award.

Demarcating sentences. Full stops mark the end of a sentence Question marks stand in place of a full stop at the end of a sentence if it is a question Exclamation marks stand in place of a full stop at the end of a sentence to show emotion such as surprise or excitement.

Commas A common mistake is to put commas ‘where you take a breath’. You need to know the rules to use commas correctly.

Rule 1 Commas are used to separate items in a list: I packed my mobile, purse, passport and laptop.

Now put the commas in the correct places: Mrs Green is sociable reliable thoughtful and caring. David Beckham is athletic charismatic and successful. London Paris and Washington are all capital cities.

Rule 2 Commas separate the subordinate clause from the main clause in a complex sentence Robbie Williams, who was an original member of Take That, has returned to the group.

Now have a go at putting in the commas: As she realised it was pouring with rain she grabbed an umbrella. Whilst listening to her English teacher everything fell into place. Julia who has the voice of an angel auditioned for X Factor.

Rule 3 Commas mark off extra information in a sentence i.e. Robbie Williams, 34, recently got married to his long-term girlfriend, an actress.

Now have a go at adding in commas. Cher Loyd 17 recently took part in X- Factor. Cher who was very entertaining in the programme got to the final stages of the competition.

Apostrophes

Rule 1 When combining two words put the apostrophe where you have missed out letters i.e. I am = I’m.

Now write the following words adding in the apostrophes: Do not = dont We have = weve Should have = shouldve

Now have a go at writing the shortened versions with the apostrophes in the correct places: They will = It is = Could have =

Rule 2 If you want to show that something belongs to someone then you need to put in an apostrophe to show ownership i.e. Jack’s book (the book belongs to Jack and therefore we put an apostrophe and then s on the end of Jack)

Now have a go at putting in the apostrophes: Jessicas bag Mrs Greens class Simons dog

Rule 3 When using apostrophes to show ownership, if the word already ends in s then you put the apostrophe after the s i.e. Chris’ book.

Now put in the apostrophes: Louis class Jamies cat

Rule 4 If the word already ends in an s to show that it is plural (more than one), then the apostrophe goes after the s i.e. the girls’ netball team

Now put in the apostrophes: The teachers classrooms (only one teacher) The teachers classrooms (more than one teacher)

Homophones It is important to learn the different spellings of homophones because the words affect the meaning in a sentence. For example practice and practise are often misused.

There, their and they’re There, their and they’re are homophones (words which sound the same but have different meanings). There = place Their = person They’re = abbreviated from ‘they are’

Decide which version should be used in the following sentences: The boys went to football match in a minibus. Mr Hutton yelled “Get over !” “ going to win this,” exclaimed Mr Hutton.

Practice and practise Practice is a noun (The Doctor’s Practice) Practise is a verb (He is practising his serve)

Now have a go at writing the homophone for the following words: Aloud know made Are morning new Blue pane peace Flour plane right Here scene see Hole stair steel Key sun tail Knight through week

Pluralisation Plural means ‘more than one’. This means when changing a word from one item to many then you have to change the spelling of the word. For example balloon becomes balloons.

Rules for pluralisation Typically we add s to show something is plural i.e. Balloon becomes balloons If the word ends in hissing, buzzing or shushing sounds (s/x/ch/sh) we add es i.e. Box becomes boxes If the word ends with a consonant and then y, change y to i and add es i.e. Baby becomes babies If the word ends with a vowel and then y, simply add s i.e. Key becomes keys

Now have a go at creating plurals Dog = Kiss = Church = Sister = Quay = Worry =

Another pluralisation rule Most nouns ending in f, drop the f and add ves i.e. Half becomes halves Most nouns ending in fe, drop the fe and add ves i.e. Wife becomes wives

Have another go at creating plurals Jelly = Knife = Day = Thief = Watch = Life =

Of course there are always exceptions to the rules! Child when made plural becomes children. Deer when made plural remains as deer

Do you know the plural versions of these words? Foot = Goose = Sheep = Mouse = Woman = Formula =