0. GRAMMAR SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE: TEACHING PUNCTUATION

1. Punctuation and meaning
How many different ways can you punctuate this sentence to create a different meaning each time?
A woman without her man is nothing

2. Punctuation and meaning
Speakers use tone of voice to shape meaning. Writers use punctuation marks.
David Crystal
It’s not there.
It’s not there!
It’s not there?

3. The power of punctuation
What is this thing called love?
What is this thing called, love?
One comma; two completely different meanings!
Using these examples, how would you explain to students one use of the comma?

4. Punctuation enables writers to:
make a text coherent for the reader
communicate emphasis and expression for a reader
indicate shades of meaning
add meaning to a text using graphical effects

5. Punctuation for coherence
Punctuation is about awareness of grammatical chunks to split up texts into sentences indicating clearly where each major chunk of meaning begins and ends we use capital letters and full stops within the sentence we use a variety of punctuation marks to show breaks between phrases clauses and sometimes words.
How would you punctuate this text to make it coherent for the reader?

6. Punctuation is about awareness of grammatical chunks
Punctuation is about awareness of grammatical chunks. To split up texts into sentences, indicating clearly where each major chunk of meaning begins and ends, we use capital letters and full stops. Within the sentence, we use a variety of punctuation marks to show breaks between phrases, clauses and, sometimes, words.
NB The notion of ‘a break’ is not the same as ‘a breath’: Students who have been taught to ‘put a comma where you need to take a breath’ can be very confused about the difference between a comma and a full stop (eg ‘a comma is a small breath’; ‘a full stop is a bigger breath’). There are some grammatical rules or likelihoods that we can teach about use of commas to indicate ‘breaks between phrases, clauses and words’, for example:
Separating words and phrases in a list: Commas can show breaks between phrases, clauses and, sometimes, words.
Following a subordinate clause which starts a sentence: To split up texts into sentences, we use capital letters and full stops.
Following a fronted adverbial: Within the sentence, we use a variety of punctuation marks; Almost inevitably, students are confused by the description of a comma indicating ‘a breath’.
To mark out a relative clause within a sentence: A relative clause, which begins with a relative pronoun, is one way of expanding a noun phrase.
However, there is a stylistic, rhetorical aspect to punctuation and it’s helpful to investigate with children the way that different authors use punctuation as part of their style – hence the notion of ‘heavy or light’ punctuation illustrated on the next slides.

7. Punctuation for emphasis
The way a sentence is punctuated:
communicates the relative importance and relevance of points and can create or solve ambiguities for the reader, e.g: the differences between:
A woman without her man is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
by indicating emphasis and expression, punctuation helps us hear the voice, mood and emotions of the writer or a character in a story:
And it seemed to happen so slowly, but there was nothing she could do: her weight shifted, the stones moved under her feet, and helplessly she began to slide. In the first moment it was annoying, and then it was comic: she thought how silly! But as she utterly failed to hold on to anything, as the stones rolled and tumbled beneath her, as she slid down towards the edge, gathering speed, the horror of it slammed into her. She was going to fall. There was nothing to stop her. It was already too late.
Philip Pullman: The Amber Spyglass
Explaining effects of punctuation can be a classroom challenge. You could use the extract above to voice to yourself:
How the sentences are shaped through punctuation to create narrative pace, noting where and how the action is slowed down, and where and how the action is speeded up.
Is there anything about Pullman’s use of punctuation that surprises you? Anything you might have done differently?

8. What’s your style? Heavy or light?
Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them blocking their way left and right eyes glinted through slits in hoods a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts Ginny gave a gasp of horror
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35
Any investigation into different writers’ use of punctuation, including over time, will reveal a good deal of flexibility in application of grammatical ‘rules’ eg over use of commas, semi-colons and colons, so that we can speak of writers having their own style of punctuation. How would you punctuate this extract? You could try two different ways, ensuring grammatical sense and coherence but varying stylistic, rhetorical emphasis.

9. What’s this writer’s style? Heavy or light?
Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts; Ginny gave a gasp of horror.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
Chapter 35
Discussion of punctuation in the classroom needs to be both grammatical and rhetorical i.e. being explicit about choices that are made for coherence and clarity of meaning, and about the stylistic effects of choices (such as the use of semi-colons above). You could use the extract above to rehearse how you would discuss these choices with students in a classroom writing context e.g. how J.K. Rowling uses punctuation to emphasise an exciting moment in the plot.

10. What some pupils find difficult about punctuation
Understanding the differences between spoken and written language
Knowing the rules and when they can be broken
Managing the competing demands involved in writing
In relation to third bullet point above: students may have been taught to ‘put in the punctuation afterwards’, meant as an encouragement to expressing ideas in an initial draft. However, a consequence can be that children see punctuation as an ornamentation to be added later, rather than integral to shaping meaning as they write. Oral rehearsal of sentences and frequent re-reading for sense are both useful in emphasising punctuation for coherence.

11. Using commas We use commas: before but in a compound sentence:
Human activity has put wildlife at risk, but many creatures are now thriving in zoos.
to separate the subordinate clause from the main clause when the subordinate clause comes first:
Although zoos might be considered cruel, they help preserve endangered species.
after an adverbial that links between or across sentences:
Crucially, zoos help preserve endangered species.
to separate items in a list:
Lions, tigers, cheetahs and leopards are all examples of endangered wildcats.
round additional information in a sentence that can be removed without affecting meaning (parenthetical commas):
Tigers, specifically the Amur Tigers, are the largest cats.

12. Expanding a sentence & using commas to punctuate the additional grammatical ‘chunks’
The desert was hot. The vast desert was hot. The vast desert, with its endless barren wastes, was hot. All year round, the vast desert, with its endless barren wastes, was hot. All year round, the vast desert, with its endless barren wastes, was hot, scorched by the merciless sun. With its endless barren wastes, the vast desert, scorched by the merciless sun, was hot all year round.

13. Co-ordinating comma
A comma can replace ‘and’ in a sequence of co- ordinated clauses:
He closed the lid, picked up the suitcase with one hand, took the pole with the net on the end in the other hand, and marched towards the entrance to the cave.
He rolled and wiggled, he fought and he figgled, he squirmed and he squiggled.
Roald Dahl: The BFG

14. Colons and semi-colons
There is often disagreement about exactly when colons or semi-colons should be used, but general agreement is that they can be used:
as boundary punctuation, an alternative to a full stop:
Fox hunting is cruel; it causes great distress to the fox.
Here, the semi-colon creates a stronger link between the clauses than a full stop would: the second clause expands and illustrates the first.
the semi-colon has a co-ordinating function, linking related ideas (it could be replaced with ‘and’):
Fox hunting is a cruel sport; it should be banned.

15. Colons and semi-colons
Semi-colons, like commas, are used to list items or actions:
Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts; Ginny gave a gasp of horror.
The example above shows that there are no fixed rules for this kind of use; some authors might separate longer items with commas, some with semi-colons, or - as in the example above – with a mixture.

16. Colons and semi-colons
Colons can be used to introduce a list or an example, including a list of bullet points on a PowerPoint slide.
Colons are also used to connect closely-related ideas, with the colon leading the reader to expect new information in the clause(s) following it:
I listened, and at last I heard it: a tiny squeaking sound, far off, like it was coming from another world.
And it seemed to happen so slowly, but there was nothing she could do: her weight shifted, the stones moved under her feet, and helplessly she began to slide.
A colon must always be a main clause, but what comes after the colon can be a single word, a phrase, or one or more clauses.

17. Punctuation and meaning
Punctuation can add meaning through graphic effects e.g. the use of hyphens or inverted commas to show that a word has a special sense:
I slowly made my way back to the tumbledown place I called ‘home’.
In the first moment it was annoying, and then it was comic: she thought how silly!
One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and – pop! – out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.
Sometimes, in the rain and dark, worms come up from underground. They seem too small to be important, but watch…the worms are recycling.

18. Pupils need to be taught the conventions of punctuation within a context in which they:
consider the audience and purpose of their writing
draw on good examples of writing to explore features of punctuation
explore and investigate how punctuation works within different texts
consider how writers use punctuation to influence the reader
orally rehearse their sentences
punctuate accurately as they write
constantly reread and review their writing