'Punctuation' tutor notes
The aim of the 'Punctuation' topic area is to understand some of the basic rules of punctuation, particularly what is required to make a complete sentence. Learners are then shown examples of the use of full stops, question marks and exclamation marks.
How does this tie in with the curriculums?
-
England
Ws/E3.3 - use punctuation correctly, e.g. capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks:
1. understand that these are the complete family of sentence boundary markers used in continuous text written in complete sentences
2. understand that exclamation marks and sometimes question marks can affect meaning, and can act as the equivalent of intonation in spoken language
-
Wales
As England
-
Northern Ireland
As England
-
Scotland
See www.aloscotland.com for details of the Scottish curriculum.
Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of other websites.
In this Skillswise module you'll find...
Punctuation - factsheets
There is one factsheet in this section. It covers what is required to make a complete sentence, with examples of the use of full stops, question marks and exclamation marks.
Punctuation - games
There are two games available here.
'Sentence shooter' requires players to 'shoot' the correct choice of punctuation missing from a sentence. There is an easy and a hard option to try.
'Pin bored' is the same game format, but with a vocational office administration twist to it.
Please do tell us what you think of these games.
Punctuation - quiz
The learner can choose their level. Level A is the easiest and level C the hardest. The student can print out a certificate if they score 50% or more in the quiz. This will appear as a link on the results page - click on the link and the certificate will appear in a new window. Learners can write their name in once the certificate is printed.
Punctuation - worksheets
There are two printable worksheets with answersheets in this section. The first looks at adding full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and capital letters where necessary in sentences. The second gives learners practice at adding the same kinds of punctuation in a continuous piece of writing.
Technical help:
To get the most out of this topic area you need the following 'plug-ins':
-
Flash 7
The game in this topic section uses Flash 7. This is free to download and should only take a few minutes. You can follow the BBC WebWise instructions to download it to your machine.
Find out more.
If you don't have Flash 7 the same learning points are covered in the quiz, worksheets and factsheets.
Please note: the flash game in this section is quite graphical. Please allow about 1 minute for the game to download. Download times will vary according to your connection speed and how busy the network is.
-
Adobe PDF documents
Note that you will need the free Adobe Acrobat software on your machine to view PDF documents.
-
FlashPapers
We have provided the worksheets and factsheets as both PDF files and FlashPaper files. For screenreader users you should choose the FlashPaper version as these are designed to be screenreader accessible. If you don't need a screenreader it doesn't matter which type you use.
If you want to print the factsheets we recommend you use the PDF version provided. However, if you do want to print a FlashPaper, you must use the print button within the FlashPaper window (top right). Your internet browser can't tell what size to print these kind of documents, so if you use the print option in the 'file' menu it may print out completely the wrong size.
If you are new to the web, why not take a look at WebWise. You can try the WebWise online course or be shown the basics by our Computer Tutor. It's free and it will take you through everything you need to know to use the web successfully in your teaching. Get WebWise.
If you would like to get more help using Skillswise, check out the Help pages.
Taking it further:
With Skillswise:
Don't forget to check out the Skillswise Lesson plans and Teaching inspirations areas for more ideas about teaching punctuation.
For exercises in punctuating with commas and apostrophes (Level 1):
Apostrophes and Commas
On the web:
Here are a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find useful resources that you can adapt for teaching punctuation.
Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of other websites.
Do you know of any great online resources for practising punctuation? Tell us about them!
