| Apostrophes, exclamation points, and question | | | | question. |
| marks are important parts of English grammar. | | | | For example: Mike asked who wanted to play |
| Students who have a good understanding of | | | | soccer. |
| these concepts demonstrate better writing skills. | | | | |
| Apostrophes are those little commas that dangle | | | | 2. Direct Questions: Direct questions involve |
| in the air ('). Apostrophes show changes in the | | | | somebody speaking. Quotation marks are used |
| function of words. | | | | in direct quotations |
| | | | | For example: "Who wants to play soccer?" Mike |
| 1. Use an apostrophe to create a possessive of | | | | asked. |
| a singular or plural noun. | | | | |
| | | | | 3. Series Questions: With series questions, |
| For example, | | | | each question can be followed by a question |
| | | | | mark. |
| David's hockey skills. (the skills belong to David) | | | | For example: Do you want to play soccer? |
| | | | | Would you rather play baseball? Would you |
| The girls' outfits were pretty. (the outfits | | | | rather watch us play? |
| belonging to more than one girl) | | | | |
| | | | | Exclamation Points |
| | | | | An exclamation, which can be a word, phrase, or |
| 2. Use apostrophes to create contractions. | | | | clause, is an expression of strong emotions or |
| | | | | commands. |
| For example, | | | | For example: |
| they + are = they'rewho + is = who'sit + is = | | | | That was the best movie I ever saw! |
| it's | | | | "Watch out!" David shouted as the piano fell from |
| | | | | the building. |
| All sentences end in some form of | | | | In the second sentence, the exclamation point is |
| punctuation. A question mark always follows a | | | | inside the quotation marks because David yelled |
| direct question. An exclamation point always | | | | ‘watch out'. |
| conveys strong emotions. | | | | Exclamation points shouldn't be used too much in |
| Question Marks | | | | writing because they can lose their sense of |
| Question marks are always part of a direct | | | | strong emotion if there are too many of them. |
| question. There are three types of questions. | | | | |
| 1. Indirect Questions: There are no question | | | | Make sure your child has a good understanding of |
| marks in indirect questions. There are no | | | | these English grammatical concepts and your child |
| quotations and there is no one actually asking a | | | | should improve his or her writing skills. |