KS2 English textbook

Chapter 5: Punctuation

Strand Grammar
Level Year 3
Practice 95 questions with step-by-step solutions

National Curriculum for England, Key Stage 2 English, Year 3. Content: Use inverted commas and other punctuation to show the words that are spoken (direct speech), with the reporting clause, Use the term inverted commas (or speech marks) for direct speech, Use commas after fronted adverbials, Use commas to separate the items in a list, Use an apostrophe for contraction, and the possessive apostrophe with a singular owner, Use the possessive apostrophe with plural owners, such as girls' rooms and children's toys, Write from memory a simple sentence that is read aloud, with the punctuation taught so far, Use the terms inverted commas, apostrophe and comma.

Open Year 3 chapter

By the end of this chapter you will be able to

Put inverted commas round the exact words someone says, and keep the reporting clause outside them
Put the comma, question mark or exclamation mark inside the closing inverted commas
Put a comma after a fronted adverbial at the start of a sentence
Use commas between the items in a list, and and before the last item
Use an apostrophe for a short form, such as don't, and for the owner of one thing, such as the dog's bone
Put the apostrophe in the right place for more than one owner, such as the girls' rooms

You should already know

Capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks (Year 2)
Apostrophes for short forms and for one owner (Year 2)
Clauses, conjunctions and fronted adverbials (Chapter 4)

Where this leads

Writing dialogue and direct speech in stories (Chapter 10)
Paragraphs, and the present perfect form of verbs (Chapter 6)
Proof-reading for spelling and punctuation (Chapter 11)

Lessons in this chapter

Read the whole chapter on one page (good for printing).

Practise with real exam questions

The DfE publishes every past KS2 test, with mark schemes, for free.

KS2 English past papers