Tests & Exercises

You always need an introductory sentence which ends with a colon (:).
If the text after a bullet point is a complete sentence, it should be punctuated like a normal sentence.

What to take on holiday:

• You will need sun cream to protect your skin.
• Don’t forget to take your passport.
• A credit or debit card to give you access to money.

What to take on holiday:

• sun cream
• passport
• credit or debit card

More help with writing.

The pronoun I is always capitalised.

• I saw her standing there.
• When will I be famous?

More help with capitalisation.

Apostrophes are used for showing possession and short form. They are not used to show plurals.
Showing possession:

Showing short form:

(it’s, can’t, haven’t, etc.)
• It's my car.
  (It is my car.)
• I haven’t been to Indonesia yet.
  (I have not been to Indonesia yet.)


Plurals don’t have apostrophes:

• Cat’s, Dog’s, Orange’s, ABC’s.
• Cats, Dogs, Oranges, ABCs.


Showing the possessive form of nouns and plural nouns that end with -s:

• The actress' best film.
  (The actress has a best film.)
• The cars’ big wheels.
  (Many cars have big wheels.)
• The heroes' problems.
  (Many heroes have problems.)


Also, no apostrophes with possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.

• Shall we take your’s or their’s?
• Shall we take yours or theirs?
• Our hotel room is next to their’s hotel room.
• Our hotel room is next to theirs.

Now do the exercise.

When two complete sentences are joined together using a conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), it should have a comma before it.

• I have spoken to Sarah, and she has confirmed the dates.
  (I have spoken to Sarah. + She has confirmed the dates. Two simple sentences joined together with and.)


Compare:

• I wanted to go to the beach, but I couldn't afford to pay for a hotel room.
  (There should be a comma before but because I couldn't afford to pay for a hotel room is a complete sentence.)
• I wanted to go to the beach but couldn't afford to pay for a hotel room.
  (There shouldn’t be a comma before but because couldn't afford to pay for the hotel room is not a complete sentence.)

More help with commas.