KS3 English Language: Full Stops and Commas

Full Stops and Commas…

Full stops and commas like these are essential punctuation.

Commas separate items in a list or indicate pauses in a sentence.

A full stop ends a sentence.

Full stops allow a sentence to come to a complete stop.

If we didn’t have full stops, sentences would just run into one another. ‘There would be no way to know where one ends and another begins take Speedy Pete for example who has just crashed into a bus if he had stopped he would be fine.’

Whilst full stops end a sentence, commas are a way of slowing things down, giving a sentence a rhythm, allowing it to breathe.

There you go, much better. Uh-oh, I spoke too soon! He’s speeding up again. He isn’t pausing or slowing down.

Commas can also connect items in a list.

For example, ‘Speedy Pete rides through the toffee factory, the bakery, past a flock of birds and then stops just in time.’

Commas can also be used before joining words, like ‘but’ or ‘therefore’, or ‘however’.

For example, ‘Speedy Pete may have avoided crashing, but he’s not out of danger yet.’

Remember the pecking order.

Commas separate items in a list or indicate pauses in a sentence.

A full stop ends a sentence.

Poor Pete, he needs to slow it down.