Punctuation

“its” = possessive (belonging to it). Example: The dog wagged its tail.
“it’s” = contraction of “it is” or “it has”. Example: It’s raining outside.

“After eating, the children went out to play.”
Comma after the introductory phrase “After eating” to avoid confusion (otherwise it reads like they ate the children!).

Single quotation marks (‘ ’) are used for a quotation within a quotation. Example: She said, “My teacher told us, ‘Always be honest.’”

“Wow! What a spectacular goal that was!”
Exclamation mark after “Wow” (interjection) and after the exclamatory sentence.

Incorrect. “Girl’s” with an apostrophe shows possession, not plural. The correct sentence is: “The girls played in the garden.” (no apostrophe needed for simple plural).

A question mark is used with a statement when it becomes a tag question. Example: “You are coming to the party, aren’t you?”

“Gandhiji said, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’”
Capital “G”; comma after “said”; quotation marks around the quote; full stop inside quotes; capital “B” in the quote.

“My sister, who lives in Bangalore, is a software engineer. She works at a famous company.”
Commas around the non-essential clause; “Bangalore” capitalised; full stop after “engineer”; capital “S” for new sentence.

“The following students scored above 90 percent: Anita, Rahul, Priya, and Vikram. Congratulations to all of them!”
Colon before the list; commas between names; full stop; capital “C”; exclamation mark.

“Can’t you see that the dog’s bone is lying in its kennel? It’s been there since morning.”
“Can’t” (contraction); “dog’s” (possessive); “its” (possessive, no apostrophe); question mark; “It’s” (it has); full stop.

“Mr. and Mrs. Verma, their son Aditya, and their daughter Priya went to Shimla on 15 December 2025.”
Abbreviations with full stops; capitals for all proper nouns; commas to separate items in the list; full stop.

“The headmaster announced, ‘Attention, students! The Annual Sports Day will be held on 25 January 2026, at the Nehru Stadium. All students must wear white clothes. Don’t forget to bring your ID cards. Those who don’t have ID cards,’ said the headmaster, ‘must collect them from the office before Friday.’”
Corrections include: capitals (T, A, S, D, J, N, S, A, D, I, T, F); comma after “announced”; quotation marks; exclamation mark; full stops; apostrophes in contractions; commas.

(a) The children’s toys (irregular plural + ’s)
(b) James’s house (or James’ house — both accepted)
(c) The ladies’ office (regular plural ending in s + apostrophe only)
(d) A two weeks’ holiday (or a two-week holiday)
(e) The butterflies’ wings (regular plural + apostrophe)
(f) The jury’s decision (singular collective noun + ’s)

Model answer:
“You are cordially invited to the Annual Day celebration of Sunrise Public School. The event will be held on Saturday, 20 December 2025, at 4:00 p.m. in the school auditorium. The Chief Guest for the occasion will be Dr. Meena Sharma, a renowned educationist. Students will present cultural programmes, including dance, drama, and music. We request your gracious presence to make this event a grand success.”
(Award marks for correct use of capitals, commas, full stops, colon in time, and proper noun capitalisation.)

(a) In a list: Commas separate items. Example: “I bought pens, pencils, erasers, and notebooks.”
(b) After an introductory word/phrase: Example: “However, we decided to go ahead.” / “After the match, we went home.”
(c) Non-essential clause: Commas set off information that can be removed. Example: “My brother, who is a doctor, lives in Pune.” (Removing “who is a doctor” still makes a complete sentence.)

Model answer:
“Last summer, my family and I visited Jaipur, the Pink City of India. We reached there on 10 May 2025.

My father said, ‘Let’s visit the Hawa Mahal first.’ The guide told us, ‘This palace was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh.’

‘Isn’t it amazing?’ asked my little brother. ‘Yes, it truly is!’ I replied.

We also visited the Amer Fort, Nahargarh Fort, and the City Palace. What a wonderful trip it was!”

(Award marks for: capitals for proper nouns, commas, full stops, quotation marks, apostrophes, question marks, exclamation marks, and paragraph breaks.)

Model dialogue:
Student: “Good morning, ma’am! I need some books on Indian Freedom Fighters for my school project.”
Librarian: “Good morning! Which freedom fighters are you writing about?”
Student: “I’m writing about three leaders: Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, and Bhagat Singh.”
Librarian: “Excellent choice! We have several books on them. Let me check the catalogue.”
Student: “That’s very kind of you. How many books can I borrow?”
Librarian: “You can take up to four books. They’re due back in two weeks.”
Student: “Thank you so much, ma’am. I’ll take good care of them.”
Librarian: “You’re welcome. Good luck with your project!”
(Award marks for correct use of all 8 required punctuation marks.)

(a) “The teacher said the student is clever.” — A simple statement reporting what the teacher said (indirect speech).
(b) “The teacher, said the student, is clever.” — Here the STUDENT is speaking, and saying that the TEACHER is clever. Commas show “said the student” is a reporting clause inserted in the middle.
(c) “The teacher said, ‘The student is clever.’” — Direct speech. The teacher is speaking and calling the student clever.

Punctuation changes WHO is speaking and WHO is being described as clever!