| Sentence end | full stop after an indirect question, question mark after a direct one | She asked where I was going. / Where are you going? |
| Comma: clauses | after an opening clause; before but, so or yet | If it rains, we stay in. / I was tired, so I went home. |
| Comma: asides | a pair of commas round extra information | Anna, who lives here, is a nurse. |
| Apostrophe | contractions and possession; none in plurals or in its | I don’t know. / two CDs / the dog wagged its tail |
| Colon and semicolon | colon introduces; semicolon joins related clauses | Two options: stay or go. / Tom likes tea; Ana likes coffee. |
| Hyphen and dash | hyphen before the noun, none after; en dash for ranges | a well-known author / the years 1990–2000 |
| Quotation marks | single marks; the comma stands inside them before the speaker | ‘Come in,’ she said. |
| Capital letters | names, nationalities, languages, days, months; not seasons | She teaches Spanish on Mondays in summer. |
| C1Commas and meaning | commas add information; without them the clause identifies | my brother who lives in Leeds ≠ my brother, who lives in Leeds, |
| C1Opening phrases | comma after an opening participle or absolute phrase; none before that | Having finished, she left. / The work done, they went home. |
| C1Dash, colon, semicolon | colon explains, semicolon balances, dash adds emphasis | I knew the answer – but I said nothing. |
| Trap | its shows ownership; it’s = it is or it has | The dog wagged its tail. ≠ It’s raining. |