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At the end of a sentence we put a full stop (.) after a statement or imperative. start learning
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We'll go for a walk now. But bring your coat.
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At the end of a sentence we put a question mark (?) after a question. start learning
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Do you want to go to Hyde Park? Shall we look at the shops first? Are they open on Saturdays?
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At the end of a sentence we put an exclamation mark (!) after an exclamation. start learning
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Look what I've got! What a fantastic dress!
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We write a capital letter (a big letter) e.g.We... or But... Hyde Park. Saturday. I. start learning
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at the beginning of a sentence. at the beginning of each word in a name and days and months, but not in other nouns. for the word I.
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We use a semi-colon (;) between to main clauses when the second main clause is not linked grammatically to the first. start learning
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The farmer and his sons start work at six o'clock every morning; they have to get up early because there is always so much to do.
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We put a comma usually between two main clauses before but, and or or, but only if the second clause has a subject (e.g. he). We use a comma to show a shorter pause than a semi-colon (;) or a full stop (.). The rules about commas aren't very definite. We can often choose whether to put a comma or not. start learning
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He looked for the key, but he couldn't find it. He looked for the key but couldn't find it.
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We put a comma after a sub clause. start learning
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When I saw the photo, I laughed.
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We put a comma after a reported clause. start learning
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The questions were easy, Alan said.
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We put a comma around a non-defining relative clause. start learning
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Mr Sims, who lives opposite, is ninety-six.
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We put a comma not usually before a sub clause. start learning
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I laughed when I saw the photo.
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We put a comma not before a reported clause. start learning
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Alan said (that) the questions were easy.
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We put a comma not before a question word or that. start learning
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We all saw what happened.
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We put a comma not with a defining relative clause. start learning
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The man who lives opposite is ninety-six.
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We put a comma not before an infinitive. start learning
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The police came to the house to ask him some questions.
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We put a comma sometimes after an adverb phrase but not usually before it. start learning
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On Thursday afternoon, they all went out together. They all went out together on Thursday afternoon.
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We put a comma usually around a phrase in apposition. start learning
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Mr Reid, the owner of the company, lives near Southport.
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We put a comma usually around a linking word. start learning
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The food, however, was good.
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We put a comma usually after or before a linking word or sentence adverb. start learning
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On the other hand, we need a quick decision. We could go to Tunisia, for example. Actually, I'm a liberal. It won't be easy, of course.
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We put a comma usually before please and after yes or no. start learning
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Have you got the number, please? Yes, I have.
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We put a comma before or after the name of a person we are speaking or writing to. start learning
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Have you seen this, Pat? Dear Mr Bright, Thank you for your letter.
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We put a comma in a list of more than two things. start learning
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Inside the room there was a table, two chairs, a lamp and a television set.
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We use quotation marks ("...") before and after direct speech. We usually put a comma before or after the direct speech. start learning
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David said, "It's time to go now". "It's time to go now, " David said/said David.
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We use the apostrophe in the possessive form of nouns. start learning
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These are my girl-friend's records.
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We use the apostrophe in short forms. start learning
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Chris isn't thirty. He's only twenty-five.
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We can use a short form only if the word is unstressed. We do not use short forms with yes or when a word is stressed. start learning
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Yes, we have. We really have had nice weather.
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We can use short forms after a pronoun. start learning
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We can use short forms sometimes after a noun. start learning
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We can use short forms sometimes after a question word. start learning
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We can use short forms after there and that. start learning
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We can use short forms for is after here. start learning
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We can use short forms for not after an auxiliary or modal verb. start learning
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We use short forms when we write down an informal conversation or in informal writing start learning
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e.g. in a letter or a postcard to a friend.
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When we use the short form, we leave out part of the word we are writing. We put an apostrophe (') instead of the missing part and we write the two words together as one. start learning
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'm=am; 've=have; won't=will not; 're=are; 'd=had/would; n't=not; 's=is/has; 'll=will/shall.
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Sometimes there are alternative short forms. start learning
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e.g. it is not > it isn't/it's not. They will not > they won't/they'll not.
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We write some compound nouns as two words, some with a hyphen and some as one word. The rules about hyphens aren't very definite. start learning
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That's a police dog. I've rung the police-station. Here's a policeman.
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We normally use a hyphen in compound adjectives. start learning
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There's a three-mile-long tunnel.
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We often use a hyphen after a prefix. start learning
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Don't over-fill the tank. We can re-use these bottles.
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