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Writing · Writing: Planning, Drafting, Revising and Publishing

Punctuation and Spelling: Commas, Semicolons, Apostrophes, Quotations and Spelling Strategies

3.3 3.1 3.2About 75 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can use commas correctly with conjunctions, introductory elements, non-essential information and series.
  • I can use semicolons, colons, dashes and hyphens correctly.
  • I can use apostrophes for possession and contractions, including its/it's, and punctuate quotations the Canadian way.
  • I can use Canadian spelling, a personal error list and dictionary checks to catch errors spell check misses.

Words to know

independent clause
A clause that can stand alone as a complete sentence.
non-restrictive (non-essential) element
Extra information that could be removed without changing which person or thing is meant; set off with commas.
serial (Oxford) comma
The comma before and or or in a list of three or more items.
conjunctive adverb
A word like however or therefore that links two independent clauses.
possessive
The form of a noun that shows ownership, usually with an apostrophe.
homophones
Words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings (their, there, they're).
Canadian spelling
Standard spelling used in Canada, such as colour, centre, cheque and travelled.

Tiny marks, big differences

Let's eat, Grandma! is an invitation. Let's eat Grandma! is a horror story. The students who studied passed is about some students; The students, who studied, passed says they all studied. Punctuation tells your reader how to read your sentence: where to pause, what belongs together and what is extra.

Spelling matters too. A spell checker will happily accept Their going too the rink because every word is a real word. This lesson gives you the punctuation rules that matter most in Grade 10 writing and strategies for catching spelling errors that technology misses.

Remember from Grade 9

In Grade 9 you used semicolons, colons, dashes and ellipses, learned title case, and studied suffix spelling rules and Canadian spelling. This lesson focuses on the most common comma and apostrophe errors, punctuating quotations, and a personal system for spelling.

Commas: the rules that cover most cases

  1. Before a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) joining two independent clauses: The ice was thin, so we stayed off the pond.
  2. After an introductory element: However, ... / In the morning, ... / When the snow stopped, ...
  3. Around non-essential (non-restrictive) information: My sister, who lives in Thunder Bay, is visiting. (I have one sister; the clause is extra.) Compare: The student who won the award is my cousin. (The clause tells us which student, so no commas.)
  4. Between items in a series: skates, sticks, and helmets. The comma before and (the serial or Oxford comma) is optional in many styles (Canadian newspapers usually leave it out, as most examples on this site do), but MLA style uses it, so include it in MLA essays unless your teacher says otherwise. Whatever you choose, be consistent.
  5. Between coordinate adjectives (if you could put and between them): a cold, dark night.
  6. With dates, addresses, direct address and quotations: On March 3, 2026, ... / Ottawa, Ontario / Yes, Ms. Lee, I finished. / She said, "Let's go."
Do I need a comma? Three common questionsJoining two complete sentenceswith and, but, or, so, yet, for, nor?yesComma BEFORE theconjunctionWe skated, and Mom cheered.Starting with an introductoryword, phrase or clause?yesComma AFTER theintroductory partAfter dinner, we skated.Adding extra information youcould remove without losing meaning?yesCommas AROUND theextra informationMs. Ito, our coach, cheered.No comma between a subject and its verb, and no comma alone between two complete sentences.
Most comma decisions come down to these three questions. If none of them applies, you probably do not need a comma.

Semicolons, colons and dashes

  • Semicolon (;) joins two closely related independent clauses: The rink opened today; the line stretched around the block. Use one before a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, otherwise) joining clauses, with a comma after it: It snowed all night; however, the buses ran. It also separates list items that already contain commas: Kingston, Ontario; Moncton, New Brunswick; and Regina, Saskatchewan.
  • Colon (:) comes after a complete sentence to introduce a list, an explanation or a quotation: She packed three things: mitts, a toque and a thermos. Do not use a colon right after a verb such as are or include (not The items are: mitts...).
  • Dash (—) sets off a sudden break or emphasis: The final note was one word — Yes. Use dashes sparingly in formal essays.
  • Hyphen (-) joins compound adjectives before a noun: a well-known author (but the author is well known).

Punctuating quotations (Canadian practice)

  • Periods and commas go inside the closing quotation marks: The notes "start to change." / "Ok," the narrator writes.
  • Colons and semicolons go outside: Mom writes "Love you"; the narrator answers only "Ok."
  • Question marks and exclamation marks go inside if they belong to the quotation, outside if they belong to your sentence: Mom asks, "Pancakes?" / Why does the narrator write only "Yes"?
  • In MLA, a parenthetical citation comes after the closing quotation mark and before the period: "held up by every magnet we own" (Lastname 4).
  • Use single quotation marks for a quotation inside a quotation: She said, "The sign read 'Thin ice.'"
Apostrophes for possessionWho owns it?One owner(singular)add 'sthe dog's leashChris's skatesPlural ownersending in sadd ' onlythe dogs' leashesthe Smiths' housePlural ownersnot ending in sadd 'sthe children's rinkthe people's choiceit's = it isits = belongs to it (no apostrophe, like his and hers)
Ask who owns the thing, then follow the branch. And remember: its never takes an apostrophe for possession.

Spelling: a system, not luck

  • Spell check is a first pass, not the last. It misses homophones and real words in the wrong place: their/there/they're, your/you're, its/it's, to/too/two, then/than, affect/effect, accept/except, lose/loose, whose/who's, principal/principle.
  • Set your word processor to Canadian English so it accepts colour, centre, cheque, travelled, defence, grey and Canadian place names.
  • Keep a personal error list. Most writers misspell the same 10 to 20 words repeatedly. Write yours down and check them every time.
  • Use word parts and families: separate has a rat in it; definite contains finite (not finate); necessary has one c, two s's.
  • Check names and terms against the source: authors, characters, places (Saskatchewan, Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe) deserve exact spelling.
  • Vocabulary and spelling grow together (expectation 3.2): when you meet a new word, check its spelling, meaning and pronunciation in a dictionary at the same time.
Canadian spellingNote
colour, honour, neighbour, favouriteCanadian usage keeps -our
centre, theatre, metre, litre-re endings
travelled, cancelled, labelleddouble l before a suffix
cheque (money), defence, licence (noun)license is the verb: licensed to drive
practice (noun), practise (verb)hockey practice, but I practise every day
analyze, organize, realizeCanadian usage generally prefers -ize (unlike British -ise)
Common Canadian spellings. Your teacher may accept other standard spellings if you are consistent.
Worked example

Let's punctuate and spell-check a paragraph

Correct: Its the first day of hockey practise and the team are nervous. The coach Mr. Haddad says "lets have fun". Their are three new players, a goalie, a defenceman, and a winger. The players parents watch from the stands, there cheering loudly.

  1. Sentence 1: Its → It's (it is). practise (verb) → practice (noun). Add a comma before and joining two independent clauses. the team are → the team is (Canadian usage treats team as singular).
  2. Sentence 2: the coach Mr. Haddad → commas around the non-essential name: The coach, Mr. Haddad, says... A comma after says before the quotation; lets → Let's; capital L to start the quoted sentence; period inside: "Let's have fun."
  3. Sentence 3: Their → There. Use a colon after the complete sentence to introduce the list: There are three new players: a goalie, a defenceman and a winger. (The writer's serial comma before and was not wrong: MLA essays keep it, while many other styles drop it. Either way, be consistent.)
  4. Sentence 4: players parents → players' parents (plural owners ending in s). The comma splice before there cheering → fix with a dependent phrase: ...watch from the stands, cheering loudly. (or ...the stands; they cheer loudly.)

It's the first day of hockey practice, and the team is nervous. The coach, Mr. Haddad, says, "Let's have fun." There are three new players: a goalie, a defenceman and a winger. The players' parents watch from the stands, cheering loudly.

Hands-on activity

Build your personal error list

You need: three pieces of your own marked or unmarked writing from this year, a notebook or index card, and a family member.

  1. Go through the three pieces and list every spelling and punctuation error you find (or that your teacher marked).
  2. Group them: homophones, apostrophes, commas, Canadian spelling, other.
  3. Write your top 10 on an index card with the correct form and a memory trick for each (for example, it's = it is: if you can't say "it is," no apostrophe).
  4. Ask a family member to quiz you on them with sentences they make up.
  5. Keep the card beside your computer and check it before handing in every assignment.

What to look for: errors grouped into patterns, memory tricks that really explain the rule, and a card you will actually use.

Just for fun

A panda walks into a café, eats a sandwich, shoots a crumpled napkin into the recycling bin and walks out. The puzzled waiter checks a badly punctuated wildlife guide: Panda. Eats, shoots and leaves. Remove one comma and it's just eats shoots and leaves, which is a much calmer lunch. (This old joke inspired a famous book about punctuation.)

Your turn

1

Add the needed comma: The roads were icy so the buses were cancelled.

2

Fix the apostrophe: The cat licked it's paw.

3

Punctuate the quotation: Mom writes pancakes

4

Commas or no commas? The student who found the wallet returned it.

5

Possessive of the Grade 10 students (their lockers).

6

Choose: The new rules will (affect / effect) everyone.

More practice: warm-up

1

Canadian spelling: color or colour?

2

What does a colon need before it?

3

Where does the period go: inside or outside the closing quotation mark (Canadian practice)?

4

Which is correct: the childrens' rink or the children's rink?

5

Name a homophone set that spell check will not catch.

More practice: on your own

1

Correct with a semicolon and a conjunctive adverb: It rained all day, however the game went ahead.

2

Fix the colon: For the hike, you need: water, a map and sunscreen.

3

Explain the difference: My brother, who plays hockey, is coming. vs. My brother who plays hockey is coming.

4

Correct: Its a well known fact that the Smiths house has the best rink on the street.

5

Correct the Canadian spelling: My favorite theater cancelled the program; I'll practice my lines at the center instead.

Challenge

1

Punctuate this sentence correctly, including the citation: As the narrator says the fridge door is a paper quilt from September to now Lastname 4

2

Write one sentence that correctly uses each: (a) a semicolon between clauses, (b) a colon introducing a list, (c) commas around a non-essential appositive, (d) a plural possessive.

3

Explain, with two examples, why spell check alone cannot replace proofreading.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

2.

Which uses the apostrophe correctly?

3.

Which is correct in Canadian practice?

4.

Which sentence needs commas around the clause?

5.

Which is the correct Canadian spelling?

6.

The possessive of the players (their jerseys) is:

7.

Which word fits? We could not ___ the late assignment.

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Expectations 3.3 (punctuation), 3.1 (spelling) and 3.2 (vocabulary) ask students to use conventions to communicate their intended meaning and to recognize and correct their own and others' errors.

How to help: help your teen build a personal error list and set their devices to Canadian English. When you spot a mistake, point to the line rather than the exact error (there's an apostrophe issue in this sentence) so they practise finding it.

Common difficulties: comma splices; its/it's and other homophones; apostrophes in plurals (the 1990's, banana's: both should have no apostrophe); colons after are or include; periods outside quotation marks; trusting spell check.

The panda joke in this lesson is a long-standing punctuation joke that gave its name to Lynne Truss's best-selling book Eats, Shoots & Leaves (2003).