3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 4 of 13
Punctuation Power
Commas, apostrophes and quotes
What your child practices
Choosing end marks, using commas in lists and dates, writing contractions and possessives with apostrophes, and putting quotation marks around speech.
Alabama Course of Study content standard: 3.36 · commas, apostrophes and quotation marks
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- End a statement with a period, a question with ?, and strong feeling with !
- Use commas between things in a list.
- An apostrophe takes the place of missing letters: do not → don’t. Quotation marks go around the exact words someone says.
Example: What is the contraction for “cannot”? Join the two parts: can + not. The apostrophe stands for the missing letters. Answer: can’t
Punctuation Power in Alabama
In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 4 of 13 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Word Jobs and before Spelling Patterns.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which sentence uses quotation marks correctly?
- Can I help you? “asked Leo.”
- “Can I help you? asked Leo.”
- “Can I” help you? asked Leo.
- “Can I help you?” asked Leo.
“Can I help you?” asked Leo.
Hint: Quotation marks go around only the exact words someone says, like a speech bubble. Leo's exact words are: Can I help you?
Question 2
What is the contraction for “it is”?
- i'ts
- its
- it's
it's
Hint: A contraction squeezes two words together. An apostrophe (') takes the place of the missing letters: it is → it's.
Question 3
Which sentence uses commas correctly?
- Ravi found, rocks shells and feathers.
- Ravi found rocks, shells, and feathers.
- Ravi found rocks, shells, and, feathers.
Ravi found rocks, shells, and feathers.
Hint: Put commas between the items in a list: rocks, shells, and feathers. No comma before the list starts or after “and.”
Question 4
What is the contraction for “they will”?
- theyll
- they'll
- they'ill
they'll
Hint: A contraction squeezes two words together. An apostrophe (') takes the place of the missing letters: they will → they'll.
Question 5
Which end mark belongs in the box?
Bats sleep during the day
- .
- ?
- !
.
Hint: Is the sentence calmly telling something? Telling sentences end with a period (.).
Question 6
Which date is written correctly?
- January, 28 2027
- January 28, 2027
- january 28, 2027
January 28, 2027
Hint: Start the month with a capital letter, and put a comma between the day and the year.