3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 4 of 21
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.
New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 3L2 · 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 New York
In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 4 of 21 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 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 2
Which sentence uses quotation marks correctly?
- “Where are my boots? asked Amir.”
- “Where are my boots?” asked Amir.
- “Where are” my boots? asked Amir.
- Where are my boots? “asked Amir.”
“Where are my boots?” asked Amir.
Hint: Quotation marks go around only the exact words someone says, like a speech bubble. Amir's exact words are: Where are my boots?
Question 3
What is the contraction for “they are”?
- they're
- their
- theyre
they're
Hint: A contraction squeezes two words together. An apostrophe (') takes the place of the missing letters: they are → they're.
Question 4
Which letter greeting is written correctly?
- Dear, Mr. Patel
- Dear Mr. Patel,
- dear Mr. Patel,
- Dear Mr. Patel.
Dear Mr. Patel,
Hint: A letter greeting starts with a capital letter and ends with a comma after the name.
Question 5
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 6
Which sentence uses commas correctly?
- I need glue, scissors, and, paper.
- I need glue scissors and paper.
- I need glue, scissors, and paper.
I need glue, scissors, and paper.
Hint: Put commas between the items in a list: glue, scissors, and paper. No comma before the list starts or after “and.”