English grammar · Beginner
English Punctuation and Spelling
English punctuation and spelling follow more rules than their reputation suggests. Capital letters mark sentence starts and proper nouns, apostrophes mark possession and contraction, and the spelling changes that happen when you add -s, -ed, -ing, or -er are regular enough to learn as a short list.
What it is
Punctuation shows how a sentence is organised: where it starts and stops, where a pause falls, which words are quoted, and which letters have been left out. Spelling is more consistent than English is given credit for: the sound-to-letter matches are irregular, but the rules for changing a word when you add an ending are almost entirely predictable.
It's Maria's birthday on Friday, so we're planning a surprise. Two apostrophes doing two different jobs, three capitals for three different reasons.
How to spot it
For capitals, ask whether the word names one specific person, place, day, month, language, or title. For apostrophes, ask whether letters are missing (it's = it is) or something belongs to someone (Maria's).
- Monday, July, French, London, Dr Patel (capitals for days, months, languages, places, and titles)
- summer, biology, north (no capital: seasons, school subjects, and compass points are common nouns)
- it's, don't, they're (apostrophe for missing letters)
- the dog's bowl, the dogs' bowls (apostrophe for possession: before s for one, after s for several)
Its without an apostrophe is the possessive (the dog wagged its tail). It's with an apostrophe is only ever it is or it has.
Punctuation & Spelling Quick Reference
Spelling changes before an ending
| Rule | Applies to | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Drop silent -e before a vowel ending | -ing, -ed, -er, -est | make, making; hope, hoped; nice, nicer |
| Double a final consonant after a short stressed vowel | -ing, -ed, -er, -est | stop, stopping; big, bigger; begin, beginning |
| Change -y to -i after a consonant | -es, -ed, -er, -est | study, studies; try, tried; happy, happier |
| Keep -y after a vowel | -s, -ed | play, plays; enjoy, enjoyed |
| Add -es after s, x, z, ch, sh | -s (plural and third person) | bus, buses; watch, watches; fix, fixes |
| Change -ie to -y before -ing | -ing | lie, lying; die, dying |
All 1 punctuation & spelling lesson
This section is small by design: most punctuation is learned from reading rather than from rules. The pages cover the points where learners consistently need a rule, starting with capital letters, whose use in English differs from most other languages (days and months up, seasons and school subjects down, and the pronoun I always capitalised).
- Capital Letters: English uses a capital letter at the start of a sentence, for the pronoun I, and for proper names: people, places, days, months, nationalities, languages, and titles attached to a name. Seasons, ordinary job words, and common nouns stay lowercase. The system is about naming a unique thing, not about making a word look important.
Punctuation & Spelling FAQs
- Which words take a capital letter in English?
- The first word of a sentence, the pronoun I, names of people and places, days and months, languages and nationalities, holidays, brand names, and the main words in titles of books and films. Seasons (summer), school subjects (history), compass points (north), and most job titles used generally (the manager) stay lowercase, which is where English differs from many learners' first languages.
- When do I use an apostrophe?
- For two jobs only: to show letters have been left out (don't, I'm, we've, it's) and to show possession (Sara's car, the children's room). Plural nouns do not take one: three cats, the 1990s. The possessive pronouns hers, its, ours, yours, and theirs never take one either.
- Where does the apostrophe go with a plural possessive?
- After the s if the plural ends in s: the players' changing room, my parents' house. Before the s if the plural is irregular and does not end in s: the children's toys, the men's team. A singular name ending in s can take either form: James's book or James' book; choose one and be consistent.
- Why does stop become stopping but hope becomes hoping?
- Stop has a short vowel followed by a single consonant, so the consonant doubles to keep the vowel short: stopping, stopped. Hope has a silent e that already signals a long vowel, so the e drops before the ending: hoping, hoped. The same logic explains sitting and biting, planning and shining.
- Is British or American spelling correct?
- Both are correct. British uses colour, centre, organise, travelling; American uses color, center, organize, traveling. Exams and publishers accept either as long as one page is consistent. If you have no reason to prefer one, pick the variety your readers or teachers use.