Punctuation

Marking Criteria - Punctuation

0/5 - no evidence of correct sentence punctuation 

1 /5 - correct use of capital letters to start sentences OR full stops to end sentences (at least one correct sentence marker) 

[Punctuation is minimal and of little assistance to the reader]

2/5 - some correct use of sentence level punctuation (at least two accurately punctuated sentences - beginning and end) OR one correctly punctuated sentence AND some other punctuation correct where it is required 

[provides some markers to assist reading]

3/5 - sentence level punctuation mostly correct (minimum of 80% of five sentences punctuated correctly) AND some other correct punctuation (two or more different examples of other punctuation) OR accurate sentence punctuation with correct noun capitalisation and no stray capitals, nothing else used (four or more sentences) 

[provides adequate markers to assist reading]

4/5 - all sentence punctuation correct (no stray capitals) AND mostly correct use of other punctuation, including noun capitalisation 

[provides accurate markers to enable smooth and efficient reading]

5/5 - writing contains accurate use of all applicable punctuation 

[provides precise markers to pace and control reading of the text]

SENTENCE PUNCTUATION INCLUDES 

• capital letters to begin sentences 

• full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to end sentences 

OTHER PUNCTUATION INCLUDES 

• commas in lists 

• commas to mark clauses and phrases 

• apostrophes for contractions 

• apostrophes for possession 

• capital letters and commas used within quotation marks 

• quotation marks for text extracts, highlighted words and words used with ironic emphasis (‘sneer’ quotes) 

• brackets and dashes 

• colons and semicolons 

• points of ellipsis 

NOUN CAPITALISATION INCLUDES 

• first names and surnames 

• titles: Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms 

• place names: Paris, Italy 

• institution names: Valley High 

• days of week, months of year 

• street names: Ord St 

• book and film titles 

• holidays: Easter, Ramadan 

• historic events: World War I