Tricky Punctuation in Cartoons. Lidia Stanton

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      3

      Full Stop

      Someone’s got a lot of homework to do. Poor Jack hasn’t got very far with his work.

      That’s all I’ve finished.

      STOP AND THINK

      Where could we place an extra full stop in the sentence above to help Jack finish his work?

      .

      That’s all. I’ve finished.

      Jack is not simply pleased, he is shouting out his joy to the rest of the world! An exclamation mark at the end of the sentence might fit even better.

      That’s all. I’ve finished!

      The full stop split two separate ideas:

      1. there’s nothing else left to do (‘That’s all‘)

      and

      2. I’m free to go now (‘I’ve finished!‘)

      That was easy.

      .

      I’m sorry. You can’t go to the sleepover!

      STOP AND THINK

      Is there anything we can do to make Alfie’s Mum less cross?

      We can remove the exclamation mark and replace it with a full stop. Now Alfie’s Mum’s voice seems far less angry. But what can we do with the full stop after ‘I’m sorry’? Replace it? With what? Remove it? Let’s try taking it out.

      .

      I’m sorry you can’t go to the sleepover.

      Aww… I can hear Mum’s soft voice. Perhaps Alfie hasn’t been naughty after all but unwell, or the sleepover has been cancelled. One thing we know for certain is that a change in our use of punctuation can alter a story quite dramatically.

      When you read the sentence the first time, the full stop after ‘I’m sorry‘ made you pause, which gave you enough time to adjust your voice to sound cross and maybe disappointed. In this way, the full stop made you feel the story. It sent a message to your brain to read with different intonation and a louder voice.

      You are just a narrator, Zed. And narrators, as well as actors, are not really angry or disappointed.

      CROSS AND DISAPPOINTED ARE NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

      .

      KEY TAKEAWAY

      A full stop is at the end of a sentence to show that it is finished.

      Full stops tell us to pause between sentences.

      They make thoughts and ideas more complete.

      They also give writing more structure (show the way sentences should be built).

      BREEZE THROUGH

      Let’s start with something easy to warm you up. Can you put in all missing full stops and capital letters?

      everything is funnier when you are not allowed to laugh

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      my first name is joe my surname is brown

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      it’s easier to pull than to push it’s also easier to sit than to stand

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      every class has one really funny student

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      dan bought chicken and eastern spice he is a fan of moroccan kebabs

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      i am told i am too cool for school

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      chocolate is god’s apology for broccoli

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