English Quiz - Punctuation (Questions)

Full stops and capitals are punctuation...but there are many more. You've already done a bit of punctuation; this quiz is a revision of some of the work that you have already done. Before you do this quiz make sure that you have done the following quizzes:

Apostrophes to Mark Omission
Apostrophes to Mark Possession
Capital Letters
Capital Letters 2
Clauses and Phrases
Commas
Commas 2
Complex Sentences

Have fun!

1.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	Pauls' house.
[ ]	the mouses' cheese.
[ ]	my mother's-in-law's house.
[ ]	Peter's dog.

2.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	He visited africa last year.
[ ]	She is from Brazil.
[ ]	They speak spanish.
[ ]	italian women are very beautiful.

3.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	He locked the door, and he went upstairs to bed.
[ ]	He locked the door, and went upstairs to bed.
[ ]	Having locked the door he went upstairs to bed.
[ ]	He locked the door, he went upstairs to bed.

4.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	The woman who lives next door is a famous novelist.
[ ]	The woman, who lives next door, is a famous novelist.
[ ]	The woman, who lives next door is a famous novelist.
[ ]	The woman who lives next door, is a famous novelist.

5.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	Its his house.
[ ]	Its' his house.
[ ]	It's his house.
[ ]	It his house.

6.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	Although he has never been to Russia, he knows the geography of the country very well.
[ ]	Although he has never been to Russia he knows the geography of the country very well.
[ ]	He has never been to Russia, but knows the geography of the country very well.
[ ]	He has never been to Russia but he knows the geography of the country very well.

7.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	He has two sisters. His sister, who is a doctor, is a famous doctor.
[ ]	He has three brothers. His brother, who is a university lecturer, is a famous scientist.
[ ]	He has three brothers. His brother who is a university lecturer is a famous scientist.
[ ]	He has one sister. His sister who is a doctor is a famous doctor.

8.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	The childrens' dogs.
[ ]	The children's dogs.
[ ]	The childrens dogs.
[ ]	The children's dog's.

9.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	Whose this book?
[ ]	Whoses this book?
[ ]	Who's is this book?
[ ]	Whose is this book?

10.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	It's there's not ours.
[ ]	It's their's not our's.
[ ]	It's theirs not ours.
[ ]	It's they're's not ours.

English Quiz - Punctuation (Answers)

1.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	Pauls' house.
[ ]	the mouses' cheese.
[ ]	my mother's-in-law's house.
[x]	Peter's dog.

Possessive singular takes 's

2.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	He visited africa last year.
[x]	She is from Brazil.
[ ]	They speak spanish.
[ ]	italian women are very beautiful.

The names of nationalities and languages are capitalized

3.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[x]	He locked the door, and he went upstairs to bed.
[ ]	He locked the door, and went upstairs to bed.
[ ]	Having locked the door he went upstairs to bed.
[ ]	He locked the door, he went upstairs to bed.

This is a compound sentence: two simple sentences (independent clauses) joined with a COMMA and a conjunction: 'and' in this case

4.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[x]	The woman who lives next door is a famous novelist.
[ ]	The woman, who lives next door, is a famous novelist.
[ ]	The woman, who lives next door is a famous novelist.
[ ]	The woman who lives next door, is a famous novelist.

'who lives next door' tells us who the woman is. It is NOT extra information, so you MUST NOT use commas. If you remove it, you get: 'The woman is a famous novelist'. Which woman?

5.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	Its his house.
[ ]	Its' his house.
[x]	It's his house.
[ ]	It his house.

It's = It is

6.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[x]	Although he has never been to Russia, he knows the geography of the country very well.
[ ]	Although he has never been to Russia he knows the geography of the country very well.
[ ]	He has never been to Russia, but knows the geography of the country very well.
[ ]	He has never been to Russia but he knows the geography of the country very well.

This is a complex sentence. Dependent clause: 'Although he has never been to Russia'; independent clause: 'he knows the geography of the country very well'. The introductory dependent clause is set off with a comma

7.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	He has two sisters. His sister, who is a doctor, is a famous doctor.
[ ]	He has three brothers. His brother, who is a university lecturer, is a famous scientist.
[x]	He has three brothers. His brother who is a university lecturer is a famous scientist.
[ ]	He has one sister. His sister who is a doctor is a famous doctor.

'who is a university lecturer' is important to the meaning of the sentence - so DON'T use commas. It is NOT extra information. If you take it out, you get: 'His brother is a famous scientist'. Which brother? The one that is a university lecturer

8.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	The childrens' dogs.
[x]	The children's dogs.
[ ]	The childrens dogs.
[ ]	The children's dog's.

Irregular plurals form their possessive forms by adding 's: children's, men's, women's, mice's, etc.

9.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	Whose this book?
[ ]	Whoses this book?
[ ]	Who's is this book?
[x]	Whose is this book?

'Whose' is the possessive form of 'who'. You use 'whose' to find out who owns something

10.

Which one of the following has been punctuated correctly?

[ ]	It's there's not ours.
[ ]	It's their's not our's.
[x]	It's theirs not ours.
[ ]	It's they're's not ours.

'It's' = 'It is'. 'Theirs' and 'ours' are possessive pronouns. They are NOT the same as 'their' and 'our' which are possessive determiners (also known as possessive adjectives). For example: 'This is their book - It's theirs'; 'This is our house - It's ours'