Punctuation Error-Spot
Punctuation Error-Spot is an 11+ English task where pupils read sentences or a short passage and find a missing or incorrectly used punctuation mark, then correct it. It covers apostrophes, commas, speech marks, colons and semicolons, and appears as a SPaG section on GL Assessment and CSSE-style entrance papers.
Method
- Read the sentence aloud in your head, since missing commas and full stops often show up as places where the sentence 'runs out of breath'.
- Check every apostrophe: is it showing a missing letter, a contraction like 'it's', or ownership, a possessive like 'the dog's bowl'? Never add one for an ordinary plural.
- Check speech marks: punctuation that belongs to the spoken words, such as commas, question marks and full stops, goes inside the closing speech mark.
- Look for comma splices, where two complete sentences are wrongly joined only by a comma; fix these with a full stop, semicolon, or a comma plus a joining word.
- Remember colons introduce a list or explanation after a complete sentence, while semicolons join two related, complete sentences of equal weight.
- Once you spot the error, write out the whole sentence correctly rather than just naming the mistake, unless the question asks only for identification.
Worked example
Correct the punctuation error in this sentence: 'The dog wagged it's tail happily.'
- Read the sentence and check every word that could be a homophone trap; 'it's' stands out.
- Decide whether the sentence needs the contraction 'it is' or the possessive 'belonging to it': here, the tail belongs to the dog, so the possessive is needed.
- Recall the rule: the possessive 'its' never takes an apostrophe, unlike most possessives.
- Correct 'it's' to 'its'.
- Final answer: The dog wagged its tail happily.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Correct the punctuation error in this sentence: 'Toms bag was left on the bus.' (2 marks)
Correct all the punctuation and capitalisation errors in this line of dialogue: watch out shouted mia the ice is cracking (3 marks)
Read this sentence: 'The whistle blew, the players jogged off and Freya my younger sister cheered from the stands.' It contains two separate punctuation errors: a comma splice and a missing pair of commas around extra information. Identify and correct both errors. (4 marks)
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the punctuation error-spot worksheet pack - 12 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. No sign-up, no email wall - just the PDF, free for personal and classroom use.
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