Visual Guide to

Grammar and
Punctuation
 Contents
Written by Sheila Dignen
Senior editor Marie Greenwood Introduction 4
US Editor Rebecca Warren
US Consultant Anne Flounders
How to use this book 6
US Senior editor Shannon Beatty What is grammar? 8
Art editors Shipra Jain, Seepiya Sahni What is punctuation? 9
Assistant editor Anwesha Dutta
DTP designer Bimlesh Tiwary, Parts of speech 10
Nityanand Kumar
Jacket coordinator Francesca Young Nouns 12
Jacket editor Ishani Nandi Proper nouns 14
Jacket designers Amy Keast,
Dheeraj Arora Abstract nouns 15
Managing editors Laura Gilbert, Singular and plural nouns 16
Alka Thakur Hazarika
Managing art editors Diane Peyton Jones,
Compound nouns 18
Romi Chakraborty Collective nouns 19
CTS manager Balwant Singh Verbs 20
Production manager Pankaj Sharma
Picture researcher Sakshi Saluja
Verbs and subjects 22
Pre-production producer Dragana Puvacic Subjects and objects 24
Producer Isabell Schart The verb be 26
Art director Martin Wilson
Publisher Sarah Larter Pronouns 28
Publishing director Sophie Mitchell I or me? 30
Possessive pronouns 31
First American Edition Present and past tenses 32
Published in the United States in 2017 by
DK Publishing, 345 Hudson Street, New York, Future tense 33
New York 10014 Progressive tenses 34
Copyright © 2017 Dorling Kindersley Limited Perfect tenses 36
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC Auxiliary verbs 38
17 18 19 20 21 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
001–298818–Jun/2017 Infinitives 40
Adjectives 42
All rights reserved. Where to put adjectives 44
Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, Adverbs 46
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or
introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, Adjectives into adverbs 48
or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Adverbs of place 49
recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission Adverbs of time 50
of the copyright owner. Adverbs before adjectives 51
Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited.
Comparatives and superlatives 52
A catalog record for this book is available from Prepositions 54
the Library of Congress. Prepositions of place 55
ISBN: 978-1-4654-6258-9 Prepositions of time 56
Printed and bound in China
Other prepositions 57
A WORLD OF IDEAS:
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
Conjunctions 58
www.dk.com Coordinating conjunctions 60
Subordinating conjunctions 61
Interjections 62
Determiners 64
Parts of speech quiz 66
 a small white dog
with a flowing cape

Sentences, phrases, and clauses 68 Punctuation 96

Sentences 70 Capital letters 98
Statements 72 Periods 99
Questions 73 Question marks 100
Exclamations 74 Exclamation points 101
Commands 75 Commas 102
Noun phrases 76 Apostrophes 104
Prepositional phrases 77 Possessive apostrophes 105
Adverbials 78 Its or it’s 106
Fronted adverbials 79 Parentheses 108
Clauses 80 Quotation marks 109
Main clauses 82 Dashes 110
Subordinate clauses 84 Hyphens 111
Relative clauses 85 Colons 112
Relative pronouns 86 Semicolons 113
Active and passive sentences 88 Ellipses 114
Direct speech 90 Bullet points 115
Reported speech 91 Punctuation quiz 116
Direct to reported speech 92
Sentences quiz 94 Writing tips 118
Common mistakes in grammar 120
Common mistakes in punctuation 122
Glossary 124
Index 126
Acknowledgments 128

Elephants are
amazingly
strong.

The balloon was going

higher and higher.
 Introduction
apostroph
e s
When you learn au x i l i a r y
ver about the grammar of your
bs own language, the most clauses
important thing to remember is
adjectiv that you already know most of it.
es ellipses
Every time you open your
mouth to speak, you are
using grammar without pas
even realizing it! t te
nse

future tense
You talk about what you
ns e did yesterday and what you’re
perfect te going to do tomorrow; you talk
com about one friend, two friends
mas or your brother’s friends;
v e r b s
ad you talk about exciting films,
more exciting films and
the most exciting film
you’ve ever seen ...

pron
ouns hyphens
capital
4 exclamations colons
verb direct speech

objects
When you talk about all these
noun phrases
things, you are using grammar.
This book will teach you how to
understand the different kinds of
t i o n s
words in English, how they fit
together to create different ques
meanings and how to use
punctuation correctly excla
matio
when you write. n poi
nts

periods infinitives
parentheses
Best of all, it will help you
to have fun with language and
subjects
become confident using it,
so that you can choose the
best words and the best kinds
of sentences for what you
want to say or write.
So let’s get started!
l e tt e r s
5
 How to use this book
There are different ways to read this book. You can either
start at the beginning and work your way through, or you
can dip into different topics. There are examples given for
each topic, and each example is accompanied by a picture.
We hope that you enjoy learning about the English language!
How the pages work
Each page or pair of pages introduces
a new grammar or punctuation topic.
The heading tells you what the topic is. Sentences
A sentence is a group of words that make sense on their Most se
own. A sentence might give information or ask a question. of the ve

Introduction Heading A sentence always begins with a capital letter, and it ends
with a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation point.

Each topic is explained in the introduction, for Look at these words, and see how they become a sentence.
subjec

example, how to use nouns or adjectives, or how Giraffes Giraffes

have
Giraffes
have
Giraffes
have
to use commas. The word or punctuation mark long long
necks. The per
The obj
being covered is shown in bold. I want to I want to I want to I want to travel subject
travel to travel to to the moon in
the moon a rocket.

Adverbs
Verbs tell you what things do. For example, tigers roar All sentences
Some adverbs don’t end in -ly, but they are still adverbs if they tell must have a verb. You can’t make a sentence without a verb Sa
and birds sing. Adverbs tell you how they do it. Most you how something is done. because the verb tells us what happens.
adverbs end in -ly, and they usually come after verbs.
Adverbs that tell you how someone does something are We played wellI today.
soccer I play Snakes Snakes
every day. soccer along the slither
called adverbs of manner. every day. ground. along the
The lion Some birds ground.
roared can sing
fiercely. beautifully.
70
I can run fast.

She tiptoed The sun I always work hard. You need to hold on tight.
quietly down was shining
the stairs. brightly.
Examples
You will find lots of
I won You have
easily. to balance examples throughout.
them carefully.
Re m e m
ber!
an smil
e, The relevant part of
, you c
adverb eep a while. ,
u t a n
Witho e a bike or sl ile gleefully
Or rid rbs, you sm acefully.
speech or punctuation
Top pe
tip Using adverbs to describe how people do things
can make your writing more lively and interesting.
dve
With a illfully, sleep
Ride sk
is shown in bold or
46 47
sometimes underlined.
Top tips Remember!
Handy tips are given Read the rhymes—they will help
to help you. you remember those tricky points
6 of grammar or punctuation.
 Its or it’s
You use its, with no apostrophe, to show that something It’s is a short form of it is or it has. The apostrophe replaces the missing
belongs to an animal or a thing. letters.

The dog is
wagging its tail.
The baby monkey stays
close to its mother.
Look! It’s a starfish!
it is
It’s raining!
it is Pictures
The example
pictures help
Where’s the rabbit? Where is my scarf? make the text
The baby snake is coming The bird is sitting on its It’s in the hat! It’s disappeared!
out of its shell. eggs in its nest. it is it has easier to
understand.

This is my new coat.

This bucket I can’t play this now It’s got wooden toggles.
has lost because its strings mb er!
it has Re m e .
an see .)
its handle. are broken. you c e
m o u se as apostroph g.
,
It’s a notice the s tail is lon g!)
a s e h t, it w ron
(Ple brig ould be
es are w
Its ey phes here
tr o
(Apos

entences have a subject,106

which tells us who does the action 107
erb.

Cheetahs run fast. Beetles scuttle along.

verb
subject verb
ct Three sections
The book has three sections: Parts of speech (blue);
rson or thing that comes after the verb is called the object.
ject receives the action of the verb.
Sentences and clauses (orange); Punctuation (green).
t verb object subject object The color tells you which section you are in.
We love math! I read books.
verb

am is playing chess. Sasha is eating a banana.

subject verb object subject verb object Punctuation quiz periods . commas ,
... I asked. As we watched from a safe
Here is a passage from 1. How many more periods can distance, we ...
a story for you to read. you find? 1. What does this comma separate?
ed
Then, see if you Ben and I call then 2. What is there at the end of 2. Can you find a comma in a list,
wn and
can answer the Detective Bro as he and his the story, instead of a period? and a comma between two
behind What does it suggest? adjectives?
questions. stayed close the robbers back to
wed k). As
partner follo near the par
small house we saw that the : (b)
their house (a e, colons parentheses
from a distanc e taking things out
we watched
inside, and wer , and they started taking things out (a small house
robbers were black bag: money, jewelry they
of their large, gs of their bag: money, jewelry, near the park)
s—all the thin
king watche . “What’s and expensive-looking watches
71 expensive-loo Suddenly, Ben gasped Why are there
en ear lier. he whi spe red. What does the colon introduce? parentheses here?
had stol I asked. “Look,” se!” We looked
the matter?”
Grandma’s pur wait
“There! That’s and smiled; we couldn’t
at each oth er we told apostrophes ’ hyphens and dashes -
a’s face when
to see Grandm nd her purse ... What’s the matter? expensive-looking
her we’d fou
1. What does the apostrophe 1. Why is there a hyphen here?
replace here? 2. Can you find a dash - is
capital letters A 2. Can you find two it longer or shorter
possessive apostrophes? than a hyphen?
As Suddenly quotation marks “b” 3. Why is it there?

Quizzes
1. Why are capital letters used in
these words?
“What’s the matter?”
2. Can you find four capital letters
used in the character’s names?
What do the quotation
marks show? Common mistakes in punctuation
introduce extra information
the two words together. 2. watches—all the things they had stolen earlier; longer 3. to

Try the quizzes and see

letter “i” (what is) 2. Grandma’s purse, Grandma’s face hyphens and dashes 1. to join
colons a list of things parentheses because it’s extra information apostrophes 1. the
question marks ? exclamation points ! It’s easy to make mistakes with punctuation! Here are
1. two clauses 2. money, jewelry, and expensive-looking watches; their large, black bag Use a comma between adjectives,
a few things to watch out for.
happening periods 1. four 2. ellipses ... It suggests that there is more to say commas when they come before a noun.
What’s the matter? That’s Grandma’s purse! question marks inside exclamation points to show that something exciting is

if you can answer the Is the question mark inside or Why is there an exclamation
Detective Brown quotation marks direct speech—it is exactly what someone said a beautiful, colorful a huge,
Always use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence, for names
bird terrifying dinosaur
capital letters 1. because they are at the beginning of a sentence 2. Ben, Grandma,
116 outside the quotation marks? point here? (proper nouns) and for the pronoun I.
Answers 117
a beautiful colorful a huge terrifying dinosaur
Giraffes live in Africa. This is a present I
bird
questions. There’s a quiz giraffes live in
africa.
bought for Arjun.
This is a present
i bought for arjun.
Always use a capital letter at the beginning of direct speech. Don’t forget
to put a punctuation mark at the end, inside the quotation marks.

at the end of each section. Don’t use a capital letter after a colon or a semicolon (unless it’s
a proper noun or the pronoun I).
“Let’s play on the
swings,” Zara said.
“This is fun!”
Charlie shouted.
“Let’s play on the “This is fun”!
He showed me what was Our dog is always muddy; swings”, Zara said. Charlie shouted.

Common mistakes in his pencil case: pencils,

pens, and an eraser.
He showed me what was
she loves playing in the
yard!
Our dog is always muddy;
You can use parentheses for adding extra information. The period usually
goes after parentheses, but it goes inside the parentheses if the

It’s easy to make mistakes with in his pencil case: Pencils,

pens, and an eraser.
She loves playing
in the yard!
information in the parentheses is a full sentence.

I love those shoes

(the red ones).
I’ve always wanted a hamster.
(My mom has always refused

grammar and punctuation. Use an apostrophe to show possession, and

remember to put it in the correct place.
Singular Plural
I love those shoes
(the red ones.)
to buy me one.)
I’ve always wanted a
hamster. (My mom

These pages point out the my brother’s shoes

my brothers’ shoes
my brothers’ shoes
my brother’s shoes
Bill
has always refused
to buy me one).

most common ones.

122 John John 123

7
 What is grammar?
We use words when we talk to and write to
each other. There are thousands of different
words in any language, and they all have their
own meanings. Grammar is the way we put
these words together so that they make sense.

Words scattered around on their own don’t mean very much.

to
huge zoomed
plan up
et
An rocke
a t

into distant spac

e

alien
traveled
The

Words are like pieces of a jigsaw. We need

to fit them together properly to make meaning.
e
The huge rocket zoomed up into spac

An alien traveled to a distant

planet
8
What is punctuation?
When speaking, you might pause when you’ve finished
saying something, or you might shout if you are angry.
When you write, you use punctuation to make your meaning
clear. Punctuation shows the reader when to pause, when
something is a question, or when something is shouted.

With no punctuation, a sentence is hard to understand.

the toy store was amazing there were shelves packed

with all kinds of exciting things wooden trains action
figures brightly colored kites and lots more

We need to add punctuation to make the meaning clear.

The toy store was amazing! There were shelves packed

with all kinds of exciting things: wooden trains, action
figures, brightly colored kites and lots more.

Sometimes punctuation can change the meaning of a sentence.

We found gold coins We found gold, coins,

and jewels. and jewels.

9
 Prepositions
Adjectives
The astronaut
flew to the Moon a green and
in a rocket. yellow parrot

Verbs

roar
hunt Conjunctions

He’s a wizard. Nouns

Most animals
look cute when
10
they are young.