Sentence forms, capital letters and end punctuation
These are the first punctuation skills children learn, and they are still on the SATs in Year 6. The questions are trickier than they look: an exclamation mark doesn't make a sentence an exclamation, and a question word doesn't always need a question mark.
The four sentence forms
Every sentence has one of four forms, depending on what it is trying to do:
| Form | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Statement | Gives information | The museum opens at ten. |
| Question | Asks for information | When does the museum open? |
| Command | Tells someone to do something | Meet me at the museum. |
| Exclamation | Expresses strong feeling | What a huge museum it is! |
Exclamations: the SATs definition
This is the part that catches children out. In the SATs, an exclamation must start with What or How and contain a verb. A sentence that ends in an exclamation mark is not automatically an exclamation.
- What a wonderful day it is!Exclamation: starts with What, contains a verb.
- How quickly the time flies!Exclamation: starts with How, contains a verb.
- Stop shouting!This is a command, even with an exclamation mark.
- It's huge!This is a statement expressing surprise, not an exclamation.
Commands
Commands usually start with an imperative verb (Sit, Open, Take), with no subject because the subject is “you”. Children spot those easily. The harder ones start with something else: Please sit down, Carefully lift the lid, Don't touch that. Ask what the sentence wants the listener to do.
Question mark or full stop?
A direct question asks the reader something and ends with a question mark. An indirect question reports a question inside a statement, and ends with a full stop.
- Where did you put the key?Direct question.
- She asked where I had put the key.Indirect question: the sentence is a statement.
- I wonder whether it will snow?Indirect question: it needs a full stop.
Children react to question words such as where, why and whether and add a question mark automatically. The fix is to ask: is the sentence actually asking me something, or telling me that someone asked?
Capital letters
Capital letters start every sentence and every proper noun: names of people, places, days, months, organisations, titles, languages and nationalities. The pronoun I is always a capital, and so is the first word of each sentence of direct speech.
Common errors go both ways. Children miss capitals on proper nouns, and add them to common nouns for emphasis (my Dog). Seasons are a frequent trap: spring and winter take no capital.
Full stops in a passage
Recognising where one sentence ends and the next begins is a writing skill as much as a punctuation one. The SATs present a short passage with the full stops removed and ask children to put them back. The commonest error in children's own writing is the comma splice, where two sentences are joined with only a comma.
- It was raining, we stayed inside.Comma splice: two complete sentences joined by a comma.
- It was raining. We stayed inside.Two sentences.
Each sentence needs its own subject and verb, and should make sense on its own. Reading a passage aloud and pausing where the meaning is complete helps children hear the boundaries.
How these are tested in the SATs
- Tick the sentence form: statement, question, command or exclamation.
- Choose the end punctuation for a sentence, including direct and indirect questions.
- Write a sentence of a given form, such as an exclamation starting with How.
- Insert capital letters or full stops into a sentence or passage.
Common mistakes
- Calling any sentence with an exclamation mark an exclamation.
- Missing commands that don't start with a verb.
- Putting question marks after indirect questions.
- Joining sentences with commas.
- Capitalising common nouns for emphasis, or missing capitals on proper nouns.
Teaching ideas
What's it trying to do?
Read sentences aloud and have children hold up a card for statement, question, command or exclamation. Include sentences that end in exclamation marks but aren't exclamations, and talk through every disagreement.
Turn it round
Give pupils one idea, such as the dog is enormous, and ask them to write it in all four forms. How enormous the dog is! is often the hardest, which is exactly why it's worth practising.
Direct to indirect
Pupils take direct questions (“Where are you going?”) and rewrite them as indirect ones (Mum asked where I was going.), noticing how the punctuation changes.
Read it aloud
For full-stop practice, pupils read an unpunctuated passage to a partner, who taps the table at each point where they think a sentence ends. They then compare with the punctuated original.
Try it: five quick questions
SATs-style questions to use as a starter or a quick check. Tap to see each answer.
What form is this sentence? Please close the window.
Show answer
A command.
Is this an exclamation in SATs terms? That's amazing!
Show answer
No. It's a statement. An exclamation starts with What or How and contains a verb.
Full stop or question mark? He asked if the shop was open
Show answer
A full stop: it's an indirect question.
Add the capital letters: on tuesday, priya and i visited cardiff castle.
Show answer
On Tuesday, Priya and I visited Cardiff Castle.
Write an exclamation starting with How about a tall tree.
Show answer
For example: How tall that tree is!
Free worksheets for this topic
Printable A4 PDFs with answers. Free to use in class or at home.
