Punctuation

Educators fell into a trap with the advent of the almighty photocopier. It is all too easy to produce worksheets with a 'fill the gap' component. Positively it could be said that the student can fit in more practice in a given time. However, much practice of writing full, coherent sentences complete with appropriate puctuation is sacrificed in the process.

Apostrophes in particular are an essential part of the spelling process (contractions) and the grammatical content (possessives). Many students find the conventions involved in representing speech within a piece of prose particularly problematic. Such knowledge of the conventions of punctuation cannot be simply left to chance.

Punctuation is an intergeral part of the writer's message. As such its appropriate use is deserving of being taught directly.

Punctuation, when habituated from the begin, rarely becomes problematic as the learner progresses through the grades.