Rules that help the reader

Word	What it means
Noun	A person, place, thing or idea: Leila, van, courage. A proper noun names a particular one and takes a capital.
Pronoun	A word that stands in for a noun: she, it, they.
Verb	An action or a state of being: packed, is, seemed.
Adjective	A word that describes a noun: heavy, blue, three.
Adverb	Describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb, often saying how, when or where: slowly, very, tomorrow.
Preposition	A word that links a noun to the rest of the sentence, often by place or time: into, under, after.
Conjunction	A joining word: and, but, so, because, while.
Complete sentence	A subject (who or what it is about) and a verb, making a complete thought.
Fragment	Part of a sentence punctuated as if it were a whole one.
Run-on	Two complete sentences run together with no punctuation, or only a comma. The comma kind is a comma splice.
Apostrophe	The mark (') that shows ownership (Dad's van) or missing letters (don't).

After practice, Leila slowly packed her heavy gear into Dad's van, but she forgot her skates.

Word	Part of speech	Its job here
practice, gear, van, skates	Nouns	Name things
Leila	Proper noun	Who the sentence is about
she	Pronoun	Stands in for Leila
packed, forgot	Verbs	The two actions
slowly	Adverb	Tells how she packed
heavy	Adjective	Describes the gear
After, into	Prepositions	Show when she packed, and where the gear went
but	Conjunction	Joins the two halves and shows a contrast

Same word, new job. In “We skate on Saturdays,” skate is a verb; in “My skate has a broken lace,” it is a noun. Ask what the word is doing, not what it usually is.

We got to the campsite late. Because the highway was closed near Canmore. Dad set up the tent in the dark, my sister held the flashlight. Nobody slept much.

• “Because the highway was closed near Canmore.” It has a subject and a verb, but because leaves you waiting for what happened. A fragment. Attach it: “We got to the campsite late because the highway was closed.”
• “Dad set up the tent in the dark, my sister held the flashlight.” Two complete sentences with only a comma: a comma splice.
• “Nobody slept much.” Short, but complete. Short is not a fragment.

Fix a run-on with	Example
A period	Dad set up the tent in the dark. My sister held the flashlight.
A comma plus and, but or so	Dad set up the tent in the dark, and my sister held the flashlight.
A joining word at the start	While Dad set up the tent in the dark, my sister held the flashlight.

The test: read each sentence on its own. If it sounds unfinished, it is a fragment.

Commas go between items in a list (skates, a helmet and gloves), after an opening phrase (After the game, we went for pizza.), before and, but or so joining two sentences, and around the name of someone you are speaking to: Are you ready to eat, Grandpa? Without that comma, Grandpa is on the menu.

Apostrophe rule	Example
One owner: add 's	the dog's bowl
More than one owner, ending in s: add '	the dogs' bowls
More than one owner, no s: add 's	the children's coats
Missing letters	can't, they're, it's (it is)
Plain plural: no apostrophe	two apples, three buses

Its or it's? Try “it is” in its place. If that works, write it's. If not, write its, which — like his — shows ownership with no apostrophe.

Before: Its my brothers hockey bag he said but the skates are mine.
After: “It's my brother's hockey bag,” he said, “but the skates are mine.”

It's is it is, and brother's means one brother owns the bag. His exact words go in quotation marks, the comma after bag sits inside the closing mark, and but stays lowercase because it is the same spoken sentence. Unit 6 sets out a whole conversation.

• A because, when or after half-sentence standing on its own.
• Two sentences joined with only a comma.
• Its and it's mixed up, or an apostrophe in a plain plural: apple's.
• Labelling a word's part of speech from memory instead of from its job.
• Punctuation outside the closing quotation mark.