Basic Punctuation Rules
This punctuation mark shows the end of a sentence.
What is a period?
This is an extreme exaggeration.
What is hyperbole?
This kind of writing is storytelling at its most basic: it’s all about sharing something that happens to a character. It can be an epic tale or a small statement; it can span years of time or a few minutes; it can be fact or fiction.
What is narrative?
This is the current date when the “National Day on Writing” takes place.
What is October 20th?
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot
Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
What is “The Lorax?”
This punctuation mark shows a question is being asked.
What is question mark?
The sun is happy.
Correctly identify the figurative language used in this example.
What is metaphor?
This writing involves capturing every detail of the place, person, or scene you’re writing about. The goal is to really immerse the reader in the experience, making them feel like they are there.
What is descriptive writing?
The longest word in the English language is:
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
Correctly identify the kind of disease this is in the human body:
a. heart
b. kidney
c. lung
d. liver
What is lung disease?
“Real isn’t how you are made,
It’s a thing that happens to you.”
What is “The Velveteen Rabbit?”
This punctuation mark joins two or more ideas in a sentence or separates items in a series.
Correctly identify and spell the answer.
What is a c-o-m-m-a?
I have told you to stop biting your nails a million times!
Correctly identify and spell the figurative language used in this example.
What is h-y-p-e-r-b-o-l-e?
This writing is all about getting your point across. The goal is to share your opinion in a thoughtful way—or, even better, to actually convince the reader of a viewpoint or idea.
What is persuasive writing?
This hashtag identifies the National Day on Writing:
#WhyIWrite
#NDOW
#WritingMatters
#EnglishLanguageArts
What is #WhyIWrite?
“A person’s a person
No matter how small.”
What is “Horton Hears a Who!”
This is a series of three dots, showing that something has been removed from a sentence. It can also show a pause or an unfinished sentence.
What is ellipsis?
An example of figurative language that gives a nonhuman thing human qualities and characteristics
Correctly identify and spell the answer.
What is p-e-r-s-o-n-i-f-i-c-a-t-i-o-n?
This kind of writing exists to explain a subject or inform about a particular topic area. The goal is simply to teach the reader something.
What is expository?
This is the year Ray Tomlinson, a computer engineer at MIT, sent an email to a computer sitting right next to him. He doesn't remember exactly what he wrote.
What is 1971?
“Never hurry and never worry!”
What is “Charlotte’s Web?”
This punctuation shows that a letter (or letters) has/have been omitted from a word in a contraction.
It is used to make a noun possessive.
What is an apostrophe?
This kind of figurative language compares two things using like or as.
Correctly identify and spell the answer.
What is s-i-m-i-l-e?
The goal of this kind of writing is to find new ways to tell stories that can surprise and delight readers.
What is creative writing?
This word looks the same when written upside down or right-side up.
What is
s-w-i-m-s?
“How much good is inside a day?
Depends on how you live ‘em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give ‘em.”
What is “A Light in the Attic?”
(Shel Silverstein)