What is a hyphen? A hyphen is a short dash which is used to link words together. There are three main situations in which hyphens are used: in compound words, when adding a prefix to another word, and to denote word breaks. This week, we will look at how to use hyphens in compound words. What is a compound word? A compound word is a word that is made up of two or more other words. Hyphens are often used in compound words either to show that when the included words are together they have a combined meaning, or to show the relationship between the included words. There are different types of compound words and you don’t need to use hyphens in all of them. Compound Adjectives...
The summer holidays are coming to an end and if you’re not back at school yet, you will be soon. To help you prepare, we’ve compiled a list of our favourite posts on grammar and punctuation. Commas are confusing, but luckily we’re here to help. Click here to learn how to use commas to separate clauses, here to learn how to use commas as part of a list, and here to learn how to use commas in direct speech. If you think commas are difficult to use, you’ll probably think semi colons are worse. This punctuation mark is used to denote a break that has more emphasis than a comma but is less final than a full stop. In this article, we look at the two common circumsta...
A word class is the category we assign a word to in order to show how it functions in a sentence. In the first part of this article, we looked at adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and verbs. Click here to read it. This week we’re looking at conjunctions, determiners, exclamations, prepositions and pronouns. Conjunction A conjunction is a word used to connect different parts of a sentence. Conjunctions are sometimes called ‘connective words’. Here are some examples of conjunctions functioning in sentences: Sarah threw the ball, but Thomas dropped it. The teachers might have to reschedule the picnic if it rains, or perhaps they’ll plan another activity ins...
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