9.2 Commas, Apostrophes & Capitalisation

9.2 Commas, Apostrophes & Capitalisation

If connectives are the logic of cohesion, punctuation is the set of traffic signals that make that logic readable. ICAS English syntax items frequently present four versions of a sentence and ask which is correctly punctuated, or which version uses capitals and apostrophes accurately. The core toolkit for most papers is the comma, the apostrophe, and capitalisation. Master these three before moving to colons, semicolons, and speech marks in the next section.

Quick Answer: Use commas in lists, after many opening clauses, and around non-essential extras—not to glue two full sentences with nothing else. Use apostrophes for possession or missing letters in contractions, never for a plain plural. Use capitals for sentence starts and proper nouns.

Why these marks are high-value on ICAS

Framework descriptors for language conventions include accurate punctuation and capitalisation across year levels. Errors in the options are often small and local: one missing possessive apostrophe, one capital on a common noun, one comma splice. Train your eye to scan every mark in every option under time pressure.

Commas: the main jobs

1. Lists (serial commas)

Separate three or more items in a list:

We packed maps, water bottles, and spare socks.

School and exam English often prefer the serial (Oxford) comma before and in a list of three or more. Some house styles omit it. On ICAS-style “correctly punctuated” items, favour the clear, standard pattern taught in most Australian classrooms: commas between items, and consistency within the sentence. Never use only commas with no and/or when the list is meant to be complete and parallel—options that run items together without structure are wrong.

List of phrases:

The coach praised arriving early, listening closely, and supporting teammates.

Keep the grammatical shape parallel (all -ing phrases here).

2. Compound sentences (two independent clauses)

When a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so, yet…) joins two complete clauses, a comma usually comes before the conjunction:

The fog lifted, and the ferry departed.
I wanted to stay, but the last bus was leaving.

Comma splice (error): two independent clauses joined by a comma alone:

✗ The fog lifted, the ferry departed.

Fixes: full stop; semicolon; or comma + coordinating conjunction; or make one clause subordinate (When the fog lifted, the ferry departed.).

3. Opening words, phrases, and clauses

A comma often follows an introductory element:

Short openers sometimes appear without a comma in informal writing (Yesterday we left), but exam keys usually reward the clear, conventional comma after a full introductory clause.

4. Non-essential (non-restrictive) information

Use a pair of commas (or one comma if the extra ends the sentence) for information that adds detail but is not required to identify the noun:

My brother, who lives in Hobart, sent photographs.
(I have one brother in mind; the Hobart detail is extra.)

Essential (restrictive) information — needed to identify which one — usually takes no commas:

Students who finish early may read quietly.
(Only that group—not all students.)

This is a classic “which sentence is correctly punctuated / which commas are needed” trap. Ask: If I delete the clause, do I still know exactly who or what is meant? If yes, the clause is often non-essential (commas). If no, it is essential (no commas).

5. Direct address and tag elements

Lina, please collect the sheets.
The answer is twelve, isn't it?

Comma jobs at a glance

Apostrophes: possession vs contraction

The apostrophe has two main jobs in school English. Confusing them—or using apostrophes for ordinary plurals—is one of the most common ICAS-style error patterns.

Possession

Show that something belongs to someone or something:

Its vs it's (highest-frequency trap):

No apostrophe in his, hers, ours, yours, theirs—and none in possessive its.

Contractions (letters left out)

An apostrophe marks omitted letters. ICAS and classroom tests often ask for the full form of a contraction or which option uses the apostrophe correctly.

Homophone traps:

Apostrophes do not make regular plurals

✗ apple's for sale (if you mean more than one apple)
✓ apples for sale
✓ the apple's skin (skin of one apple—possession)

Decades and abbreviations: modern exam English usually prefers the 1990s, CDs, FAQs without apostrophes for simple plurals. Possessive of an abbreviation still takes an apostrophe: the CDP's decision (decision of the CDP)—but only when possession is intended.

Capitalisation

Always capitalise

1. First word of a sentence (and usually of a direct quotation that is a full sentence).
2. I as a pronoun.
3. Proper nouns — specific names:

Titles before names

Prime Minister Albanese spoke… (title with name—often capital)
The prime minister arrived… (office in general—often lower case in mid-sentence)

Exam options may test whether a mid-sentence common noun was wrongly capitalised (The River was cold when river is not a name).

Capitals after colons?

House styles differ. Many school keys keep a lower-case letter after a colon unless what follows is a proper noun or a complete quoted sentence. Prefer consistency with the rest of the option set: if three options capitalise only proper nouns and sentence starts, the outlier is suspicious.

ICAS-style framing: “Which sentence is correctly punctuated?”

Worked comparison (original):

A. The childrens coats hung by the door, and its raining outside.
B. The children's coats hung by the door, and it's raining outside.
C. The children's coats hung by the door and its raining outside.
D. The childrens' coats hung by the door, and it's raining outside.

• childrens needs children's (irregular plural + possession).
• its raining needs it's (= it is).
• Two independent clauses with and are clearer with a comma before and in careful exam English.
• childrens' is a false plural form.

Best: B.

Second worked set — commas and capitals

A. When the captain blew the whistle the players, ran onto Barton oval.
B. When the captain blew the whistle, the players ran onto Barton Oval.
C. When the captain blew the whistle, the players ran onto barton oval.
D. When the captain blew the whistle the players ran onto Barton Oval.

• Introductory clause needs a comma after whistle.
• No comma between players and ran (do not split subject and verb).
• Barton Oval as a named place takes capitals.

Best: B.

Common traps

• Comma splice: two sentences, one comma, no conjunction.
• Possessive of plurals: the dog's (one dog) vs the dogs' (many dogs).
• its / it's and your / you're.
• Plural apostrophe: banana's for more than one banana.
• Random capitals: My Mother said… when mother is not used as a name.
• Missing capital on a real name: we visited melbourne.
• Essential vs non-essential commas changing or muddling meaning.

A 40-second method for “correctly punctuated” items

1. Read all four options for meaning—does any break sense?
2. Check sentence boundaries: splice? fragment?
3. Scan apostrophes: expand every contraction; test every possession.
4. Scan capitals: sentence start + proper nouns only (plus I).
5. Scan list and clause commas: lists, openers, non-essentials, FANBOYS.
6. Pick the option with no clear error; if two look fine, prefer the more standard school pattern.

Commas, apostrophes, and capitals are the daily drivers of syntax accuracy on ICAS. Colons, semicolons, dashes, brackets, and speech marks—covered next—extend the same logic to more complex sentence architecture, especially on mid-to-upper papers.