Years 5 and 6 English · Key Stage 2 · Writing – vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

Years 5 and 6 punctuation: semicolons, colons, hyphens and brackets

In Years 5 and 6, children move beyond full stops and commas to a wider set of marks that give a writer precision. They use commas and hyphens to prevent a sentence being misread, brackets, dashes or commas for parenthesis, semicolons, colons or dashes to join closely linked main clauses, a colon to introduce a list, and bullet points punctuated consistently.

Semicolons, colons, hyphens and brackets, explained

Some punctuation exists to stop a reader misunderstanding. A comma can change the meaning of a sentence: “While Dad was cooking the dog ate his dinner” is confusing until you add the comma after cooking. A hyphen can do the same job for a pair of words. A man-eating shark is a very different thing from a man eating shark, and to re-cover a sofa is not the same as to recover from an illness. Children are taught to ask, “Could this be read two ways?” and to fix it with a comma or hyphen. They also learn that a hyphen is short and joins words, while a dash is longer and separates parts of a sentence.

Parenthesis is extra information added to a sentence that could be removed without breaking it. It can be marked with a pair of commas, a pair of brackets or a pair of dashes: “My grandad, who is eighty, still cycles.” “My grandad (who is eighty) still cycles.” “My grandad – who is eighty – still cycles.” The choice changes the feel. Commas are neutral, brackets sound like a quiet aside, and dashes draw attention to the extra detail. Whichever is chosen, children must use the pair: forgetting the closing mark is one of the commonest slips.

A semicolon, colon or dash can mark the boundary between two independent clauses, which means two parts that could each stand as a sentence. A semicolon joins two closely related ideas: “It was raining; we stayed inside.” A colon can introduce a clause that explains or follows from the first: “We stayed inside: it was raining.” A single dash is more informal and can add a reaction or an afterthought: “It was raining – we stayed inside.” A comma on its own is not strong enough to join two main clauses, which is why a comma in that position is treated as an error, usually called a comma splice.

A colon is also used to introduce a list, as in “You will need three things: a torch, a coat and a flask.” Children are usually taught that the part before the colon should be a complete statement, so “You will need the following:” is fine, but “You will need: a torch” is not usually taught. Bullet points are the vertical version of a list. The rule in the curriculum is consistency: every bullet should follow the same pattern, for example short phrases with a lower-case first letter and no full stops, or full sentences each starting with a capital letter and ending with a full stop. Schools and printed texts follow slightly different house styles, and what matters is that the pattern is the same all the way down.

Questions on these marks can appear in the grammar, punctuation and spelling test in May of Year 6, but they are mainly taught for use in real writing. Teachers often ask pupils to choose one new piece of punctuation to use on purpose in each piece of writing, rather than sprinkling them in. A single well-placed semicolon is far better than six forced ones.

Words your child will hear

Parenthesis: Extra information inside a sentence, marked off with brackets, dashes or commas. The plural is parentheses.
Hyphen: A short mark that joins words or parts of words, as in man-eating or re-cover.
Dash: A longer mark than a hyphen, used on its own or in pairs to separate part of a sentence.
Semicolon: A mark that joins two closely related main clauses into one sentence.
Colon: A mark that introduces a list or a clause that explains the one before it.
Independent clause: A clause that makes complete sense on its own, with a subject and a verb.
Bullet points: A vertical list in which each item is marked with a dot or dash and punctuated in the same way.

What the National Curriculum says

In Years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to:

Indicate grammatical and other features by using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing
Indicate grammatical and other features by using hyphens to avoid ambiguity
Indicate grammatical and other features by using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis
Indicate grammatical and other features by using semicolons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses
Indicate grammatical and other features by using a colon to introduce a list
Indicate grammatical and other features by punctuating bullet points consistently

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: punctuating a notice

Punctuate this notice for a school trip: Please bring the following on Friday waterproof trousers a packed lunch and a water bottle. The forecast is poor the coach will still leave at eight. Mr Hall our teacher will ring with any changes.

The first sentence introduces a list, so use a colon after a complete opening statement: “Please bring the following on Friday:”. Then the three items can be set out as bullet points.
Punctuate the bullets consistently. They are short phrases, so each starts with a lower-case letter and has no full stop. The rest of the notice then starts on a new line with a capital letter.
```
Please bring the following on Friday:
- waterproof trousers
- a packed lunch
- a water bottle
```
“The forecast is poor” and “the coach will still leave at eight” are two main clauses linked by contrast. A comma would not be strong enough, so use a semicolon: “The forecast is poor; the coach will still leave at eight.”
“Our teacher” is extra information about Mr Hall, and the sentence works without it. Put it in a pair of brackets, or a pair of commas: “Mr Hall (our teacher) will ring with any changes.”
Read it back and ask, “Could any part be misread?” Here it cannot, so no further commas or hyphens are needed.

Please bring the following on Friday: - waterproof trousers - a packed lunch - a water bottle The forecast is poor; the coach will still leave at eight. Mr Hall (our teacher) will ring with any changes.

Common mistakes and how to help

Joining two main clauses with just a comma: “It was raining, we stayed inside”

Children put a comma wherever they pause when reading aloud, and the comma feels like the right amount of join.

What helps: Ask whether each half could be a sentence alone. If so, use a full stop, a semicolon, a colon or a dash, or add a conjunction after the comma, as in “It was raining, so we stayed inside.”

Using a semicolon or colon where a comma would do

Newly learned punctuation is exciting, so children use it for effect, for example “Because it was raining; we stayed inside”, where the first part is not a main clause.

What helps: Check that both sides of a semicolon are complete sentences. A colon needs a full statement before it, and what follows must explain it or list it.

Mixing up a hyphen and a dash

They look alike, and on a keyboard they are often typed the same way. Children use a hyphen where a dash is needed, or the other way round.

What helps: A hyphen is short and sits inside a word or between two joined words (well-known, re-cover). A dash is longer, usually has a space either side, and separates parts of a sentence.

Punctuating bullet points differently from one another

Children copy the pattern from a few examples they have seen, and then change it halfway down without noticing.

What helps: Decide the pattern before writing the list: capital letter or lower case at the start, and full stop or none at the end. Then check each bullet against the first.

How to help at home

Hunt for ambiguity. Try funny misreadings together, such as “a man eating shark”, “Let’s eat Grandma” or “Most of the time travellers worry about their luggage”, and see whether your child can fix them with a comma or hyphen. The aim is to see that punctuation changes meaning.
Three ways to say it. Take a sentence with an aside, such as “Our cat, who is very old, sleeps all day”, and rewrite it with brackets and then with dashes. Ask which version sounds quieter and which sounds more dramatic.
Link two sentences. Say two short, related sentences, for example “It was cold. We lit the fire.” Ask for a semicolon, a colon and a dash version, and talk about which suits the sentence best.
Write a real list. Let your child write the packing list for a day out, using a colon and bullet points that all follow the same pattern. Check it together against the first bullet.
Pick one new mark. Choose one mark a week, such as the semicolon, and spot it in the books you read. Then use it once, on purpose, in your child’s own writing.

Builds on

Years 3 and 4: Conjunctions, present perfect, fronted adverbials
Years 3 and 4: Direct speech, commas and apostrophes

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Writing for different purposes
Key Stage 3: Organising and rhetorical devices
Key Stage 3: Drafting, editing and proofreading
Key Stage 3: Grammar in challenging texts and for effect
Key Stage 3: Standard English and register