What is a comma splice?

Joining two independent clauses with only a comma: “He was tired, he went to bed.” It is one of the most heavily penalised punctuation errors. Fix it in one of three ways — add a conjunction (“, so he went”), replace the comma with a semicolon, or split it into two sentences.

When do I use "it's" and when "its"?

It’s is always short for “it is” or “it has”. Its is the possessive, like his and hers , and takes no apostrophe. The test is to read the sentence with “it is” substituted: if it still makes sense, write it’s ; if not, write its . Possessive pronouns never take apostrophes.

Why do some relative clauses take commas and others do not?

Because they do different jobs. A defining clause tells you which one is meant and takes no commas: “My brother who lives in Dhaka is a doctor” implies you have more than one brother. A non-defining clause adds extra information about someone already identified and takes commas: “My brother, who lives in Dhaka, is a doctor.”

Are seasons capitalised in English?

No. Write summer , winter , the rainy season in lower case. Months and days are capitalised ( January , Monday ) but seasons are not, which is a genuine inconsistency in English and a frequent exam trap. Compass directions follow the same pattern: go south , but South Asia .

English · Grammar · SSC & HSC

Punctuation and Capitalization — Rules & Exercise

Every punctuation mark, when to use it, and the full set of capitalization rules with examples.

Punctuation marks show a reader where to pause, stop and group words; capitalization marks where a sentence or a name begins. In the exam you are given an unpunctuated passage and must restore both. Work sentence by sentence: find where each sentence ends and close it, capitalise its first word and every proper noun, then place the internal marks.

Where it is set: SSC & HSC English 2nd Paper — Grammar

The marks and what each one does

Punctuation marks in order of strength

Mark	Name	Used for
.	full stop	ends a statement or a command; marks some abbreviations
?	question mark	ends a direct question
!	exclamation mark	ends an exclamatory or optative sentence
,	comma	separates items, clauses and phrases inside a sentence
;	semicolon	joins two closely related independent clauses
:	colon	introduces a list, an explanation or a quotation
’	apostrophe	shows possession or marks a contraction
“ ”	inverted commas	enclose direct speech and titles
—	dash	marks a break in thought
( )	brackets	enclose an aside
-	hyphen	joins parts of a compound word

✓ He asked, “Where do you live?” — comma before the speech, question mark inside the quotation
✓ She bought three things: rice, oil and salt. — colon introduces the list

The comma does most of the work

More marks are lost on the comma than on all the other marks together, because it has several distinct uses and students apply it by ear. These are the ones the board tests.

Between items in a list: rice, oil, salt and sugar.
Before a coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses: He tried hard, but he failed.
After an introductory phrase or clause: In spite of the rain, we went out.
Around a non-defining relative clause: My brother, who lives in Dhaka, is a doctor.
Around an appositive: Rahim, our monitor, is absent.
Before direct speech: He said, “I am ready.”
To separate a name being addressed: Rahim, come here.
🚨 Never join two independent clauses with a comma alone — that is a comma splice.

✗ He was tired, he went to bed. ✓ He was tired, so he went to bed. — comma splice repaired with a conjunction
✓ My brother who lives in Dhaka is a doctor. — no commas — this identifies which brother

The apostrophe

The apostrophe has exactly two jobs, and confusing them produces the single most recognisable error in written English.

Job	Rule	Example
Possession, singular	add ’s	the boy’s book
Possession, plural ending in s	add ’ only	the boys’ books
Possession, irregular plural	add ’s	the children’s toys
Contraction	replaces the missing letters	isn’t, don’t, it’s (= it is)
Possessive pronoun	never takes an apostrophe	its, yours, hers, theirs

✗ The dog wagged it’s tail. ✓ The dog wagged its tail. — its is possessive; it’s means “it is”
✗ The boys books are here. ✓ The boys’ books are here.

Capitalization

Capital letters mark beginnings and names. The rules are short, and the exam passage is written without them precisely so that you can restore them.

The first word of every sentence.
The pronoun I, always, wherever it appears.
Proper nouns: people, places, countries, rivers, months, days, festivals — Rahim, Dhaka, the Padma, Monday, Eid.
Titles used with a name: Professor Rahman, Dr Karim — but not the professor on its own.
Nationalities and languages: Bengali, English, Bangladeshi.
The first word of direct speech: He said, “We are ready.”
Main words in the title of a book, film or newspaper.
⚠️ Seasons and the points of the compass are not capitalised unless part of a name: in winter, go south, but South Asia.

✗ on monday, rahim went to dhaka with dr karim. ✓ On Monday, Rahim went to Dhaka with Dr Karim.
✓ He studied Bengali and English during the winter. — languages capitalised, season not

Method for the exam passage

The item gives you a passage stripped of punctuation and capitals. Working through it in a fixed order is faster and more accurate than reading it once and adding marks wherever they feel right.

Read the whole passage once to find where the sense of each sentence ends.
Put in the full stops, question marks and exclamation marks first — the sentence boundaries.
Capitalise the first word of each sentence you have just created.
Capitalise every proper noun and every I.
Now add the internal commas, working clause by clause.
Add apostrophes, then inverted commas around any direct speech.
Read the finished passage once. If a sentence runs on too long to say in one breath, you have probably missed a full stop.

✓ Boundaries first, capitals second, commas last — the reverse order is where errors come from.
✓ A sentence you cannot say in one breath usually needs a full stop somewhere.