Ceist Eile

Ceist Eile is in development. Features, questions and prices may change while we refine it.

Junior Cycle · Junior Cycle English

Junior Cycle English: Punctuation

How often Punctuation comes up on the English papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.

HL Asked on 3 of the last 8 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2023.

OL Asked on 1 of the last 8 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2018.

Punctuation, Higher Level(8 marks)

Quick ones on Punctuation.

(a)Which of these sentences is correct?
  1. The dog wagged it's tail.
  2. The dog wagged its tail.
  3. The dog wagged its' tail.
(b)Which of these correctly shows bags belonging to several girls?
  1. The girls bag's
  2. The girl's bags
  3. The girls' bags
(c)Which of these sentences is punctuated correctly?
  1. 'Close the door,' said Mum.
  2. 'Close the door.' said Mum.
  3. 'Close the door' said Mum.
Show the answers

(a) The dog wagged its tail.

(b) The girls' bags

(c) 'Close the door,' said Mum.

Your turn: Higher Level questions on Punctuation.

Higher Level

Asked on 3 of the last 8 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2023.

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2026Not asked
2025Not asked
2024Not asked
2023Q9
2022Q3
2019Not asked
2018Not asked
2017Q4

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Punctuation questions

Punctuation, 2 marks

Which of these should always start with a capital letter?

  1. The name of a season
  2. A colour, such as green
  3. The name of a month
Show the answer

The name of a month

Months, days, people, places and titles take capitals: June, Monday, Aunt Nora, Galway. Seasons and colours do not, so write summer and green in lower case.

Ordinary Level

Asked on 1 of the last 8 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2018.

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2026Not asked
2025Not asked
2024Not asked
2023Not asked
2022Not asked
2019Not asked
2018Q12
2017Not asked

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Punctuation questions

Punctuation, 3 marks

Which sentence uses the apostrophe correctly?

  1. Its raining again today.
  2. Its' raining again today.
  3. It's raining again today.
Show the answer

It's raining again today.

It's is short for it is, so it needs an apostrophe. Its, with no apostrophe, means belonging to it, as in the dog wagged its tail.

Punctuation, 3 marks

Which phrase shows that one girl owns the bag?

  1. The girls bag
  2. The girl's bag
  3. The girls' bag
Show the answer

The girl's bag

For one owner, add an apostrophe and s: the girl's bag. For more than one owner ending in s, put the apostrophe after it: the girls' bag.

Punctuation, 3 marks

Which is punctuated correctly?

  1. 'Come here,' said Mam.
  2. 'Come here' said Mam.
  3. 'Come here.' said Mam.
Show the answer

'Come here,' said Mam.

Spoken words go inside speech marks. When the sentence carries on, as with said Mam, put a comma, not a full stop, before the closing mark.

Other English topics

All of Junior Cycle English