The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Sec. 21 · Part 1: Part First
7. Punctuation is a custom
Goal: Your child understands why we use punctuation marks and capitals, and adds them to an unpunctuated paragraph.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
What's in the book
Section 21 explains that punctuation marks and capitals are customs that make writing easy to read. It prints "The Fox and the Grapes" with no punctuation and no capitals, and sends the reader to page 83 to see it written properly.
The lesson, step by step
Talk about customs
Read the first paragraph of Section 21 together.
Custom is the way in which a thing is usually done.
Ask your child to name customs: saying "thank you", shaking hands, where the stamp goes on an envelope. Then: what customs do we have for writing?
Read the rest
Read on together to the paragraph about the fox. The book says a person who leaves out the marks makes it hard for others to understand.
Try the jumbled fox story
Ask your child to read the fox paragraph aloud, just as it is printed, with no marks. It is hard! Talk about why.
Fix it
Your child copies the fox paragraph, adding capital letters and periods where sentences start and end, a question mark for the fox's question, and capitals for "I". Work sentence by sentence, reading aloud to hear where each thought ends.
Compare with the book
Turn to page 83 and compare. Your child marks with a check every place they got right. Where theirs differs, ask: "Which is easier to read?" There may be small differences in commas; that is fine at this stage.
What a good result looks like
The start of your child's corrected paragraph should look much like page 83:
A fox went out to walk early in the morning, one fine day in summer. By the side of the road he saw a tree.
For the talk about customs, a good spoken or written answer looks like this.
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
It is our custom to take off our boots at the door. It is customary to say "Excuse me" when you pass in front of someone.
Answers to the book's problems
The book's punctuated version is on page 83. The main things to find: a capital and period for each sentence ("A fox went out ... in summer." "By the side of the road he saw a tree." "Beside the tree grew a beautiful vine ..." "The fox saw the purple grapes ..." "He jumped and jumped ..."), capital I, a question mark after "What do you think I care", and capitals for "The Fox and the Grapes" in the title. Page 83 also has commas and quotation marks, which come later in the book.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.