Capitalization and Punctuation

1
Capitalization and Punctuation

• Capitalize the pronoun I, the first word,
  peoples names, titles with names, months, days,
  holidays, place names, course names, book titles,
  languages, nationalities, and of course even
  religions.
• Punctuate sentences, clauses, and phrases.

2
When must we capitalize?

• We always capitalize
• I and the first word
• peoples names and titles
• days and months
• place names
• course and book titles
• languages
• nationalities
• religions

• We never capitalize
• other pronouns
• titles alone
• years or seasons
• places
• general classes
• language itself
• people
• beliefs

Knowing what to capitalize and what not can make
your writing look normal.
3
Capitalize the pronoun I and the first word.

• Capitalize the pronoun I to show that it is a
  whole word
• The last time I visited Atlanta was several years
  ago.
• We always capitalize the first word of a sentence
  to mark its start
• When he tells a joke, he sometimes forgets the
  punch line.

4
Proper Nouns and Peoples Names

• Capitalize proper nouns
• The Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco is a
  famous landmark.
• Capitalize peoples names
• Monte Salyer and Sharon Hixon are ESL professors
  at Dalton State.

5
Capitalize titles with names

• Capitalize titles with names
• Mr. Will Smith is an actor.
• Governor Purdue favors the four day school week.
• Family relationships as proper names
• I sent a thank-you note to Aunt Abigail, but not
  to my other aunts. Here is a present I bought
  for Father.Did you buy a present for your father?

6
Capitalize languages, nationalities, and
religions

• Capitalize the names of deities, religious
  figures, books
• God the Father
• the Virgin Mary
• the Bible
• Capitalize nationalities and religions
• Mexicans, Russians, and Koreans
• Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists

7
Capitalize dates and directions.

• Directions as names or sections of the country,
  but not as compass directions
• The Patels moved to the South.
• Jims house is north of Atlanta.
• The days of the week, the months of the year, and
  holidays, but not the seasons
• Halloween is celebrated in October and sometimes
  on a Friday, but never in the winter or in the
  spring.

8
Capitalize titles and quotes.

• The first word in a sentence as a direct quote
• Emerson said, "A foolish consistency is the
  hobgoblin of little minds."
• Major words in the titles of books, articles, and
  songs, but not short prepositions or articles
• One of her favorite books is The Catcher in the
  Rye.

9
Capitalize group members, periods, and events

• Members of political, racial, social and athletic
  groups
• Green Bay Packers, African-Americans,
  Anti-Semitic Democrats, Friends of the
  Wilderness, Chinese
• Periods and events but not century numbers
• Victorian Era, Great Depression Constitutional
  Convention, sixteenth century

10
Capitalize trademarks and abbreviations.

• Trademarks or corporate titles
• Pepsi, Honda, IBM, Microsoft Word
• Words and abbreviations of specific names but not
  names of things that came from specific things
  but are now general types
• Freudian, NBC, pasteurize, UN, french fries,
  italics

11
Which words do we capitalize?

• Was Maria born in mexico city?
• Does Mario live on walnut avenue?
• Are they learning english?
• In which month is easter?
• How many are from peru?

• 6. Have you seen star wars?
• 7. Is So-Young from south korea?
• Does the spring semester end in may?
• Is professor kent in his office?
• Where is dalton?

12
How do you punctuate sentences?

• Sentences begin with capitals they end with
  periods or question marks.
• Where does Daniel live?
• He lives pretty far from here.
• Periods and question marks signal the end of
  the sentence.

13
When do we use the comma?

• Be careful because commas are the most often
  misused punctuation mark.
• They have three basic uses
• To introduce
• To do something well, do it yourself.
• 2. To separate
• She didnt like it, and her distaste was
  obvious.
• 3. To enclose
• Denver, the capital of Colorado, is
  overpopulated.

14
Commas mark phrases and clauses.

• The comma equals a pause in speech.
• It separates parts of a sentence.
• What is the purpose of each comma below?
• __1. Pedro reads fast, but Toni reads slowly.
• __2. If Toni read faster, hed be like Pedro.
• __3. Ali knows that, in general, his English is
  improving.

• Match these options to the right-hand statements
  
• to interrupt
• to set of coordinate clauses
• to mark an introductory, dependent clause

15
Commas divide lists.

• Commas can separate listed items
• Pedro reads letters, articles, and books.
• Is he taking ENGL 0950 , 0975 , or 1101?

The comma indicates pause.
16
Commas Cant Divide Sentences

• A comma is not an end mark, so it cannot end a
  sentence.
• Wrong Ana likes math, she hates speech.
• Right Ana likes math. She hates speech.

The comma error above makes a comma splice!
17
Other Marks

• Then there are semicolons, colons, quotation and
  exclamation marks.
• Ali enjoys calculus he dislikes physics.
• Theres a gift for Ana a birthday cake.
• She said, You really shouldnt have!

18
How are semicolons used?

• THE SEMICOLON IS STRONGER THAN THE COMMA!
• IT IS ONLY A MARK OF COORDINATION.
• 1) USE SEMICOLONS TO SEPARATE INDEPENDENT CLAUSES
  NOT JOINED BY A SIMPLE CONJUNCTION
• If you make people think theyre thinking,
  theyll love you if you really make them think,
  theyll hate you. Marquis
• 2) TO SEPARATE INDEPENDENT CLAUSES JOINED BY A
  CONJUNCTIVE ADVERB (ALSO, ANYHOW, BESIDES,
  CONSEQUENTLY, FURTHERMORE, HOWEVER, MOREOVER,
  OTHERWISE, THEREFORE, THUS, ETC.)
• This job is not simple however, its
  exciting and rewarding.
• There is much to learn therefore, let us get
  busy with it!

19
Then how do we use the colon?

• COLONS SIGNAL WATCH FOR WHAT IS COMING.
• USE COLONS
• 1) TO INTRODUCE A WORD, A PHRASE, OR CLAUSE, OR
  AFTER AN INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
• e.g. This is my problem what do I do now?
• 2) TO SEPARATE INTRODUCTORY WORDS FROM A LONG OR
  FORMAL QUOTATION WHICH FOLLOWS
• e.g. Jefferson concluded his First Inaugural
  Address as follows And may that Infinite Power
  which rules the destines of the universe
• 3) AS A SEPARATING MARK IN SPECIAL SITUATIONS
• IN BUSINESS LETTERS e.g. Dear Mr. James
• TITLES AND SUBTITLES OF BOOKS e.g. The English
  Novel A Panorama
• HOUR AND MINUTE FIGURES e.g. 1015 a.m.
• CHAPTERS AND VERSES OF THE BIBLE e.g. Exodus,
  1231
• VOLUMES AND PAGE REFERENCES e.g. War and Peace,
  II122

20
How are quotation marks used?

• 1) TO ENCLOSE EVERY DIRECT QUOTATION AND EACH
  PART OF AN INTERRUPTED QUOTATION
• What will my starting salary be? I
  asked the manager.
• Well, he replied, Im not sure.
• 2) IN A DIALOGUE USE A SEPARATE PARAGRAPH FOR
  EACH CHANGE OF SPEAKER
• Dad, cried Neil.
• There, there, its gonna be just fine,
  his father said.
• 3) TO ENCLOSE WORDS WITH A WIDELY DIFFERENT LEVEL
  OF USAGE
• The person who has had it so far is Saddam.
• 4) TO ENCLOSE CHAPTER HEADINGS AND THE TITLES OF
  ARTICLES
• Grant Woods famed painting, American
  Gothic, was recently reproduced in American
  Heritage.
• 5) USE SINGLE QUOTATION MARKS TO ENCLOSE A
  QUOTATION WITHIN A QUOTATION
• The coach said, When you say, Ill be there
  on time, I expect you to mean what you say.

The End.