Transcript Punctuation and Capitalization - Middle School Page

Punctuation and Capitalization
Watch your P’s and C’s
Periods
• Used at the end of a declarative or imperative
sentence.
• Used at the end on an abbreviation.
• Used after the initials in a name.
• Notice the period for the abbreviation and the
period at the end of the sentence are the
same.
Doctor E J Barrister lives on Elm St
Commas
• Separate words in a series of three or more
We need water
snacks and magazines for the trip.
• Separate adjectives of equal importance before the
noun they modify
The tall
dignified
gray-haired speaker rose.
Commas
• Set off parts of addresses
1100 Quaker Hill Drive # 422
Alexandria VA 22314
Put the comma between the city and the state
• Set off parts place names
I live in Alexandria Virginia near Bishop Ireton.
Notice if the sentence continues, there is a comma after the name of
the state.
• Set off parts of dates
I was born Monday , August 29
1960 in Haverhill
Massachusetts.
Place the comma between day of the week and the month and the
numbers.
Notice if the sentence continues, the comma is placed after the year.
Commas
• To set off words in direct address.
John
I’m talking to you; that’s what direct
address means.
• To set off parenthetical expressions ( a word or
group of words inserted as a comment; not
necessary to the sentence)
This class I believe is almost over.
• After a yes or no that begins a sentence.
Yes you may go to slake your thirst.
No you may not roam the halls at will.
Commas
• To set off nonrestrictive appositives, phrases, and
clauses.
• Miss Lebet our teacher loves punctuation.
• Miss Lebet who is our grammar teacher likes
punctuation.
• Miss Lebet tolerates punctuation which can be
difficult because it has so many rules.
And still, More Commas
• To set off a direct quotation or parts of a divided
quotation.
• “I remember my first Terra Nova ” remarked
Niamh.
• David replied “Yes, Niamh, the Terra Nova Test is
quite fascinating.”
• “The Terra Nova ” shouted George “means no
homework for a week!”
Hard to believe, but still more commas.
• Before a coordinating conjunction that joins two
independent clauses.
I love independent clauses
and I always join them
with a comma before the coordinating conjunction.
• After a conjunctive adverb in compound sentences.
You may not know what a conjunctive adverb is ;
however you can remember the red flag a
semicolon.
And still more commas.
• After the salutation in a friendly letter.
Dear Santa Claus
• After the complimentary close in any letter.
Yours Truly
Exclamation Point
• At the end of an exclamatory sentence.
No, I can’t find my notebook
He hit me hard.
Hooray
We have no homework tonight.
Question Marks
• Question marks are used at the end of an
interrogative sentence.
• Did you take my pencil case
• Who will be the first to find the answer
Semicolon
• To separate independent clauses in a compound
sentence when there is no conjunction.
We called early this morning ; nobody was home.
To separate independent clauses in a sentence that
are joined by a conjunctive adverb.
Peter was here early; consequently he won the prize.
Semicolon
• To separate phrases or clauses of the same type
that contain internal punctuation.
• English translation- when writing a list of items that
already has commas in it.
We went to Paris, France; Rome, Italy ; and Dublin,
Ireland ; on our tour of the European capitals last
summer.
Semicolon
• Before for example and namely when they
are used to introduce examples
• Several students in the seventh grade class are
very dramatic; namely George, Niamh, Peter,
Julliette, and Sasha.
Colon
• Before a list when terms like following or the
following are used
The following students are in our study group : Susie,
Baylen, Mia, Timothy, Declan, Blaize, and Christian.
• After the salutation of a business letter
Dear Professor Robilenewsekqui:
Quotation Marks
• Before and after a direct quotation.
“Jane, you are driving me crazy,” huffed Prof. Timspy.
He continued, “You never come to class without that
annoying toy poodle that talks.”
Notice the other punctuation is inside the quotation
marks, except for commas, which are inside if the
quotation is at the beginning and outside if the
quotation is at the end.
Quotation Marks
• Sometimes a quotation includes another quotation.
• This is a quote within a quote.
• The inside quotation is marked with a single
quotation mark- which looks like an apostrophe.
• Marisela asked “ Was it Lincoln who said ‘With
malice toward none; with charity for all ’?”
Notice that the other punctuation is in between the
quotation marks.
Quotation Marks
• To set off titles of stories, poems, songs, magazine and
newspaper articles, encyclopedia articles, individual
episodes within a television series, and radio programs.
• In other words short things or things that are part of a
larger work.
• “Zoo” is my favorite short story.
• “Leaves of Grass” is my favorite poem.
• Did you read the article “Who Let the Dogs Out?”
• My favorite song is “America the Beautiful.”
Notice the other punctuation is inside quotation marks.
Italics
• Italics are used for the titles of books, magazines,
newspapers, movies, TV series, works of art and
names of ships and aircraft.
• If you are writing longhand, use underlining to
indicate italics.
• Have you read The Giver?
• Have you read The Giver?
• I love to watch the TV series Once.
• I love to watch the TV series Once.
Apostrophes
• Are used to show possession.
• Singular possession- the girl’s dog
Apostrophe before the s
• Plural possession- the girls’ dog
Apostrophe after the s
• Exception- irregular plurals- the children’s dog
Apostrophe before the s
Apostrophes
• In contractions
Don’t go there.
I wouldn’t dare.
• To show the omission of numbers
I graduated in ‘78.
Note: Do not use an apostrophe to show the plural of
a century. The correct form is I grew up in the
1960s. Or I was an adolescent in the ‘70s.
Apostrophes
• To show plural of lower case letters
• a’s
b’s
c’s
• Do Not use them to show plurals of upper
case letters unless that plural could be
mistaken for a word
• As might mean the preposition as so write it
A’s But write Bs Cs Ds
Hyphens
• Divides the syllables of a word at the end of a line
The computer usually moves the word
to the next line, but if you are writ ing in manuscript, you need to divide the word correctly.
Hyphens
• Use in compound numbers from twenty-one
to ninety-nine.
• My favorite number from The Music Man is
“Seventy-Six Trombones.”
• John gave Jim sixty-five slices of pie.
Hyphens
• To separate parts of some compound words
brother-in-law
drive-in
• To form some temporary adjectives.
This stove uses natural gas.
one adjective one noun
This is a natural-gas stove.
an adjective before the noun
Dashes
• Are longer than hyphens - hyphen
dash
• Use to set off words that indicate a change of
thought.
Mr. Blair I believe he drives an Elantra teaches
math.
• Use to set off an appositive that contains commas.
My mother speaks several languages Danish,
Norwegian, Dutch, and Swedish.
Capitalization
• First word in a sentence
• Abraham is an important man.
• First word in a direct quotation.
• Jane whispered, “Do you want to finish the pie?”
• Usually the first words of poetry and songs
The eensy-weensy spider went up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
And the eensy-weensy spider went up the spout again
Capitalization
•
•
•
•
•
Proper nouns and Proper adjectives
Georgetown University
Saint Rita School
George Washington
The Museum of Natural History
• Swiss cheese
• Swedish meatballs
• Italian food
Capitalize
• A title that precedes a person’s name
Mrs. Manaker
Senator Brooks
President Obama
Father Gee
• But….
The senator said, “We are trying to pass that bill.”
No name, no capital letters
Capitalize
• The directions north, south, east, and west when
they are used to refer to sections of the country.
• My brother John went to college in the West.
• But…
Go west on Elm street for about three blocks.
Capitalize
• The names of deities and sacred books
• The Bible
The Old Testament
• Holy Spirit
Loki
• God
but not Greek gods
Capitalize
• The principal words in titles of works
• Not a, an, the, prepositions, coordinating
conjunctions – unless they are the last word.
•
•
•
•
•
The Grapes of Wrath
The City of Ember
A Tale of Two Cities
“The Raven”
Frog and Toad Are Friends
Capitalize
• Months and days of the week – even when they are
abbreviated
January Monday
Tues. Oct.
• Names of streets – including the street part
Elm Street
Russell Road Snowberry Court
• Abbreviations of things that would be capitalized
U.S.A.
Dr.
Mrs. Tenn.
Watch for postal abbreviations which are all capital
letters. TN VA MA MD SC
Don’t Capitalize
• Names of subjects – unless they come from proper
names.
• Don’t – math, science, literature, religion, social
studies, algebra, geometry
• Do – Latin, English, French, Spanish, American
history