© Capital Community College

1.Capitalize the first word of every sentence — unless that sentence is in parentheses incorporated within another sentence. 2.Capitalize the personal pronoun “I”. Glacial till or debris (some geologists call this material “garbage”) is often deposited in formations called morains.

© Capital Community College 3.Capitalize the names of family relations when they are used as substitutes for names: I went to visit my U ncle Ted and A unt Margaret. I went with my mom and dad to visit my aunt and uncle. G randma and G randpa live with D ad and M om now. Notice the role of the modifying pronoun here.

© Capital Community College 4.In titles, capitalize the first, last, and all important words. Usually, we don’t capitalize articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions. Animal Farm Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows To Kill a Mockingbird

© Capital Community College 5.Capitalize names of specific persons, places, and geographical locations.. My brother Charlie, who used to live in the Middle East and write books about the Old West, now lives in Hartford, Connecticut. 6.Capitalize places that are not a direction My family vacations every summer in the South.

© Capital Community College They moved up north, to the southern shore of Lake Erie. 7.Don’t capitalize directions

© Capital Community College 8.Capitalize names of days of the week, months, and holidays. 9.Don’t capitalize the names of seasons. Valentines Day, which is always on February 14, falls on Tuesday this year. Next fall, before the winter storms begin, we’re heading south.

© Capital Community College 10.Capitalize the names of historical events. 11.Capitalize the names of religions and religious terms. The Battle of the Bulge was an important event in World War II. G od, C hrist, A llah, B uddha, C hristianity, C hristians, J udaism, J ews, I slam, M uslims

© Capital Community College 12.Capitalize the names of nations, nationalities, languages, and words based on such words. We usually don’t capitalize “white” and “black.” Somalia, Swedish, English muffin, Irish stew, Japanese maple, Jew’s harp, French horn There are very few blacks in this predominantly white community.

© Capital Community College 13.Capitalize the names of academic courses when they’re used as titles. B rand names.... He took Carpentry 101, but he did much better in his economics and English literature courses. F ord, K leenex, L evi’s (not jeans), xerox on a X erox copier, A dvil (but aspirin)

© Capital Community College 14.Capitalize titles when they precede names.... usually not after a name.... Dean Arrington introduced President Carter to Secretary Bogglesworth. Joe Chuckles, who was chairman of the board of directors in 1995, has since retired.

© Capital Community College  Rule #1: Periods and commas ALWAYS go INSIDE quotation marks (even inside single quotation marks).  Examples:  The sign changed from “Walk,” to “Don’t Walk” in 30 seconds.  She said, “Hurry up.”  She said, “He said, ‘Hurry up.’”

© Capital Community College  Rule #2: Question Marks?  The placement of question marks with quotes follows logic  If a question is in quotation marks, then the question mark should be placed inside the quotation marks.  Example:  She asked, “Will you still be my friend?”  Exception:  Do you agree with the saying, “All is fair in love and war”?  Why?

© Capital Community College  Rule #3:  Use single quotation marks for quotes within a quote  Example:  He said, “Dana said, ‘Do not treat me that way.’”  Notice the period is inside the single and double quotation marks at the end of the sentence.

© Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE The apostrophe has only a handful of uses, but these uses are very important. A misplaced apostrophe can be annoying — not to mention lonely. 1. to create possessives 2. to show contractions 3. to create some plural forms The apostrophe is used:

© Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE The apostrophe is used to create possessive forms for singular and plural nouns, especially nouns referring to people. possessive forms the mayor ’ s car, my father ’ s moustache Pedrito ’ s sister, Joe Kennedy ’ s habits

© Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE When a noun already ends in “s,” you can decide whether or not to use another “s” after the apostrophe. Charles ’ s car OR Charles ’ car Dumas ’ second novel, Jesus ’ birth, Socrates ’ ideas, Illinois ’ legislature With multisyllabic words, don’t add another “s” after the apostrophe.

© Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE To form the possessive of a plural noun, we pluralize first and then add the apostrophe. The Kennedys ’ house The children ’ s playhouse The travelers ’ expectations Notice that with an irregular plural, the apostrophe will come before the “s.”

© Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE A contraction allows us to blend sounds by omitting letters from a verb construction. The apostrophe shows where something is left out. I am a student here = I ’ m a student here. I have been working on the railroad. = I ’ ve been working on the railroad. They could have been great together. = They could ’ ve been great together.

© Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE More contraction examples: Let us go. = Let ’ s go. Who is there? = Who ’ s there? It is Dierdre. = It ’ s Dierdre. REMINDER: It’s is a contraction for “it is”; the possessive of it = its (no apostrophe).

© Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE The apostrophe is also used to form the plural of digits and letters... The word Mississippi has four s ’ s. She got three A ’ s and two B ’ s last semester. She dotted all her i ’ s very carefully.... and to indicate omission of a number in a date: summer of ’ 99; class of ’ 38