Grammar Punctuation, Capitalization, and Run- on Sentences
Capitalization: People Names of people Ex.) Joanna, Matty Professional people Doctor (Dr.) Stevens, Professor James Capitalize family relationships only when they are used as part of a person’s title Ex.) Aunt Claire, Tío Angelo Names of political, racial, social, national, civic, and athletic groups Ex.) Native-Americans, Democrats, Chicago White Sox
Places, Languages, and Races Always capitalize cities, countries, street names, schools, cyber places and landmarks. Ex.) Chicago, France, 55 th Street, Hernandez Middle School, Google, Sears Tower Languages Ex.) Italian, Spanish, English, French Race/Ethnicity Ex.) Asian, Black, White/Chinese, French, Mexican
Date (ex. Tuesday December 15, 2015) Month (ex. January) Day (Tuesday) Important/historical events (World War I) Holidays (Christmas) Dates, Events, Holidays
Always capitalize the titles of articles, books, magazines, songs, albums, television shows, plays, etc. Ex.) “Is Technology Killing Our Friendships?” Always capitalize famous brands or products Ex.) Nike, Pepsi, Air Jordan Titles of Works/Famous Products
First Words and “I” First word of a sentence should be capitalized. When quoting something from an article, you need to capitalize the first word in the quote. The word “I” should always be capitalized. The dog chewed on its bone. In the article, it states, “Obesity in American has increased 10% each year since 2005.” My mom, my brother, and I went to the Philippines
Quotation mark (“”): used to show dialogue or to show that the idea is not your own work. Quoting words that are not your own Ex.) The newspaper states, “A suburban school in Chicago will start school at 9:00AM.” Dialogue Ex.) Sarah screamed, “You broke my phone!!!” She cried many tears in front of her friend. Punctuation: Quotation Mark
You use commas when… Connecting two complete sentences with a conjunction Ex.) She went to the party, but I did not. Note: For, And, Neither/Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So are conjuctions Separating items into lists Ex.)I know how to speak French, Italian, and Portuguese. Marking the start of dialogue or quote Jamie told his sister, “Please leave my computer alone.” The article believes, “Not all social media is bad.” Punctuation: Comma
Period (.): used to end a complete idea, thought, or statement that are in the form of sentences. Ex.) On the weekends, people like to spend time with family or to do their housework. Can be used to shorten and correct run-on sentences. Punctuation: Period
Run-on sentence: two or more sentences that are joined together without a conjunction (and, but, so, for, or, neither/nor, yet)or proper punctuation. You can separate run-on sentences with conjunctions or punctuation marks. Run-on Sentence
Using a period Incorrect: I like to watch TV I like to play ball I like to eat. Correct: Using a conjunction Incorrect: I like to watch TV I like to play ball I like to eat. Correct: Separating Run-on Sentences
You have to INDENT for each new paragraph. If you need to, put a SPACE between the paragraphs. Do not make your paper into one huge paragraph. Quick word on paragraph form