1. CHAPTER 6 Copyright © 2002 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

2. CHAPTER 6: Mechanics They left for their vacation yesterday. 1.Capitalize the first letter of the first word of every sentence: 2.Capitalize proper nouns: They left for their vacation in Florida yesterday.

3. Copyright © 2002 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Days and months CHAPTER 6: Mechanics Some words are always proper nouns: (Continued) (Monday; April) Cities, states, and countries (Indianapolis; Alaska; Brazil) People’s names Words derived from specific places (Tom; Alice; Ms. Stanton) (American, European, African)

4. Copyright © 2002 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. CHAPTER 6: Mechanics Some words are capitalized sometimes but not other times, depending on how they are used in a sentence: (Continued) Today my uncle called his doctor. Today Uncle Joe called Doctor Patel.

5. Copyright © 2002 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. CHAPTER 6: Mechanics Homonyms Homonyms are words that sound alike but are spelled differently. Some examples of homonyms are pronouns, possessives, and contractions: There should be an announcement telling the employees to bring their handbooks. It’s going to fall on its head!

6. Copyright © 2002 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. CHAPTER 6: Mechanics Some other common homonyms are shown in the chart below: (Continued)

7. Copyright © 2002 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. CHAPTER 6: Mechanics Angela washed, waxed, and vacuumed the car. Use commas to separate three or more items in a series: For her birthday, my mother received tickets to a Broadway show. Use a comma after an introductory element: Use commas to separate a renaming phrase from the rest of the sentence: This memo, a report on mail safety procedures, should be distributed immediately.

8. Copyright © 2002 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. CHAPTER 6: Mechanics We knew the consequences, but we decided to speak up anyway. Use a comma between independent clauses joined by a conjunction: If you are going to be late, please call your supervisor. Use a comma after a dependent clause that precedes an independent clause: (Continued)

9. THE END Chapter Review QuizGED Practice Quiz Practice the skills you learned in this chapter by taking the Chapter Review Quiz or the GED Practice Quiz. CHAPTER 6: Mechanics Copyright © 2002 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.