BasicsToCapitalizationPunctuationAndSentenceStructure
What is Capitalization?
Capitalization is the process of turning a lowercase letter into a capital letter.
It normally refers the the first letter in a sentence (love - Love)
a - A
Rules to Capitalization:
- First word in a sentence.
- The pronoun I.
- A proper noun (specific name).
- Of months, days, and holidays (but not seasons).
- Of nationalities, religions, races of people, and languages.
- In a person’s title.
- Geographic areas: cities, states, countries, mountains, oceans, rivers, etc.
- Historical periods.
- Of each major word in the title of a book, movie, article, etc.
Why is Capitalization Important?
Capitalization is used as a signal to readers to:
- let the reader know a sentence is beginning
- show important words in a title
- signal proper names and official titles.
What is Punctuation?
Signs to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning.
. , “ : ; ! ? ‘
Rules to Punctuation:
| Period (.) |
End of a statement |
| Comma (,) |
Pause in the sentence, used to break the sentence apart, list, or after a conjunction |
| Quotation Mark (“ ”) |
To show the beginning and ending of a quote |
| Colon (:) |
To show emphasis, present dialogue, introduce lists or text, and clarify composition titles |
| Semicolon (;) |
To replace a period between related sentences when the second sentence starts with either a conjunctive adverb or a transitional expression (besides, accordingly, furthermore, otherwise) |
| Exclamation Point (!) |
End of a statement but shows more emotion than a period |
| Question Mark (?) |
End of a question |
| Apostrophe (‘) |
To show ownership of an item |
| Why is Punctuation Important? |
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| It changes the meaning of text and helps clarify and breakdown sentences and paragraphs. |
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| E.X |
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| Let’s go eat grandma! |
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| V.S |
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| Let’s go eat, grandma! |
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| What is Sentence Structure? |
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| Words: |
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| Phrases: |
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| A phrase is a group of words that forms a grammatical component. |
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| 5 Main Phrases: |
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| Noun phrase |
Adjective phrase |
Adverb phrase |
Verb phrase |
Prepositional phrase |
| group of words that have a noun or pronoun |
group of words that consists of an adjective |
group of words that includes an adverb |
group of words that can be used just like a verb |
group of words that consists of a preposition and an object |
| My brother’s friend |
silky, smooth |
Later this evening |
has been writing |
with the kids jumping around |
| Clauses: |
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| A clause, like a phrase, is a group of words. But unlike a phrase, a clauses can be complete. |
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| A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a predicate. |
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| Independent Clauses |
Dependent Clauses |
| Can stand on its own |
Cannot stand on its own |
| I kicked the ball |
Because the ball hit him |
| Sentence Structure: |
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| 4 Types |
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| Simple |
Compound |
Complex |
Compound - Complex |
| 1 Independent Clause |
2 or more Independent Clause |
1 Independent Clauses & 1 or more Dependent Clauses |
2 or more Independent Clauses & 1 or more Dependent Clauses |
| E.g. I kicked the ball. |
E.g. I kicked the ball, and it hit Tom. |
E.g. Tom cried because the ball hit him. |
E.g. Tom cried because the ball hit him, and I apologized immediately. |
[[BasicsOfEnglishGrammar]]