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FROM THE EDITOR
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this Issue
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the Word
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Issues
Index
FEATURE
We
all know what new means,
but what about nov-?
The importance of word elements
COLUMNS
Language
Interference
Maltese - an unusual formula
 Focus
on Study Skills:
Introduction
Punctuation
Capital letters and
punctuation in English
New
word of the month
LetsGt2gtha on Valentine's Day!
The vocabulary of text messaging
Top
Tips for Business English
Teaching socializing skills
Basics socializing
Activities ¦
Teacher's
notes
onestopenglish.com
|
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by Michael
Vince and Dr
June Hassall
• Capital letters
• Full stop (.)
• Comma (,)
• Semicolon (;)
• Colon (:)
• Quotation marks (' ')
• Question mark (?)
• Exclamation mark (!)
• Apostrophe (')
• In the next issue
Capital (or upper case) letters are used:
| • |
to begin a sentence or phrase
You've done a fantastic job.
Fresh fish! |
| • |
for the names of people
Lin, Mary, Yiqun Wang |
| • |
for calling people by their title
Mrs Brown, Uncle Kwame, Mum
|
| • |
for the personal pronoun 'I'
Can I help you? |
| • |
for the titles of books, films etc
Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island
Notting Hill is a romantic comedy. |
| |
Note: Small words like
and, a, the, and prepositions do not usually
have capitals, unless they are the first word of the title:
The film was based on The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien. |
| • |
for names and abbreviations of organizations
Friends of the Earth, United Nations Educational
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
|
| • |
for the names of places (towns, countries etc)
Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, P.R.C.
(People's Republic of China) |
| • |
for nationalities and languages
Malaysian, English, Chinese
|
| • |
for adjectives made from proper nouns
China, Chinese; Jamaica,
Jamaican |
| • |
for days, months, celebrations etc
Wednesday, March, Diwali
|
| Some words can be written with capitals
or in lower case, depending on the meaning: |
| • |
jobs
Sanderson was a good president. (general use)
Paul met President Brunswick. (job title) |
| • |
compass points
I live in the north of Scotland. (description)
Sally works in the Far East. (place name) |
top
Full stops are used:
| • |
at the end of a statement (information and instructions)
and after a polite request
His sister's name is Adjoa.
Please come here. |
| • |
in some abbreviations to show that letters at the
end of a word are missing
Sat. (Saturday), pl. (plural), approx.
(approximately) |
| |
Note: In modern British
English, full stops are not usually added when the abbreviation contains
the last letter of the full word:
Mr (=Mister); Dr (=Doctor) (used in titles)
Rd (=Road); Ave (=Avenue) (used in addresses)
In American
English, however, full stops are used in the above examples. |
| • |
In British English, full stops are also omitted from
many abbreviations
UK, ID, IMF |
| • |
Full stops are not used after abbreviations of scientific
units
cm, g, kg, sec |
top
Commas are used:
| • |
in writing to represent a brief pause in a long sentence
Everyone agrees that Efua is a very intelligent girl, but
she is rather lazy. |
| • |
in lists of two or more items
I bought some bananas, some oranges, and a pineapple. |
| |
Note: The final comma (before
'and') can be left out. |
| • |
in lists of adjectives that appear before a noun
a hot, dry, sunny day |
| |
Note: In the above example,
commas can be left out. |
| • |
after linking words at the beginning of a sentence
First of all, I will tell you how it works. |
| • |
before and after linking words in the middle of a
sentence
Chen, on the other hand, did not agree. |
| • |
when giving additional information that can be left
out
John, who is usually late, turned up at 10.30. |
| • |
before question tags
You're from China, aren't you? |
| • |
in large numbers to separate sets of digits
6,550 17,500 387,100
2,000,000 |
| • |
to introduce direct speech
Bo said, 'I'll be late.' |
| |
Note: Commas are
not used after reporting verbs in reported speech:
Bo said he would be late. |
top
Semicolons are used:
| • |
to join together two sentences with related meanings
We need better technology; better technology costs money. |
| • |
to separate long items in a list
Students are asked not to leave bicycles by the entrance;
not to leave bags in the sitting room; and not to leave coats
in the dining room. |
top
Colons are used:
| • |
to introduce items in a list
You will need to provide one of the following pieces of identification:
a passport, a student's card, or a driving licence. |
| • |
to introduce an explanation of the previous part
of the sentence
Finally, we had to stop: we were tired and it was very dark. |
top
Quotation marks (also called speech marks or inverted
commas) can be single (‘ ’) or double (‘‘ ’’).
Quotation marks are used:
| • |
around direct speech
‘Why are we leaving so early?’ Susie asked. |
| • |
around words you want to emphasize or treat in a
special way.
What is a ‘blog’? |
top
Question marks are used:
| • |
after a question
What's the time? |
top
Exclamation marks are used:
| • |
to show strong emotion such as surprise, joy, or
anger
You'll never guess! I passed my test! |
| |
Note: Exclamation marks
are used in informal writing, but are not considered appropriate in
formal writing. |
| • |
with commands that should be obeyed
Come here immediately! |
| • |
with short exclamations that are called interjections
Ouch! Help! Oh dear! |
top
Apostrophes are used:
| • |
with 's' to show who or what someone or something
belongs to or is connected with
Chen is having dinner with Lin's sister.
Did you go to yesterday's meeting? |
| |
Note: -'s is used
when referring to a single person or thing.
The boy's father (= the father of one boy) asked
for an explanation. |
| |
Note: -s' is used
when referring to more than one person or thing.
The boys' father (= the father of more than one boy)
asked for an explanation. |
| • |
in contractions (short forms) to show that some letters
are missing
The talk wasn't (= was not) any good.
I'm (= I am) only here for a week.
That can't (= cannot) be true. |
| |
Note: Remember that its
(= belonging to or connected with 'it') does not have an apostrophe
The dog was chasing its tail. |
| |
Note: Remember that it's
(= 'it is' or 'it has') does have an apostrophe to show the missing
letters.
It's (= it is) too late now to do anything.
It's (= it has) been raining all day. |
top
Next month in MED Magazine you can read about revision
and examination skills.
top
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