Capitalization and Punctuation

required in written academic English

By AJ Brown

Punctuation in English Consists of

• a period .• a comma ,• a question mark ?• an exclamation mark !• a colon :• a semi-colon ;• quotation marks “ ”• an apostrophe ‘• ellipses …• a dash -

What’s what…

• A period is for the end of a sentence This sentence is short.

• A question mark is for the end of a question.

Is this sentence short?• An exclamation mark is for the end of a

sentence that should be emphasized to show excitement or disbelief.

My class was great!

Comma examples…

When to use a comma in English• for an introductory phrase

Last week, several students were absent.• when a dependent clause is first (complex)

Because I am hungry, I am eating an apple.• after the first clause of a compound sentence

I live in Lake Oswego, and I work in Portland.• to separate items in a list

Peter, Deborah, and Ian are waiting in the car.I want to see your homework, tests, and journal.

Capital Letter Rules in English

1. first word in a sentence

2. 1st and last in a title, plus all n, adj, v, & adv

3. the pronoun I4. proper nouns

(names of … )• days of the week• months of the year• languages• religions

• deities (gods)• streets and avenues• countries• mountains and

ranges• seas and oceans• rivers and lakes• continents• islands• buildings and

bridges• classes and courses

(w/ numbers)

Remember…

1. Only capitalize general nouns if they are part of a name.

The professor is nice.

I think that Professor West is nice.

The river is long.

We visited the Mississippi River last year.

Last week, the bridge was closed.

Last week, the Broadway Bridge was closed.

Always capitalize…

1. The pronoun I

2. Names of countries or adjectives of countries

3. Names of religions or adjectives of religions

4. Names of gods even if it is not the name you use

5. The days of the week and the months of a year (NOT the seasons!)