MECHANICS OF GRAMMAR
A) Start Punctuation (Capitalization).
B) End Punctuation
Full – stop (period), question marks and exclamation points, signal the end of a sentence.
- Ø Use a period after plain statements or commands, and abbreviations (not those abbreviations that serve as names of organizations or Government agencies e.g. UNICFF. WHO. FAO. etc.)
- Ø Use a question mark after questions. Do not use a question mark after an indirect question.
- Ø Use an exclamation point after strong emotional expressions.
C) Internal Punctuation
Commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, parentheses, question marks, apostrophes, italics, ellipsis points, brackets.
CAPITALIZATION
Generally it is used to mark the beginning .of a sentence or to indicate that a word is a proper noun.
– Capitalize personal or official titles or their abbreviations when you use them as names in direct address or when you use them before people’s names. Capitalize the names and abbreviations, of academic degrees or honours that follow a person’s name.
Ph.D Dr. Ms.
Capitalize the names oPparticuJar places such as continents, cities, parks, rivers and compass points south, north, east and west etc.)
Capitalize the names of nationalities, peoples and languages. Pakistani. English, Asian.
the names of days, months, holidays and special events, the historical events, periods, documents and awards. Titles ot books newspapers, poems, television shows, movies etc.
names of academic disciplines
names of trains, ships, aeroplanes, rockets, space-craft, airlines.
PIA SHAHEEN.
COMMAS
Rules for the use of commas.
Use commas to separate items in a series, phrases in a series etc.
Use a comma after each item except the last.
Do not use commas to separate pairs of nouns that are thought of as a unit.
Use commas to separate.” two or more adjectives preceding a noun that they both modify.
e.g : – She left on a clear, sunny day.
Use commas to separate three or more short independent clauses in a series.
1 picked up the receiver. I listened for the lone, and then I dialled the number.
Use commas to separate three or more subordinate clauses in a series.
e.g : – •
How the fire began, when it was put out and how much damage was
done.
Use commas to separate items in a date or an address.
Use commas after the greeting, or salutation of a social letter and
after the closing of any letter.
My dear Salma, Best wishes, &
Sincerely.
SEMI COLONS
A semi-colon is used to connect independent clauses that are not joined by a coordinating conjunction: –
Example:
I caught up with him on the ski-trail; he is a fast and skillful skier.
Semi colons are used to separate items in a series if those items have internal commas. The semi colons make clear how many items are in the series.
