Download Full-Stops: Use full stops at end of every complete sentence I knew

1. Full-Stops:
 Use full stops at end of every complete sentence
I knew you would understand in the end.
 If the last word in a sentence ends in a full stop, don’t follow it with another full stop
I have a B.A. That means Bachelor of Arts.
 Use full stops after an indirect question
He asked where the bus station was.
2. Capitals:
 Capitalize the first letter of a sentence
Capital letters are easy.
 Capitalize proper nouns (names)
Auckland University
 Capitalize a person’s title when it precedes the name, but not when the title acts as
a description following the name
Chairperson Petro
Petrov, the chairperson of the company will address us at noon.
 Capitalize the first letter of a quoted sentence
He said “Treat her as if she were your own daughter.”
 Capitalize a person’s title when it follows the name on the signature line
Sincerely,
Mrs Haines, Chairperson
 Capitalize titles of high ranking government officials when used before their names,
but do not capitalize if civic title is used instead of the name
The president will address Congress. Governor Fortinbrass will be there.
 Capitalize titles when used as direct address
Will you take my temperature, Doctor?
 Capitalize points of a compass only when they refer to specific regions
We had two visitors from the South.
Go three blocks south and turn left.
 Capitalize the first and last words of titles of publications including short verbs like
‘Is’ ‘Are’ and ‘Be’, but not little words like ‘a’ ‘an’ ‘the’ ‘but’ ‘as’ ‘if’ ‘and’ ‘or’ ‘nor’ or
other prepositions (prepositions show the relationship between other linguistic
units/words)
The Day of the Jackel
 Capitalize ‘federal’ and ‘state’ only when used as part of official agency name, not
when they are used as general terms
The state has evidence to the contrary.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been subject to much scrutiny lately.
 Do not capitalize seasons
I love autumn leaves and spring flowers.
 Do not capitalize after a colon
I love Jane Smiley’s writing: her book was beautiful.
3. Question Marks
 Use after a direct question (not after indirect questions) and tag questions
Will you go with me?
I asked if he would go with me.
You do care, don’t you?
4. Exclamation Marks
 Use to show emphasis or surprise
I’m truly shocked by your behaviour!
5. Hyphens
 Check whether a compound word is two words, one word, or hyphenated, in a
dictionary.
eyewitness, eye shadow, eye-opener
 Phrases that have verb, noun and adjective forms will often be separate words when
used as verbs, and one word when used as a noun or adjective
The engine will break down. (verb)
We suffered a breakdown. (noun)
The site will require specialized cleanup procedures. (adjective)
 Compound verbs are either hyphenated or appear as one word. If the verb can not
be found in the dictionary then hyphenate it.
To air-condition the house would require thousands of dollars.
Management will downsize the organisation next year.
 Generally hyphenate two or more adjectives when they act as a single idea.
friendly-looking man
friendly little girl
brightly lit room (note that brightly is an adverb for lit, not an adjective)
 When adverbs do not end in –ly and are used as compound words in front of a noun,
hyphenate. When the combination of words is used after the noun, do not
hyphenate.
The well-known actress accepted the award.
The actress who accepted the award was well known.
He got a much-needed haircut yesterday.
His haircut was much needed.
 Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine
Only twenty-one of the children were bilingual.
 Hyphenate prefixes before proper nouns
un-American
 Hyphenate prefixes ending in a or i when the root word begins with the same letter
ultra-ambitious
semi-invalid
 Prefixes that result in double ‘e’ or ‘o’ are usually but not always combined to form
one word.
preemployment, coordinate, de-emphasize, co-owner
 Hyphenate words beginning with self except ‘selfish’ and ‘selfless’
self-assured, self-respect, self-addressed
 Hyphen with prefix ‘ex’
His ex-wife sued for nonsupport.

Hyphenate with prefix ‘re’ only when the ‘re’ could cause confusion with another
word and when it means again.
Will she recover? (re doesn’t mean ‘again’)
I have re-covered the sofa. (Re means ‘again’ and could cause confusion with
recovered)
The stamps have been reissued. (Re means ‘again’ but would not cause confusion)
I must re-press the shirt. (Re means ‘again’ and would be confused with repress)
6. Commas
 Used to separate words with a series of three or more (like items on a list)
My $10 million estate is to be split among my husband, daughter, son, and nephew.
Note: if you left the comma between son and nephew out, the son and nephew
would be one group to receive a third portion.
 Used to separate two adjectives when ‘and’ can be inserted between them
He is a strong, healthy man.
We stayed at an expensive summer resort. (No comma because you would not say
expensive and summer)
 Used when an –ly adjective is used with other adjectives (test if an –ly word is an
adjective, see if it can be used alone with the noun. If it can, use a comma.)
Felix was a lonely, young boy.
I get headaches in brightly lit rooms. (Brightly is not an adjective because it cannot
be used alone with rooms so no comma between brightly and lit.)
 Use commas before or surrounding the name or title of a person directly addressed
or to surround titles used with names.
Yes, Doctor, I will.
Al Mooney, M.D., knew Charles the third.
 Use a comma to separate the day of the month from the year and after the year,
and city from the state and after the state.
Kathleen met her husband on December 5, 2003, in California.
I lived in San Francisco, California, for 20 years.
 Use commas to hold expressions and words like ‘therefore’ or ‘however’, that
interrupt sentence flow.
I am, as you probably have noticed, very nervous. I would, however, be happy to do it.
 Use commas when starting a sentence with a weak clause ( weak clauses use words
like although, since, if, when, or because; weak clauses can not stand on their own)
If you are not sure about this, let me know.
Let me know now if you are unsure about this. (note that ‘Let me know now’ is not a
weak clause so there is no comma needed.)
 Use a comma to separate two strong clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction
(and, or, but, for, nor). You can omit the comma if clauses are short. A comma splice
is an error caused by joining two strong clauses (a strong clause can stand on its
own) with only a comma instead of separating clauses with a conjunction, semicolon, or full stop. A run-on sentence occurs when two strong clauses are joined
without any punctuation.
I have painted the entire house, but he is still working on sanding the doors.
I paint and he writes.
Time flies when we are having fun, we are always having fun. (comma splice)
Time flies when we are having fun we are always having fun. (run- on sentence)
 Use commas to introduce or interrupt direct quotations shorter than three lines
“Why,” I asked, “do you always forget to do it?”
 Use a comma in tag questions
I can go, can’t I?
 Use a comma to separate contrasting parts of a sentence
That is my money, not yours.
 Use a comma when beginning a sentence with introductory words such as ‘well’,
‘now’, or ‘yes’.
Yes, I do need that report.
Well, I never thought I’d see the day...
 Use either a comma or semi-colon before introductory words like ‘i.e.’ or ‘e.g.’ when
followed by a series of items (note that i.e. means ‘that is’ and e.g. means ‘for
example)
You are required to bring camping gear, e.g. sleeping bags, pans, and warm clothing.
7. Semi-colons
 Use to separate two sentences in place of a full stop or conjunction
Call me tomorrow; I’ll give you my answer then.
 Use to separate units of a series when one or more of the units contain commas
This conference has people from Boise, Idaho; Los Angeles, California; and Nashville,
Tennessee.
 Use between two sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction when one or more
commas appear in the first sentence
When I finish here, I will be glad to help you; and that is a promise I will keep.
8. Colons
 Use after complete sentence to introduce list when introductory words like ‘e.g.’ or
‘namely’ do not appear
You may bring the following items: sleeping bags, pans, and warm clothing.
 After the grouping sentence above a list
These are some of the pool rules:
1. Do not run
2. Report to the life guard
3. Have fun!
 Use instead of a semi-colon between two sentences when the second sentence
explains or illustrates the first sentence and no coordinating conjunction is used. If
only one sentence follows the colon, don not capitalize the first word of the new
sentence. If two or more sentences follow the colon, capitalize the first word of each
sentence following.
I enjoy reading: novels by Kurt Vonnegut are my favourite.
Garlic is used in Italian cooking: It greatly enhances flavour of pasta dishes. It also
enables the flavour of eggplant.

Use a colon to introduce a direct quotation more than three lines in length leaving a
blank line above and below, indenting, but not using quotation marks.
The author of Touched, Jane Straus, wrote:
Georgia went back to her bed and stared at the intricate patterns of burned
moth wings in the translucent glass of the overhead light. Her father was in “hyper
mode” again where nothing could calm him down.
He’d been talking non-stop for a week about remodeling projects, following
her around the house as she tried to escape the chatter. He was just about to crash,
she knew.
 Use a colon to follow a salutation in a business letter
Dear Ms. Rodriguez:
9. Parentheses
 Use parentheses to enclose words or figures that clarify or are used as an aside.
I expect five hundred dollars ($500).
He finally answered (taking five minutes to think) that he did not understand the
question. (Commas could have been used, but parenthesis shows less emphasis or
importance, while Em dashes ( –) would show emphasis.)
 Use parentheses to enclose numbers or letters used for listed items.
We need an emergency room physician who can (1) think quickly, (2) treat patients
respectfully, and (3) handle complaints from the public.
 Only put full stops in the parentheses if an entire sentence is inside it.
Please read the analysis (I enclosed it as Attachment A.).
Please read the analysis. (I enclosed it as Attachment A.)
Please read the analysis (Attachment A).
10. Dashes
 en dash (-) is used for periods of time where you might otherwise use ‘to’
The years 2001-2003
January-June
 em dash (–) may replace commas, semi-colons, colons, and parenthesis to show
emphasis or indicate interruption or change of thought.
You are the friend – the only friend – who offered to help me.
I wish you would – oh, never mind.
11. Apostrophes
 Use apostrophes with contractions where the letter(s) has been removed.
don’t, isn’t
you’re, she’s
 Use apostrophe to show possession, before the ‘s’ to show singular possession, but
if plural then make the noun plural first then use the apostrophe. Do not use an
apostrophe for the plural of a name. Use an apostrophe and ‘s’ after the second
name if the two people possess the same item.
The boy’s hat, my mother-in-law’s hat
Mr Jones’s golf clubs (note: it is not necessary to add the second ‘s’)
The boys’ hats (the noun is made plural – boys, and then the ‘ added)
The children’s hats (the noun is made plural – children, then the ‘ added)
The Changs have two cats and a dog. (The plural Changs do not need an ‘)
Cesar and Maribel’s home is constructed of Redwood. (Both own the home)
Cesar’s and Maribel’s job contracts will be renewed next year. (Separate ownership)
 Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns (eg. his, hers, its, theirs, ours,
yours, whose)
This book is hers, not yours.
 Only use apostrophe in it’s when it is contraction for ‘it is’ or ‘it has’.
It’s a nice day. It’s been great getting to know you.
 Do not use apostrophes to form plurals for capital letters and numbers used as
nouns.
She learned her ABCs.
The 1990s (not the 1990’s)
The ‘90s or mid-‘70s (not the ‘90’s or the mid-‘70’s)
 Use apostrophe with the possessive in front of a gerund (-ing word).
Alex’s skating was a joy to behold.
I appreciate your inviting me to dinner. (If the gerund has a pronoun use possessive
form of that pronoun)
12. Quotation Marks
 Full stops and commas always go inside quotation marks, even in single quotes. If
the question is in the quotation then the question mark should go inside the
quotation marks. If the question is outside quoted material and inside the quoted
material use only one question mark and place it inside the quotation mark.
She said, “He said, ‘Hurry up.’”
She asked, “Will you be my friend?”
Do you agree with the saying, “All’s fair in love and war”? (The question is outside of
the quotation so the question mark is outside the quotation marks.)
Did she say, “May I go?”
 Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes and the full stop goes inside all
quotation marks.
He said, “Danea said, ‘Do not treat me that way.’”
 Use quotation marks to indicate direct quotation only, and do not use with quoted
material more than three lines in length – use a colon for longer quotes and spacing.
“When will you be here?” he asked.
He asked when you will be there.
 When quoting something that has a spelling or grammar mistake, or presents
material in a confusing way, insert sic in italics and brackets to say “This is the way
the original material was.”
She wrote, “I would rather die then [sic] be seen wearing the same outfit as my
sister.” (It should be than, not then.)
13. Ellipsis Marks
 Use ellipsis (three full stops) when an omission occurs in the middle of a sentence or
between sentences.
Original sentence: The regulation states, “All agencies must document overtime or
risk losing federal funds.”
Rewritten with ellipsis: The regulation states, “All agencies must document
overtime...”
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth...a new nation...”
14. Plural
 There are nouns which can be made plural with an ‘s’
Cats (plural of cat)
 Words that end in –ch, x, s, or a ‘s’ sound will require –es for the plural.
A witch --> witches
A box--> boxes
gas--> gases
kiss--> kisses
 Some nouns have irregular plural forms
child--> children
person--> people
mouse--> mice
sheep--> sheep
 Some nouns maintain Latin or Greek in their plural forms
nucleus--> nuclei
fungus--> fungi
criterion--> criteria
 Words that end in consonant – y, then change the y to ies.
baby--> babies, gallery--> galleries (but proper nouns, like Kennedy, do not obey this
rule, so it would be Kennedys not Kennedies)
 Words that end in ‘o’ vary
potato--> potatoes, but memo--> memos, stereo--> stereos
 Words that end in –f or –fe usually become –ves
knife--> knives, hoof--> hooves, but exceptions exist like roof--> roofs
 Some nouns seem plural but take a singular verb, some nouns can seem singular but
take plural verbs.
The news is bad. Gymnastics is fun.
The scissors were stolen.
Acknowledgements:
grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/plurals.htm
http://www.grammarbook.com/default.asp