1. College English 111
Writing skills

2. 1. Punctuation Marks The comma. The period. The colon.
The exclamation mark .
The quotation marks .
Capitalization.

3. The comma ( , ) After Examples Yes and no
Exemplary forms and abbreviations
Exclamations , dates ,
family names followed by first name ,
salutations and ending of letters
Examples
Yes, I think / no, I don’t think so.
namely , that is .
Oh, yes / oh, no/ on December 31, 1996
Brown, James.
Dear sir, sincerely yours,

4. The comma ( , ) After Examples An adverbial clause – phrase.
Prepositional phrase at the beginning of a sentence.
Introductory words and phrases.
Transitional elements.
Absolute elements and phrases
Examples
When he entered the room, he sat down.
At work, he never talks.
Upstairs, the house looks empty.
In fact , indeed, however, consequently, yet, still.
Rain or shine, he plays football.

5. The comma ( , ) To separate Examples Numbers and a series of items.
equal parts and contrasted elements.
Relative clause
Appositives
Examples
2,000/ 3,000,000
She bought a pencil, a ruler, a book and a map.
He borrowed a book, read it, and then returned it.
The boy’s father, not his uncle, ………
the boy, who works here, is Maha’s brother.
Nada, Maher’s sister, works here.

6. The comma ( , ) Before Examples An ing- form phrase
Tag questions
Examples
She went out, leaving her baby alone.
He’s right, isn’t he?

7. The comma ( , ) To Examples replace omissions Prevent misreading
A bus is used for short trip; a plane, for a long one.
In the morning, fog began to thicken.

8. Punctuate the following
Jenny and Miss Smith came into the room looked around whispered to each other and then strangely enough walked out.
William’s store which sells many fancy groceries was recently repainted: and as a consequence it now looks very nice indeed.
Of course father it’s a pity” said Ellen “that people don’t appreciate the excellent work which you have done here.”
Jim and I considered going out later we changed our minds and decided to stay at home and rest

9. The period ( . ) At the end of Examples A statement An imperative
Abbreviations
Indirect questions
Examples
She slept.
Sit down. Wait here.
E.g. i.e. V.I.P.
Please tell me what happened.

10. The period ( . ) Inside Examples Abbreviations Quotation marks
Numbers with decimals
Examples
A.m / p.m. / s.o.s.
She said, “I am happy.”
5.20/ 0.05

11. Punctuate the following
This is an English class its about English grammar the professor is a Palestinian he is a good man the students are Palestinians they are serious.

12. The colon (:) To introduce Examples A clarifying detail
A list of details
a direct quotation in the absence of ‘saying’
Examples
What I want is clear: a big house.
He always buys a lot of food: bread, meat, ……
Se heard his angry words: “get out.”

13. The colon (:) After Examples Each speaker in a dialogue.
Expressions such as (as follows , the following)
A formal salutation in business letters.
Examples
Teacher: who is a chemist?
Student: you are.
The rule is as follows:
Note the following:
Gentlemen: dear Mrs. Robinson:

14. The colon (:) Between Examples Titles and subtitles of books.
Volume and page reference
Hours and minutes,
Acts and scenes in plays.
Examples
Charles Dickens: the world of his Novels.
Critical Inquiry, vol. 6: pp. 1-6.
2:30 / 4:55
Julius Caesar, III: iii

15. Punctuate the following
His article was published in Linguistics Sciences vol 18 pp 23-57
I know our bosss is stubborn his answer is always no.
I heard her sing I love you
He is worried he didn’t do well in all his exams .
He failed the first exam yet he insisted on completing the course.
I watched hamlet iv ii on TV last night.

16. The exclamation mark (!)
After
An exclamatory utterance
A strong command Ah
To suggest surprise
Examples
What a clever boy!
Shut the door!
“ah!” she exclaimed.
So you have really decided to go!

17. The quotation marks ( “ “ )
For a direct quotation
With unfamiliar words , terms, titles , phrases , courses , etc.
Examples
Helen said “dinner is ready.”
He said the story was “phony”
Words worth’s “I wandered Lonely as a Cloud “ is an emotional , romantic poem.

18. Capitalization
Capitalization (beginning the word with a capital letter) is an important feature on English writing. Failure to capitalize a word that should be capitalized is a serious mistake.
Remember to apply the following rules in your English writing:

19. Capitalize the beginning of every sentence, pronoun I , proper nouns , nationalities, religions, languages, titles of people, and written works.
Capitalize days, months , festivals, historical eras, events and documents, names of ships, college courses, abbreviations.
Capitalize directions when they refer to certain region, family relationships when used with the person’s name, and reference to a section of the literary work.

20. Capitalization
DO NOT capitalize the following unless they begin a sentence:
The seasons of the year,
centuries, occupations,
abbreviations like e.g. i.e. earth unless it refers to the planet,
proper nouns acting as common nouns,
the name of a general school subject
and family relationships when used with possessive pronoun.

21. Capitalize the following
jack gets up at seven o’clock in the morning.
he watches tv in the evening.
he goes downtown on saturdays and he goes to the movies on Saturday nights.
bill doesn’t live in a dormitory he has a private room.
he doesn’t have classes on tuesdays.
jack and bill are in the same chemistry class.
they take chemistry 212 with professor baker .
they don’t have classes on new years day.
mr. william allen is a professor.
is mrs allen a professor no she isnt