Page 148 - New Grammar with a Smile 8

You already know that there are many different kinds of punctuation marks. In this
chapter, we shall be revising all that you have learnt and learn something more
about punctuation.

Capital Letters

Rules for using Capital Letters

Rule 1: A capital letter is used for the first word of any sentence, and in particular,
any sentence in direct speech. For example,
• The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Which dog? Oh, you mean
the lazy one!
• Swami Vivekananda had said, ‘You cannot believe in God until you believe
in yourself.’

• ‘Watch out!’ he screamed. ‘You almost knocked down my bike.’

However, when a continuous direct speech is broken in the middle by the reporter
and the reporting verb, then the first word of the second portion is not capitalised.
For example,
• ‘Since you are late,’ said the professor, ‘you will have less time to complete your paper.’

Rule 2: We use capital letters for the first letter of all proper nouns, as well as
adjectives derived from them. For example,

India, Indian, Indo-, Biblical, Shakespeare, Note
Shakespearean, Vidya Sagar Setu, Manish. Ed. is an abbreviation of

Rule 3: Capital letters are used for acronyms, ‘Education’; so the d is not
capitalised.
particularly academic degrees, official ranks, titles and
the names of countries. For example,

C.A., M.Ed., S.P., C.E.O., the U.K., the U.S.A.

Capitalise the titles of people when these titles are used before their names. Do not
capitalise a civil title if it is used alone and in place of a name. For example,
• The governor, lieutenant-governor and attorney general called for an urgent
meeting with the professor.
• Governor Laxman, Lieutenant-Governor Prakash and Attorney General Dixit
called for an urgent meeting with Professor Das.

Rule 4: ‘God’ is always capitalised, as are any pronouns relating to Him. For example,
• God is kind; He is so good to me.

• May the Lord bless you abundantly.

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