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From Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon

UWF WRITING LAB RULES OF THUMB FOR FAULTY CAPITALIZATION, ITALICIZATION, HYPHENATION, AND QUOTATION TECHNIQUE. From Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon. To capitalize or not to.

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From Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon

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  1. UWF WRITING LABRULES OF THUMB FOR FAULTY CAPITALIZATION, ITALICIZATION, HYPHENATION, AND QUOTATION TECHNIQUE From Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon Created by April Turner Revised by Mamie Webb Hixon June 30,2010

  2. To capitalize or not to . . . • When Amazon launched its Kindle book reader, Oprah announced on NBC that this e-reader is one of her favorite things. • CAPITALIZE trademarks/product names: Kindle • CAPITALIZE corporations: Amazon • CAPITALIZE certain initialisms/abbreviations: NBC • CAPITALIZE people’s names: Oprah

  3. DO NOT CAPITALIZE • The first letter of some trademark/product names eBay eLearning iPhone and iPad • Music genres jazz hip-hop rock ‘n roll music • Ideologies capitalismsocialism existentialism

  4. DO NOT CAPITALIZE • Names that have no association with their origin sandwich pasteurization leotards • Slang names dork geek • Common religious termsa priest holy • Types of transportationplanes and boats and trains

  5. DO NOT CAPITALIZE • Seasons winter, spring, summer, or fall • Compass directions north by northwest west of the Mississippi • Majors or disciplines special education social work • Professional titles or occupational descriptionsmath teacher actor Kevin Bacon lawyer former astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison bank teller the sheriff

  6. DO NOT CAPITALIZE • Academic classifications freshman year senior • Common nouns used in place of proper nouns a junior college the interstate • General events a civil war a proclamation • General names of organizations, agencies, and officesan insurance agency a social security check

  7. DO NOT CAPITALIZE • Common nouns hurricane a large city • Names of animals bald eagle mockingbird • Academic degrees a doctorate bachelor’s degree • Military titlesretired admiral a U.S. marine

  8. Which words have capitalization errors? • retired admiral David Brewer, U.S. navy • Sex And The City • Marketing Communications department

  9. CAPITALIZATION • (NOTE: The list below includes but is not limited to proper nouns that should be capitalized; when in doubt, consult a dictionary.) • Words in a title except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions • The Wizard of Oz • Sex and the City • Professional titles preceding or following names • Doctor Frank Jones • Titles with rank • Chief Petty Officer Kumwaltz • Retired Admiral David Brewer, U.S. Navy • Specific departments • Foreign Languages Department • Marketing Communications Department • Divisions of the military • Army, Air Force, Navy

  10. Which words have capitalization errors? • english skills • MBA degree • Master’s degree • west of the Mississippi • on the west coast • The Gulf Coast

  11. CAPITALIZATION • Geographical areas • West Coast • The South • Names of businesses and institutions • First National Bank • Languages • Korean • English • Courses followed by a number • English Composition 101 • Names of specific degrees Bachelor of Arts degree BUT bachelor’s degree master’s degree • Specific rather than generic course titles • Western Civilization • Philosophy of Love • history • philosophy

  12. Which words have capitalization errors? • Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, and Atheists • the league of women voters • blacks, whites, and latinos

  13. Which words have capitalization errors? • Summer vacation • Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn • Google apps • Waiting to Exhale • Gone With The Wind

  14. CAPITALIZATION • Religions, churches, denominations • Catholicism • Organizations • Boys and Girls Club • League of Women Voters • Historical events, periods • the Harlem Renaissance • Familial terms such as mother and father if they are not preceded by a possessive word • Aunt Judy is my favorite aunt. • Races, nationalities • Mexican-American • African-American • Businesses • AT&T • Sears • Do NOT capitalize • Neologistic or other terms used to refer to races and nationalities • whites • Blacks (usage is divided) • a native American

  15. CAPITALIZATION • Calendar names and events • Independence Day • Personal names and nicknames • Michael “Air” Jordan • Ships, trains, planes • Air Force One • Abbreviations acronyms and initials • AA, NRA • Trademarks • eBay • iPhone • BlackBerry • Wi Fi • Seasons accompanying event names • Spring Festival • summer vacation • BUT • winter, spring, summer

  16. When in doubt about the capitalization of a word, consult a dictionary.

  17. ITALICIZATION &UNDERLINING • Italicize longer works (for handwritten work, underline): Books, novels, plays, movies, newspapers, magazines, paintings, sculptures, ships, trains, TV programs • A Streetcar Named Desire, The New Yorker, Pensacola News Journal, The Amazing Race

  18. USE QUOTATION MARKS FOR • Shorter works: TV episodes, short stories, songs, poems, chapters in a book, essays, speeches • “The Gettysburg Address” • “Ode to a Grecian Urn” by John Keats • “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty • Direct quotations: Place periods and commas inside closing quotation marks; semicolons and colons, outside; question marks and exclamation marks are placed according to whether the mark accompanies the sentence or the quotation. • Cameron exclaimed, “That dog’s barking was not music to our ears!”

  19. USE DOUBLE QUOTATION MARKS • TO SET OFF: Words and expressions that need to be emphasized or that the writer wants to call attention to: Marco is a career student – he has been enrolled eight years already because he believes in the mantra “stay in school.” The celebrity couple are not married to each other; they have an “LTA,” a “living together arrangement.” Both children have cancer, but neither of them is “out of the woods” yet. I remember “Mommilies” such as “Things aren’t always as bad as they seem.”

  20. USE DOUBLE QUOTATION MARKS • TO SET OFF: Words used as words The report will use the word “aborigine” to refer only to the primitive tribes now living in Australia. • TO SET OFF: Words used satirically or words that should not be taken literally The librarian righteously cleansed the library of all "dirty literature" such as Catch 22, Huckleberry Finn, and The Color Purple.

  21. USE SINGLE QUOTATION MARKS • TO QUOTE SOMEONE WHO IS QUOTING SOMEONE ELSE: A quotation within another quotation or a title within a quote Dr. Feinstein opened his lecture by saying, “Albert Einstein reminded us that ‘Great spirits always receive violent opposition from mediocre minds.’” The intro to Lit student naively remarked, “The nurse in Eudora Welty’s short story ‘A Worn Path’ calls the protagonist Phoenix Jackson ‘aunt,’ so are the two characters related?”

  22. Place commas and periods inside closing quotation marks. • Place semicolons and colons outside closing quotation marks. • “Do your own thing, an expression coined by Ralph Waldo Emerson, is found in his 1841 edition of “Self Reliance,” and it is considered a “philosophical gem.” • The graffito on a bathroom wall reads “ESP should be outlawed”; underneath this quote is “I knew you’d say that!”

  23. Place question marks and exclamation points inside closing quotation marks when the quoted material asks a question or makes an exclamation. • My personal anthem is Tina Turner’s song “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” • The captain shouted, “Halt!”

  24. Place question marks and exclamation points outside closing quotation marks when the sentence, not the quoted material, asks a question or makes an exclamation. • Which philosopher said, “I think; therefore, I am”? • (René Descartes) • I know that “misery loves company,” but please save us from his “misery”!

  25. HYPHENATION • Words with a fixed hyphen (use a dictionary) • Compound modifiers preceding a noun: a three-hour movie • Words beginning with the prefixes self-, all-, and well-: self-evident, all-encompassing, well-intended • Prefixes before a proper noun: pro-American

  26. HYPHENATION • Fractions used as modifiers: one-third voter turnout • Numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine • Multiword adjectives: out-of-state checks • Some compound nouns: mother-in-law

  27. LET’S PRACTICE!!! • Eighty year old actress Betty White said that “Facebook” is a waste of time. • Eighty-year-old actress Betty White said that Facebook is a waste of time. • The Grapes of Wrath is Steinbeck’s greatest novel. • The Grapes of Wrath… • My Aunt attends the local Junior College. • My aunt…junior college • Beth said that “Tony is a teacher’s pet.” • No quotation marks • UWF boasts a low student teacher ratio. • …student-teacher…

  28. LET’S PRACTICE A LITTLE MORE!!! • Joe Smith is a member of the I have a dream foundation. • …I Have a Dream Foundation • Doesn’t everyone love Elvis’s song called Jailhouse Rock? • …“Jailhouse Rock”? • Her paper is extremely well written. • …well-written • Jessie has never read Much Ado About Nothing, but she did watch the movie. • …Much Ado About Nothing…

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