Activity: Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization Click on the audio symbol below to begin.

1. Activity:Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization Click on the audio symbol below to begin. University of Texas at Dallas

2. Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization Summary In Finkelstein’s Pocket Book of English Grammar for Engineers and Scientists, you received a refresher on grammar, punctuation, and capitalization, including rules, exceptions, and common errors. Assignment Your assignment is to apply your learning from Finkelstein’s Pocket Book of English Grammar for Engineers and Scientists by correcting any of the mistakes in grammar, punctuation, or capitalization in the sentences provided in this assignment, which can be found on the next several slides (slides 3 through 6). You may use your text book as a reference for rules and exceptions. Submission and Deadline Submit your completed assignment in WebCT by the date and time specified in the syllabus. University of Texas at Dallas

3. Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization Instructions: Follow instructions for each section below. Grammar Circle the nouns, underline the verbs, box adjectives, and “X” adverbs, mark passive verbs with “PV,” and put a heart around all prepositions. On September 16, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that allows oil companies to drill for oil more than 50 miles away from Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Many Americans feel like congress should focus more on the growing issue of health care in the United States. An AMBER Alert enables police to use the same system that they use for severe weather to inform the public of missing children. Slavery is still a very real problem in the United States and in other countries. I forgot to complete my homework said Elisabeth But the teacher said I could turn it in tomorrow for 50% of the grade. (Continue to slide 4.) University of Texas at Dallas

4. Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization Punctuation Correct the punctuation in the following sentences. On Monday he balanced his checkbook visited his parents his grandparents and a friend read the assignment for his Tuesday calculus class and ate dinner with his sister She decided to take four classes composition calculus philosophy beginning tennis and political science The university’s computer systems will be unavailable from 6:00 pm on Saturday August 30 2008 when systems will be down on a phased basis On our vacation we visited Paris France Milan Italy and London England Thank you said Michael as he picked up his dry cleaning I really needed this shirt for my interview tomorrow (Continue to slide 5.) University of Texas at Dallas

5. Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization Capitalization Correct the capitalization in these sentences. during the class, we discussed the presidential race between senator john mccain and senator barack obama. the president of the company had lunch with our ceo to discuss a merger. i joined ieee so I could read the organization’s monthly journal. americans watched an increased number of news broadcasts last summer because networks reported on the olympics (from china), the democratic national convention (from denver, co), and the republican national convention (from st. paul, mn). “mrs. smith is very professional,” nathaniel said. “i really like how she teaches her students at dallas memorial high school.” (Continue to slide 6.) University of Texas at Dallas

6. Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization Correct all grammar, punctuation, and capitalization errors in these sentences. did you know that only woodrow wilson high school in dallas texas can boast being one of only two high schools in that nation having two graduates who have heisman trophies american students need to study and practice speaking foreign languages to prepare them to work in an international market salzburg austria was named after salt a natural resource that is readily available in the citys local caves recent cellular phone reports may prove that russias aggression in august toward georgia was planned several days before russias initial attack the president initiated a new bill that will enable small business owners to minimize their taxes for the first year of business by claiming costs that previously were not deductible University of Texas at Dallas

7. Grammar, Punctuation, and CapitalizationAdditional Resources There are many resources you may use for grammar, punctuation, and capitalization, including English text and workbooks you have used in past courses. Aside from these and Finkelstein’s Pocket Book of English Grammar for Engineers and Scientists, there are many web sites that provide guidelines and examples for proper usage of grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. A couple are provided below, but feel free to use other resources, as well: http://www.sti.nasa.gov/publish/sp7084.pdf http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp Also note that many word processing software and presentation packages, such as MicroSoft Word and MicroSoft PowerPoint, provide grammar, spelling, and capitalization checks. However, it is important that you not become fully reliant upon these, as they are not mistake-proof. References Finkelstein, L. (2005). Pocket Book of Grammar. New York: McGraw-Hill. GrammarBook.com Web site, http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp. McCaskill, M., Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization: A Handbook for Technical Writers. Hampton, Virginia. NASA Langley Research Center. From NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Web site. University of Texas at Dallas