I. Listed below are the principal instances when capital letters are used. Choose two examples for each group.

1. With the first word and also the main words in the titles of books, films, plays and of art......................................... …….

2. With areas/regions (but not with east, west, etc., on their own) ………..

1. With the names of streets and other parts of a town.... …………..

2. With rivers/mountains and other geographical features.... …………..

3. With the names of planets (but not with the earth, sun or moon) ……...

4. With days, months, festivals and historical periods (but not with seasons) ……………

7 With the names of professions when they are used as titles (but not when used generally………………

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Christmas, the Middle East, South Australia, Jupiter, the Amazon, Doctor White, the Middle Ages, The Mona Lisa, Wall Street, Mars, the Pacific Ocean, The Merchant of Venice, Trafalgar Square, Professor Smith.

a) Place commas or quotation marks where they are required:

1. Well it’s like this sir. 2. There are several taxi lines in Brighton as far as I know. 3. She had clear features wonderful skin smiling grey eyes dark glossy hair falling almost to her shoulders. 4. Thackeray the English novelist was born in Calcutta India in 1811. 5. Before you know it Veronica you’ll be as tall as your mother. 6. Last night we heard Puccini’s La Boheme an opera about suffering artists in Old Montmartre. 7. Da­vid Garrick acted in Hamlet Macbeth and Coriolanus. 8. His artistic views I am sure are worth listening to. 9. I collected Bill’s clothes signed forms made arrange­ments. 10. You’re a comfort Alan she said. 11. Mr. Fate the sheriff of Maycomb County began to give evidence. 12. Mr. Smith no doubt will receive you immediately she said.

b) Certain commas in the following sentences need to be replaced by semicolons or colons. Make corrections where necessary and state the reason for each one:

1. Janet plays four instruments, the piano, the harp, the flute, and the violin. 2. The chairman presided at every meeting, however, he did not participate in the voting. 3. He had three duties when he worked in the library, answering the telephone, shelving books, and operating the microfilm machine.

c) Supply commas where they are needed for clarity in the following sentences:

1. The crowd shouted for the quarter-back had just scored a touch-down. 2. High above the jet plane streaked through the sky. 3. Just when she tried to swal­low the dentist began drilling on her tooth. 4. The class continued to wait patiently for the professor had ex­plained that he might be detained.

D) Add capital letters and punctuation marks where necessary in these short contexts.

- i havent told you where were going this summer have i well weve decided to go to nepal in july

- ken read an article about it in a sunday newspaper you see and he was so enthusiastic that i said why dont we go

- well be flying to katmandu and then touring the east of the country

- itll be a chance to see mount everest although we certainly wont be climbing it

- by the way im going to a lecture at the library next friday professor sweeting will be talking about his recent trip to the himalayas would you like to come too

Part III

Structural aspects of writing

PARAGRAPH

A paragraph consists of a number of sentences, which are closely related and deal with the same topic.

A well-constructed paragraph should possess a) unity, b) logical sequence of thought, c) variety of length and structure.

By unity we mean that one main theme is dealt with. This theme may either be expressed or understood.

The main information is usually conveyed in the topic sentence. The remainder of the paragraph is an en­largement of this. A paragraph lacks unity when two different topics are treated in it. The topic sentence can be expressed by the first sentence, then comes the develop­ment, and the last sentence rounds off the whole. The topic sentence may be expanded in a number of ways or it may come as the climax of a series of preparatory sen­tences.

Logical sequence of thought. A para­graph cannot be regarded as satisfactory unless its sen­tences are arranged in a clear and logical order. Each sen­tence must lead to the following and all must be linked up. The connection between the sentences will be shown by their logical order. Certain pronouns, adverbs and con­junctions are frequently used (thus, hence, therefore, further(more), moreover, con­sequently, however, nevertheless, nonetheless, etc.).

Varying length and structure. It is impossible to say how long a paragraph should be. The length of a paragraph is largely determined by its purpose and by the length of the work which it is a part of. The variation of paragraph length is as important as the varia­tion of sentence length within the paragraph. It creates a sense of rhythm and movement which helps the reader.

The paragraph itself is part of a larger unit of a section or chapter, and must, therefore, fit neatly into that unit. It must also show some reference to the preceding and following paragraphs, perhaps by introducing a series of ideas or by summing up a collection of statements. This means that a paragraph may have not only a topic sentence but also a linking sentence, which takes up the thread of previous paragraphs, or which states the theme to be developed in the next one.

1. Examine the opening paragraph paying attention to its unity and logical sequence of thought. The topic sentence conveying the main information is given in bold type.

Once upon a starless midnight there was an owl who sat on a branch of an oak-tree. Two ground moles tried to slip by, unnoticed. “You!” said the owl. “Who?” they replied, in fear and astonishment, for they could not believe it was possible for anyone to see them in thick darkness. “You, two”, said the owl. The moles hurried away and told the other creatures of the field and forest that the owl was the greatest and wisest of all animals because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any question. “I’ll see about that”, said the secretary bird, and he called on the owl one night when it was again very dark. “How many claws am I holding up?” said the secretary bird. “Two”, said the owl and that was right.

(After James Thurber)

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