Proofreading Your Articles Through The Proper Use of Capitalization, Punctuation and Spelling

Mechanics refers to the standard practices for the presentation of words and sentences, including capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. As with grammar, there are many rules for mechanics, but here I will cover the ones that cause many article writers the most problems.

a. Capitalization

Capitalization is necessary both for specific words and to start sentences and quotes. However, many writers overuse it. Only six occasions require capitalization:

1.    The first word of a sentence

2.    Proper nouns (names of people, places, and things)

3.    The first word of a complete quotation, but not a partial quotation

4.    The first, last, and any other important words of a title

5.    Languages

6.    The pronoun I, and any contractions made with it

b. Punctuation

There are dozens of punctuation marks in the English language. They’re used to separate ideas, form words, and make the meanings of sentence clear. Poor punctuation can confuse your readers and change your intended meaning. For example, one comma completely changes the meaning of this short sentence:

         Don’t call me, stupid!

        Don’t call me stupid!

Here’s a quick punctuation review:

IF YOUR PURPOSE IS TO                    USE THIS PUNCTUATION         EXAMPLE

a. end a sentence                                 period [.]                                  Use a period to end a

                                                                                                               sentence.

b. connect complete sentences            semicolon[;]                            A semicolon can connect two

                                                              or a comma [,] and                  sentences; it is an excellent

                                                             a conjuction [and, or,                to show that two ideas are

                                                             nor, for, so, but, yet]                 related.

c. connect items in a list                     comma [,] but if one or              The table was overturned, the

                                                            more items in that list                mattress was torn apart, and

                                                            has a comma, use a                    the dresser drawers were

                                                            semicolon [;]                              strewn all over the floor.

                                                                                                                The castaways included a

                                                                                                                professor, who was the

                                                                                                               group’s leader; an actress;

                                                                                                               and a housewife.

d. introduce a quotation                       colon [:] or comma [,]            Colons have three functions:

                                                                                                              introducing long lists,

                                                                                                              introducing quotations, and

                                                                                                              explanations.

                                                                                                              He said, “This simply won’t

                                                                                                              do.”

e. indicate a quotation                          quotation marks [" "]            “To be or not to be?” is one

                                                                                                               of the famous lines from

                                                                                                               Hamlet.

f. indicate a question                            question marks [" "]              Why are so many engineering

                                                                                                              students obsessed with

                                                                                                              Star Treck?

g. connect two words                           hypen [-]                                brother-in-law, well-known

    together                                                                                         

h. separate a word or                           dash [-]                                  I never lie – never.

    phrase for emphasis           

i. separate a word or phrase                parenthesis [( )]                   There is an exception to every

   that is relevant but not                                                                     rule (including this one).

   essential information

j. show possession or                          apostrophe [‘]                        That’s Jane’s car.

   contraction   

c. Spelling

Proofreading for spelling errors after you’ve run a spell-check program means looking carefully for real-word errors. If you typed tow instead of two, that mistake is still in your essay, waiting for you to find it. A simple tip is to use the professional proofreading tricks on my other article ( http://bookstove.com/book-talk/how-to-proofread-your-article-for-grammar-mistakes-confusing-words-sentence-agreement-run-ons-and-sentence-fragments/ ) to scan for mistakes.