WRITING SKILLS IN ENGLISHRULES OF GRAMMAR

Vidya HariharanAsst. Prof.Dept. of English

ARTICLES

PUNCTUATION

•Always start a sentence with a capital letter.

•Use capital letters to start proper nouns and titles.

•Use capital letters for acronyms.

•Use a period (full stop) to end declarative sentences and statements.

•Use a question mark to end questions.•Use a comma to indicate a break or

pause within a sentence.•Use the comma when listing items in

a series. Use a comma to separate two or more adjectives describing a noun.

•Use a comma to separate an introductory phrase from the rest of the sentence. An introductory phrase (which is usually one or more prepositional phrases) briefly introduces the sentence and provides context, but is not part of the sentence's subject or predicate. Therefore, it should be separated from the main clause by a comma.

HYPHEN

•Use a hyphen when adding a prefix to some words.

•Use hyphens when creating compound words from several smaller words, e.g. radar-equipped.

•Use a hyphen when writing numbers out as words, e.g. fifty-two.

APOSTROPHE

•Use the apostrophe together with the letter s to indicate possession.

•Use the apostrophe to combine two words to make a contraction.

•Don't use apostrophes with s to make a plural noun from a singular.

Complex sentences — linking words • while• After• though• because• as soon as • whereas• wherever• when• Before• as

• so that • unless• since • although• if• until• where• even though • whether

PHRASES • What is a phrase?• A phrase is a collection of words that may have

nouns or verbals, but it does not have a subject doing a verb. The following are examples of phrases:

• smashing into a fence• before the first test• after the devastation• between ignorance and intelligence• broken into thousands of pieces• because of her glittering smile

CLAUSES

•A clause is a collection of words that has a subject that is actively doing a verb. The following are examples of clauses:

•since she laughs at diffident men•I despise individuals of low character•when the saints go marching in•Obediah Simpson is uglier than a

rabid raccoon•because she smiled at him.

COMMONLY MISSPELLED WORDS• LOSE• LOOSE

• THEIR• THERE

• YOUR• YOU’RE

• EFFECT• AFFECT

• WEATHER• WHETHER

• THEN• THAN

FIND THE MISTAKES:

FIND THE MISTAKES:

FIND THE MISTAKE:

FIND THE MISTAKES:

THANK YOU !