Punctuation marks and capitalization

 Punctuation marks and capitalization

Punctuation marks and capitalization

Capitalization and Punctuation 

Introduction: 

Read the story given below.  

There was a poor boy named Rakib. He lived in a small village of Ghorasal in Palash upazila under Narsingdi district. His mother died on a Sunday in January 1994. At that time, Rakib was only five. When he was 12, he started to work in a rich man’s family as a domestic help since his father was not in a position to bring him up. Rakib used to obey the orders of the family members although Monju, the only son of the rich man, did not like to get things done by Rakib. Rakib was happy to see his master’s son Monju going to a school named Fulkuri High School. Although he had to work hard, he used to ponder upon the things and events around him whenever he could find time. “I want to learn what my master’s son is learning” said Rakib to himself. He made friendship with Monju. Monju used to tell stories to Rakib about the success of some hard-working people with a view to inspiring his friend. He also used to tell stories about some countries such as Singapore, Australia and Japan. Rakib thought, “If I could go to the countries!” He started to learn English and Japanese. Alongside learning languages through watching Tv, and by reading books named Learn English, learn Japanese. Alongside learning languages, he started to learn about different nations such as the French, the Americans, and the Indians. By this time, Rakib was 22. He became a member of the local Library near the high school and used to borrow books from there. By reading books and through holding dialogue with his friend, he acquired knowledge equivalent to a secondary school passed students with good grade. Last week he read about the Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh and about the France Revolution which made him more aware of his rights and responsibilities. He got a job in Singapore Dockyard through browsing the internet at the library.  

The senior members working voluntarily at the library were of great help in this regard. Rakib’s hard work started to make his long-cherished dream a reality. Rakib is grateful to Allah for his help to make his plan successful.  

Features of Capitalization:  

1. The first letter of the first word in a sentence (the bird is flying) 

2. Names of people (Rakib, Monju, Rahim, Ratan, etc.) places (Ghorasal), Palash, Narsingdi, Dhaka, London, etc.), days (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.), months (January, February, March, etc.,), rivers (The Padma, The Meghna, The Burigange etc.), mountain (Mt. Everest, Mt cook) huge construction (the Sears Tower, the Eifle Tower, etc.) start with capital letters. 

3. Names of organizations (Savar High School, High Court, Notre Dame College, World Bank, etc.) begin with capital letters.  

4. The pronoun “I” always is capital (As he called me for help, so I helped him) 

5. Names of nations (Bangladeshi, Americans, British) begin with capital letters. 

6. The main words in a title of a book of a chapter or an article (Learn English, Learn Japanese; Great Expectations; The Liberation War of 1971, etc.) start with capital letters.  

7. The main words of a historical events or documents (Declaration of Independence, French Revolution, etc.) always start with capital letters.  

8. Letters and acronyms that stand for names or organizations (UNICEF, TV, IELTS etc.) have to be written in letters.  

9. Name of the Almighty and related pronouns are always capital (I am surprised to see God’s power and his immense love for mankind).  

10.  The first word in a quotations mark starts with a capital letter (He said to me, “Go home at once”.  

 

Use of Punctuations:  

Punctuations marks	Functions
? = questions mark of note of interrogations	It is used at the end of an interrogative sentence like: What is your name, please? Where do you live? What does your father do? Is it a rose? Was he happy to see you? It is also used in brackets to express a doubt: his mother died of cancer?  Generally, you have to stop for a second after this mark.
! = note of exclamation of exclamation mark	It is used to express strong feelings such as astonishment, delight, and anger. For example: what a huge snake! Wow what a great shot! Go now! If I were a bird!
. = period. Another name is full stop.	After this mark, one must have a pause. It is used at the end of assertive, imperative and optative sentence. Example:   Faridul is a good boy.   Do not run in the sun for a long time.   May Bangladesh live long  It is also used as abbreviations:  Ph.D. * M.Phil. * M.A. *B.B.A.
, = comma	A comma is used   To separate the items in a list such as mangoes, oranges jackfruits, etc.   To address someone: Dear Rakib, Dear Sir, My dear friends, etc.   To separate introductory ‘yes, no, well, etc.   To separate an adverbial clause when used at the beginning of a sentence (if it rains, I will not go to school).  Before the quotation mark (e.g., My mother said, “Where are you going?”
: = colon	A colon is used   After ‘thus’ as follows, the following’ (The list is as follows: rice 5 kgs, potatoes 2 kgs, and milk 2 liters.).  To separate two sentences of which the second clarifies the meaning of the first (I know Professor Motiar well: we lived together for five years.)  To separate the speaker and their speech or words (How can I help you, Sajjad?)
; = semi-colon	A semi-colon is used   To separate different sense groups of a sentence or a list (our English teacher asked us to stop playing; to start working in the garden; and then to go home.).  If the clause in a compound sentence is not connected with a coordinating conjunction like and, but, etc. (To err is human; to forgive is divine. ).
“”/”= (quotation marks or inverted commas)	Quotation marks are used  To quote someone speech(father said, “Help the man”)  Indicate the names of books (King Lear, Shesher Kobita)  Highlight a word (‘I’ is a personal pronoun.)
‘= Apostrophe	It is used to:  Form the possessives (Rahim’s book, Children’s Park, Boys’ School, etc.).  Make contracted form (don’t, isn’t, wasn’t, etc.).  Indicate omission of a letter (7 O’ Clock)  Form a plural number and a letter (five ten’s make 50, how many A’s are there in this world?).
_ = Dash/hyphen	It is used to:  Indicate a sudden change in a sentence (If I had huge money _ Of course I should not talk about money).  To emphasize a previous idea (Pankaj) is a good student. - perhaps the best.   Form compound words (father-in-law). (This is the shorter form often known as ‘Hyphen’).
(1) {2} [3] = (Brackets’)	Brackets are frequently used in Mathematics. But they are also used to   Give some explanations of some words or ideas. Example: some teachers use raila (real objects) in their teaching.