MECHANICS

in
WRITING
MECHANICS – sets of
conventions on how
to spell, abbreviate,
punctuate and
capitalize.
Analyze these two sentences

1. I hear somebody calling, Evelyn.

2. I hear somebody calling Evelyn.
CAPITALIZATION - the writing of a word with its first letter in
uppercase and remaining letters in lowercase.

Rule 1. Capitalize the first word of a document and the first

word after a period
Rule 2. Capitalize proper nouns—and adjectives derived
from proper nouns.
e.g. ▪ The San Juanico Bridge
Rule 3. The first word of a direct quotation within a sentence
or a series of questions in a sentence.
e.g. ▪ The chain reiterated: What should our plan
be? How are we going to devise it? Who will
be involved?
Rule 4. Capitalize titles when they are used before names
unless the title is followed by a comma. Do not
capitalize the title if it is used after a name or instead
of a name.
e.g. ▪ Chairman of the Board William Bly will preside at
the conference.
▪ The chairman of the board, Teresa M. Lopez, will
preside.
Rule 5. Capitalize specific geographical regions. Do not
capitalize points of the compass.
e.g. ▪ We had three relatives visit from the West.
▪ Go west three blocks and then turn left.
Rule 6. In general, do not capitalize the word the before
proper nouns.
e.g. ▪ We visited the Grand Canyon.
▪ They're fans of the Grateful Dead.

In special cases, if the word is an inseparable part of

something is official title, it may be capitalized.
e.g. ▪ We visited The Pryce Hotel.

Rule 7. It is not necessary to capitalize city, town, county,

etc., if it comes before the proper name.
e.g. ▪ the city of New York
▪ New York City
Rule 8. Do not capitalize the first item in a list that follows a
colon.
e.g. ▪ Bring the following: a paper, a pencil, and a snack.

Rule 9. Do not capitalize "the national anthem.’’

Rule 10. The first letter of the first word in a salutation and a
complimentary close is capitalized as in the first
letter of each main word following SUBJECT and
TO heading in memoranda.
e.g. ▪ Dear Dr. Su
▪ Respectfully yours
▪ TO: All Teachers
▪ SUBJECT: Election of officers
A. Proper Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives

Rule 1. Awards and Prizes are capitalized.

e.g. ▪ Oscar Award
▪ The Noble Prize winners.
Rule 2. Words Designating the Deity are capitalized.
e.g. ▪ Jesus Christ is the Emmanuel.
▪ God, the Almighty sees the universe.
Rule 3. Topographical names are capitalized as well as the
generic names (as the ocean, valley, and lake) that
are essential of the total names.
e.g. ▪ Atlantic Ocean
▪ Mt. Apo
B. Governmental, Judicial and Political Bodies

Rule 1. The word administration and government are

capitalized when referring to a particular government
in power.
e.g. ▪ The Duterte Government
Rule 2. Full names of legislative, executive, and
administrative bodies are capitalized, but a non
specific noun and adjective reference to them are
lowercased.
e.g. ▪ Social Security Council
▪ The council
Rule 3. Official and full names of the higher court are
capitalized, but the single designation court
is lowercased if referred.
e.g. ▪ The Supreme Court
▪ The court

Rule 4. The names of political parties are capitalized

e.g. ▪ Liberal Party
▪ Lakas-NUCD Party
C. Names of Organization
Rule 1. Names of firms, corporation, schools,
organizations and other such groups are
capitalized.
e.g. ▪ Bislig City National High School
▪ San Miguel Corporation
Rule 2. The word Company and Corporation are
capitalized when they refer to one’s
organization, but they are lowercased when
referring another organization.
e.g. ▪ We have to follow the code of the company.
▪ He was hired by a certain corporation.
D. Names of Persons

Rule 1. Names of persons are capitalized.

Rule 2. Words designating peoples and their
languages are capitalized.
e.g. ▪ Filipino ▪ French
Rule 3. Derivatives of proper names are
capitalized when used in their primary
sense.
e.g. ▪ Filipino language ▪ French cuisine
E. Numerical Designations

Rule 1. Monetary units spelled in full in legal

documents or cheques are capitalized.
e.g. ▪ Two thousand Pesos

Rule 2. Nouns introducing a set of numbers are

capitalized.
e.g. ▪ Form 137 and 138 ▪ Order no. 35
F. Scientific Terms
Rule 1. Names of geological eras, periods of pre-
historic age are capitalized.
e.g. ▪ Stone Age ▪ Age of Dinosaurs
Rule 2. Names of planets, constellations, asteroids,
stars and groups of stars are capitalized, but
the word sun, the moon, and earth are
lowercased unless they are written with other
astronomical names.
e.g. ▪ The sun is bigger that the moon.
▪ The spaceship went to the moon, then
to Venus.
Rule 3. General in binomial nomenclature in zoology and botany
are capitalized, but species names are lowercased.
e.g. ▪ Pineapple (Ananas comosses)
Rule 4. Latin names of classes, families and all group in zoology
and botany are capitalized, but their derivative nouns and
adjectives are lowercased.
e.g. ▪ Molusska (mollusk)
▪ Antropoda (antropad)
Rule 5. Proper names are forming essential elements of terms,
designating diseases, syndromes, signs, tests, and
symptoms are capitalized.
e.g. ▪ measles
▪ German measles
G. Time, Periods, Zones and Divisions

Rule 1. Names of the seasons are not capitalized unless

they are used as names of persons.
e.g. ▪ Their love story happened in summer.
▪ Miss Summer won in the beauty contest.

Rule 2. Historical events and appellations referring to

particular periods or events in time are
capitalized time are capitalized.
e.g. ▪ EDSA Revolution
▪ The Great Flood
ABBREVIATION - a shortened form of a word

Rule 1. Never begin a sentence with an abbreviation

unless the said abbreviation represents a
courtesy title.
e.g. ▪ The television channel is blurred
(Note: The t.v. channel is blurred)
▪ Dr. Michael Tan is at the ER.
Rule 2. Dates (days and months) are not abbreviated in
sentences
Rule 3. Latin words and phrases used in general
writing are abbreviated.
e.g. ▪ etc (et cetera) and others; and so forth
▪ e.g. (exempli gratia) for example
▪ i.e ( id est) that is
Rule 4. Laws and by-Laws when first mentioned in a
text are typed in full; subsequent references
to them are abbreviated.
e.g. ▪ Article V, section 3 (First sentence)
▪ Art. V, sec. 3 (subsequent reference)
Rule 5. Plural of abbreviations may be formed by
adding -s or -‘s.
e.g. ▪ PhDs ▪ Figs. 1 and 2
▪ CPs ▪ Nos. 3 and 4
Rule 6. Measures and weights are abbreviated in
figures plus unit combination, but if the
number is written out, the unit must be written
out.
e.g. ▪ 5 cu. ft.
▪ Five cubic feet
PUNCTUATION MARKS

Periods
► Place a period at the close of every declarative
sentence
Place a period after every part of an abbreviation

Commas
Read and analyze the sentences below:
“We’re going to learn to cut and paste kids!”
versus
“We’re going to learn to cut and paste, kids!”
Transposed Words and Phrases
► Words and phrases moved at the beginning of a
sentence from their normal position are usually
set off by comma.
e.g. ▪ He naturally checked the address in the
directory. (normal order)

Appositives
►An appositive is a set off from the rest of the
sentence by commas.
e.g. ▪ The speaker, Mrs. Cruz, is my friend.
Series
► Words of three or more items of the same
kind are separated by commas.
e.g. ▪ Laptops, cellphones, and tablets
are used for online classes
Colon
► Colon is used to introduce a list of items.
► Colon is used to introduce a formal
quotation.
 ► Colon is used between two sentences when the
second explain the fact. The second sentence
begins with a capital letter.
e.g. ▪ I think I know the cause: I ate chocolates
and brownies.
Semicolon
► A semicolon is placed between the main clause
of a compound sentence when they are not
joined by a conjunction.
e.g. ▪ Mrs. Go discussed the nature of time; she
introduced many new ideas.
 ► A semicolon is used between a series of phrases if
they contain commas.
e.g. ▪ Kim’s ambition is to be a teacher; Myla’s,
a nurse; and Jynest’s, the owner of a chain
store.
Parentheses
► Commas, dashes or parentheses are used to set
off words that are supplementary or explanatory.
e.g. ▪ She speaks French and Arabic (her family
has lived in France and the Middle East),
but English is her first language.
Dash
► The dash is used after a series to indicate
summarizing statements.
e.g. ▪ Old prints, faded manuscripts,
the yellow pages of the books
long out of print – these were his
special delights.
Ellipses
► Indicate the omission of unused parts of a
quotation by ellipses: three dots (…) to indicate
an omission within a sentence; four dots (….) to
indicate an omission at the end of the
sentence.
e.g. ▪ With malice toward none; with charity
for all … let us strive on to finish
the work we are in to bind up the
nation’s wounds …. Abraham Lincoln
Slash
►Used to separate parts of the internet (we) addresses
and file names for some computer programs
e.g. ▪ C:/Programs/Files/Windows
▪ E:/Word Files/articles/fish
▪ https://www.really-learn0english.com/esl
-ebooks.html
►Use slashes for fractions
►Use slash to separate the day, month, and year in dates
►Use slash for some abbreviations
e.g. ▪ w/o (without) ▪ c/o in care of)
► Use slash to show the word “or”
e.g. ▪ Dear Secretary/Treasurer
Apostrophe
►A compound noun is a noun composed of
more than one word. Some compound
nouns are written with hyphens between
the parts. Only the last part of the
hyphenated noun shows possession.

e.g. ▪ father – in – law

▪ editor – in – chief
► When the names of two or more persons are
used to show joint ownership, only the name
of the last person mentioned is given the
possessive form. Add an apostrophe and s in
accord with the spelling of that name.
e.g. ▪ John and Jenny’s family
▪ father and son’s family
► If the names of two or more persons are used to
show separate ownership, each name is given
the possessive form.
e.g. ▪ Jean’s and Ana’s books
▪ Judy’s and Jessel’s careers
Gerund - a verbal noun that ends in -ing. It is used in
a sentence as a noun and in almost every
way that a noun can be used.

e.g. ▪ Training for Olympics is hard work. (subject)

▪ Josephine enjoys camping. (object)
▪ Before applying, check your qualifications.
(object of the preposition)
Activity 14A – Mechanics (Punctuations)
Directions: Read and correct the paragraph below by adding
appropriate punctuation and capitalization.
Rewrite the corrected paragraph in your notebook.
Activity 14 B (Interpreting statements)
Direction: In your notebook, write your interpretations of
the following statements:

1. “Let’s eat, grandpa” versus “Let’s eat grandpa”.

2. An English professor wrote the words: ‘A woman
without her man is nothing’ and asked his students to
punctuate it correctly. All of the males in the class
wrote: ‘A woman, without her man, is nothing.’
All the females in the class wrote: ‘A woman: without
her, man is nothing.’
3. I love my parents, Maria Makiling and Juan Dela Cruz.