CAPITALIZE:

• A person’s name.
• A person’s title when it precedes the name.
• Days of the week, months of the year.
• Special days, holidays.
• Organizations and abbreviations of organizations.
• Historical periods, documents, and events.
• Nationality, race, or language.
• Personification of objects or abstract concepts.
• First word of a statement.
• When used as part of a proper name: lake, county, high school, college, river, street, park, country, company, institution, etc. (Ohio River, the river)
• A noun identifying a family member when used as a name. (Mom, your mom)
• Geographical locations-specific. (The West, out west)
• References to the Diety.
• The pronoun “I.”
• Acronyms (AT&T, URL)
• In a title, all words except prepositions, articles, and conjunctions of four letters or less (Days of Thunder) unless it’s the first word. (The Runaway Bride)
• Subjects studied that are specific titles (Composition 101, meteorology, American History 202, biology)

DON’T CAPITALIZE:

• Points on a compass or direction.
• Seasons of the year.
• Pronouns other than “I” unless at the start of a sentence or part of a title.

EXAMPLES:

We watched West Wing before heading down south.

Independence Day falls on a Wednesday this year, according to my mother.

Mother is always right about summer holidays.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and best wishes for the new year.

When writing numbers there are a few rules you should follow to be grammatically correct. They are pretty simple and easy to remember.

First rule:
• Single digit whole numbers–Spell out
• Any number above the number ninety-nine use numerical form
• Examples:
o There were two dogs in the front yard today.
o I have 112 bottles left.

Second rule:
• Be consistent with your numbers. If you have a sentence with two different numbers and one number is greater than 99, spell out both numbers.
• Examples:
o I would rather have one hundred dogs than one cat.
o It will run between ninety to a hundred miles per hour.

Third rule:
• For large numbers, use your judgment on the easiest way to write it. Round numbers are usually spelled out.
• Be consistent within the sentence.
• Examples:
o I hope to win two million to three million in the next lottery.
o He said he may get 425,897 pens or 450,299.

Fourth rule:
• Use whole numbers when using dates.
• Examples:
o She set the business meeting for May 24.
o I plan on setting the date for the 17th of March.

Fifth rule:
• Write out a number if it is at the beginning of the sentence.
• Examples:
o Seventeen people voted.
o Two people showed up to protest.

Sixth rule:
• Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine
• Examples:
o I have twenty-three dollars left in my account.
o He said he needed ninety-four business cards.

Author Bio:
Kate Croston is a freelance writer, holds a bachelors degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She writes guest posts for different sites and loves contributing  Internet service related topics. Questions or comments can be sent to: katecroston.croston09@gmail.com.

With summer approaching, it’s a perfect time to review the seasons and their correct grammar usage when writing.

Throughout the year, the earth moves and changes position of the axis tilt, creating seasons. Each season has a different weather pattern lasting approximately three months. The four main seasons are spring, summer, autumn and winter. Spring begins in March, summer begins in June, autumn begins in September, and winter begins in December.

There are rules when writing about the different seasons.

Seasons are not capitalized.

Autumn is also known as fall. Fall is not capitalized, either.

If the season is part of a proper noun, capitalize.
I went to the art tent at Houston’s Best Summer Fest.
I love the song White Winter by my favorite band.

If the season is given a human characteristic, you don’t need to capitalize.
The grass has died due to summer’s touch.
The winter’s cold breeze stung my face.

Capitalize seasons when part of a title.
The Fall 2013 semester.

Christine Kane, a graduate of Communication and Journalism, enjoys writing about a variety of subjects including internet providers for different blogs. She can be reached via email at:
Christi.Kane00@gmail.com

The colon should be introduced by an independent clause (that is, a clause that stands alone as a complete sentence). The independent clause may be followed by an introductory phrase like “as follows” or “the following.”

Cheryl Norman is the author of three cookbooks: Recipes for Recovery, Hasty Tasty Meals in the RV, and Chef Cheri’s Hasty Tasty Meals.

The following should be limited in a healthy diet: sugar, salt, and saturated or trans fat.

You don’t need to capitalize the first word following the colon unless it’s a proper name or the start of a sentence.

Her evening routine never varied: She called her mother, brushed her hair fifty strokes, drank four ounces of red wine, then brushed her teeth.

The university required every freshmen to read one book, regardless of their major field of study: The Stranger.

Other uses of the colon include the salutation in a formal letter, punctuating time of day, separating a title from a subtitle (or chapter and verse), and formatting headings or Internet addresses.

To Whom It May Concern:

The program starts at 7:30.

The Sunday school class recited John 3:16 in unison.

The Grammar Cop is found at http://grammar.cherylnorman.com.

Finally, you should single space after a colon. Before the days of computers and processors, typists had to double space after the colon (and other marks of punctuation), but that’s obsolete.

Grammar Cop receives a lot of questions about formatting numbers in a manuscript.  What are the rules?

The most widely accepted rule is to spell out numbers less than one hundred but use numerals for greater than 100.  However, as with all rules of punctuation and grammar, there are exceptions.

• The first word of a sentence, if it’s a number, must be spelled out.  Nine hundred homes were destroyed by the tsunami. (Unless it’s the year: 2011 begins the new decade.)
• Parts of a book are numerals. Chapter 12, Pages 44-48, Volume 2, page 3.
• House Numbers in an address are numerals.  They live at 16 Acorn Street.
• Street names in an address are spelled out. They live at 401 Third Street.
• Spell ages of persons. She lived to be ninety-nine years old.
• Spell out numerals (except a year) in dialogue. “I’ve told you a hundred times.”
• Spell out numbers for consistency in a case of mixed conditions: Ninety to two-hundred people typically attend the meeting.
• Spell out round numbers and ordinal numbers. They had to sell a thousand tickets.  She sold the thousandth ticket.
• Spell out the number directly preceding a second number. He bought two 100-pound bags of onions.
• Amounts of money that you spell out require the word dollars or cents. She paid $10,500 for the car.  She paid two thousand dollars as a down payment.
• Temperature is expressed by a numeral followed by the degree symbol.  It was 32°F this morning.
• Spell out numbers of fractions if they are not attached to the whole number.  Three-fourths of the book is finished.  It took 25½ weeks to write.
• Dates are numerals except in formal legal writing. She graduated from college May 30, 1989.  She graduated in the class of ’89.
• Exact time of day is in numerals if it would be awkward to write it out. She heard the gun shot at 7:43 A.M.  He arrived at eight o’clock.
• Sports scores, poll results, voting results are numerals.

As you see, there are a lot of exceptions to expressing numbers in writing.  Either print out this Web page to use as a guide or bookmark the site.

Good writing!

Cheryl

©2012 Cheryl Norman

Growing up, my parents were never sure we kids would have enough to eat. (Were the parents growing up or the speaker?)

Practicing hard every day, this defeat is unexpected.  (Really? If defeat practiced every day, it should come as no surprise!)

After sampling all kinds of cuisines, Italian food is still my favorite. (Italian food sampled all kinds of cuisines?)

Be careful to modify the subject you intend to describe. Always keep track of your subject and you won’t get in trouble. Aren’t these versions clearer?

When I was growing up, my parents were never sure we kids would have enough to eat.

Practicing hard every day, the team didn’t expect this defeat.

After sampling all kinds of cuisines, I still like Italian food most.

It’s that time of year again when we celebrate good grammar. Be ready to Tweet and post about grammar so we can trend #grammarday on March 4, 2012.

Then there is “champing at the bit,” an expression originating from horse riding. “Chomping at the bit” is a variation, but the original expression comes from the horse’s impatience to get going. It champs (meaning to chew nervously) at the rod in the harness that goes between its teeth. Chomping is acceptable, but the original expression is spelled “Champing.”

A figure of speech I caught in a newly published book used the homophone “reign” for “rein.” Another horse riding figure of speech, one “reins in” their feelings, emotions, temper, etc. In other words, he or she pulls on the reins to hold the horse back. If you see the expression “he reigned in his feelings,” it’s wrong. Reign means to rule over. He may reign over his feelings, but he reins them in.

It would take another post to address anachronistic figures of speech, but do be mindful of when an expression came into use. For instance, the earliest printed use of “the whole nine yards” I’ve found is from 1962, although “dressed to the nines” is much older. Both expressions are thought to refer to the nine yards of fabric required to make a suit.

When in doubt, research the origins of the expression to be sure the words and spelling are accurate and the time frame in which you use them is acceptable.