Numbers, Abbreviations, and Capital Letters

1. Numbers, Abbreviations, and Capital Letters Worksheets due Wed. Feb. 1 Test Feb. 2

2. Numbers • Spell out any number that can be written in one or two words (typically that’s one hundred on down). • My grandmother is eighty-nine years old. • I wrote the definition for 102 words last night. • Spell out any number that begins a sentence. • Five hundred dollars was found on the street. • I found $500 on the street. • If one or more numbers in a series need to be written as numerals, write all as numerals. • The movie theater sold 127 tickets to a horror movie, 64 to a comedy, and 17 to a romance.

3. Use numerals for the following: • Dates: My husband was born July 14, 1979. • Times of the day: School gets out at 3:20 p.m. • If you use the word “o’clock,” spell it out: I worked until two o’clock. • Also spell out when describing amounts of time: I worked thirty hours last week. • Addresses: O’Gorman’s address is 3201 South Kiwanis Ave. • Percentages: Nearly 70% of the class wore sweatshirts. • Money: I spent $500 on groceries last month. • With money and percentages, always include the dollar and percent sign: $500 or 70%. • Pages and sections of a book: Read chapter 2 for tomorrow, which includes pages 32-54. • Scores: The Twins lost the game 5-4.

4. Abbreviations The following abbreviations may be used in formal writing: • Titles that are used before and after people’s names: Mrs. Gwen Skar Dr. Thum Keith Rodham, Sr. • Initials in a person’s name: Daphne A. Miller • Time and date references: 4:45 p.m. or 30 B.C. • Organizations, agencies, technical words, countries, or corporations known by their initials. They are usually written in capital letters and without periods: YMCA FBI VCR AIDS USA NBC

5. Capital Letters Six main uses: • The first word in a sentence or direction quotation. • The word “I” and people’s names. • Names of specific places, institutions, and languages. • Product names (capitalize the brand name of a product, but not the kind of product it is: Total cereal) • Calendar items: names of days, week, months, and holidays. • Titles: capitalize the titles of books, TV or stage shows, songs, magazines, movies, articles, poems, stories, papers, and so on. **Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the) or prepositions (about, in, of, etc.) if they are not at the beginning of a title. Practice 2, pg. 166

6. More capitals: • Capitalize a word that is used as a substitute for the name of a family member. Also, capitalize words like aunt, uncle, and cousin when they are used as part of people’s names. My biggest fan at the competition is Mom. **Do not capitalize words such as mom when they come after possessive words. My grandmother lives next door. • Capitalize the names of specific groups: races, religions, nationalities, companies, clubs, and other organizations. Edward, who is Polish-American, sometimes cooks Chinese dishes for his Northside Chess Club meetings. 9. Capitalize the names of specific school courses (General Psychology), but not the names of general subject areas (a psychology course).

7. 10. Capitalize the names of specific periods and famous events in history. During the Middle Ages, only the nobility and clergy could read and write. 11. Capitalize the opening and closing of a letter. Dear Mrs. Skar Dear Sir or Madam Sincerely yours (only the first word) 12. Capitalize common abbreviations made up of the first letters of the words they represent. IBM ABC FBI AIDS UFO NASA NAACP

8. 13. Capitalize a person's title when it precedes the name. Do not capitalize when the title is acting as a description following the name. Chairperson Petrov Ms. Petrov, the chairperson of the company, will address us at noon. 14. Capitalize the person's title when it follows the name on the address or signature line. Sincerely,Ms. Haines, Chairperson

9. 15. Do not capitalize names of seasons.I love autumn colors and spring flowers.

10. Homework • Complete for Jan. 25 • Worksheets • Test 4, pg. 171 • Test 1, pg. 243 • Test 2, pg. 244 • Test 1, pg. 313