Updated Feb. 2, 2010

 

I'm preparing this lesson which I present on Skype.  I use a Skype call to teach this lesson.  This lesson is still being developed.  That is, I need to edit it further.   I have taught this lesson once and plan to teach it repeatedly.  Additional lessons will likely be developed later.

 

 

Sedgehead English

 

Lesson 1: Why Little Things are Important.

 

Part 1: Easy English Summary

 

            This lesson teaches three simple things: punctuation, capitalization, and spacing.  These little things are important.  Punctuation marks are little things.  Capitalization is a minor point.  The use of spaces is a small thing.  But little things are important.  One biologist said small plants “are the little things that run the world.”  Punctuation, capitalization, and spacing are the little things the “run” sentences.  These three little things manage how we read a sentence.  Without proper attention to the little things your writing will look childish.   I say “childish” because English speaking children learn to use these little things in the first few grades of school.  Do you want your writing to appear childish?  Probably not.  You want to write like an adult.  If you want respect in your formal writing, you should learn how to use these little things.  This chapter will teach you why these little things, punctuation, capitalization, and spacing, are important. 

 

 

Part 2: Lesson Outline

 

            The following outline will show you how this lesson is organized.  You can use it to find any part of the lesson you need to study.

 

1) Easy English Summary

2) Lesson Outline

3) Reading Material

This reading material will be read during Skype calls.  It allows advances student to read more details about each lesson than is available in the Easy English Summary.  It gives intermediate students a chance to hear and speak English.  These lessons are not designed for beginning students.

4) Teaching Material

This will be discussed during class.

5) Homework

This material is designed to give students practice using what they have learned.  The teacher will correct the student’s work. 

 

            Note: this course is not accredited.  No formal grades are given.  The instructor will give students an informal appraisal of their work and progress.  Sedgehead is not associated with any college or university.

 

 

 

Part 3: Reading material

 

            Little things are important.  I’ve chosen to start my English lessons by talking about what I call “the little things.”  I refer to punctuation, capitalization, and spacing.  Please let me explain. 

 

            I am a biologist.  I like to make sure I have good information.  I have to study “the little things” of biology.  I am also a writer.  As a writer, I also must pay attention to “the little things”.  One famous botanist studied primitive plants.  He said these tiny plants are “the little things that run the world.”  In writing, punctuation, capitalization, and spacing “run the world” of writing good English.

 

            This lesson, and this book, starts by discussing the little things of writing.  Why?  These lessons are designed for Chinese students who want to improve their English writing and speaking skills.  Many of my Chinese friends studied English in school.  Their Chinese teachers did not speak English as their native language.  As a native speaker of English, I want to teach my students how to write and speak naturally.  I want to show them the importance of the little things.  The little things, punctuation, capitalization, and spacing, will help them.  By using these little things correctly, your written English will not look childish and your use of spoken English will improve.  You will understand better how English is both written and spoken.

 

            Ancient Chinese used no punctuation.  Modern computers often use pinyin to type Chinese characters.  The style used to write either Chinese or English is called a font.  Microsoft computers use a font called “Simsum” to write Chinese.  English fonts have many names and styles.  Common English fonts include Times, Times New Roman, Courier, and many others.

 

            I want to caution you about writing in Chinese and English fonts.  I have several Chinese friends who are scientists.  They ask me to review scientific papers.  They write in Chinese.  Then they translate their scientific papers into English.  They mix Chinese fonts with English fonts.  This is not a good idea.  This creates many little errors in their writing.  Chinese fonts treat punctuation and spacing differently than English fonts.  I suggest that if you write in English, you should start fresh and use only English fonts.  Future lessons will explain how this works, or in this case, the mixing of fonts fails to work.

 

 

Part 4: Teaching Material for Punctuation, Capitalization, and Spacing

 

            Consider these two sentences:

 

phillip allen said georgia clark is here.

phillipallensaidgeorgiaclarkishere.

 

            Without proper punctuation, capitalization, and spacing the sentence are impossible to read.  Each of the following sentences has a different meaning.

 

Phillip Allen said, “Georgia Clark is here.”

“Phillip,” Allen said, “Georgia Clark is here.”

Phillip Allen said, “Georgia, Clark is here.”

“Phillip Allen,” said Georgia, “Clark is here.”

 

 

Periods

 

Rule: place a period after statements, commands, and abbreviations.  Use two spaces after a period.  Note: some modern computer software uses only one space after a period.  Chinese fonts add the space automatically, so use of the space bar is not needed in Chinese.  Mixing Chinese fonts with English fonts creates difficulties for professional editors.  It is hard for an editor to see if a period is written with a Chinese or an English font.

 

Examples of short sentences and abbreviations with proper use of punctuation.

 

            Thanks!                                   I can.                                       Sure.

            Not now.                                 See you in the a.m.                  P. E. Hyatt

            a. s. a. p. (not a.s.a.p.)             a. k. a.                                      Can you do this?

 

Examples of sentences with incorrect  use of punctuation.

 

            These sentences contain  twelve minor errors . Can you find them all ? While these sentence may look ok to you ,they look very strange to me .Why  ?  Because the  spacing is incorrect. Some have spaces before punctuation .Some lack spacing after punctuation .  Some have  two spaces where there should be only one.

 

            This paragraph mixed English fonts and Chinese fonts.As a result,there are no spaces after the punctuation.The Chinese fonts have added the space automatically.If you read the document in Microsoft Word,you will see that there is no space bar used after the punctuation.

This method creates serious problems for the editors of scientific journals.

 

Exception: Acronyms and some common abbreviations do not require a period.  This is especially true in informal writing and with well known abbreviations and some company names.  Internet chat has become extremely informal with its own abbreviations which are widely accepted in this informal format.  In fact, the internet is changing the way we write.  New words, phrases, and abbreviations include: brb (be right back), lol (lots of laughs), u2 (you too), and many others.  These are not yet accepted in formal writing but work well for their own purposes.

 

Examples:

 

            am and pm (more widely accepted than in the past)              USA

            NYPD                                     FDNY                                     TNT

            TBS                                         KFC                                        ESPN

            ArcView                                 MS Word                                eBay

 

            As noted above, some companies are changing the rules.  The internet company eBay and the computer company that produces ArcView use odd capitalization which makes their name stand out.  In the past, these abbreviations would be considered inappropriate, but language changes.  These changes, introduced by these companies, have become widely accepted.

 

Rule: add a space after a comma, not before a comma.

 

Exception: as noted above, do not add space when using Chinese fonts.  Simsum, and other Chinese fonts, automatically add space after a comma. 

 

 

Capitalization

 

            It seems that teachers of English in China concentrate on teaching English.  They seem to worked harder on having their students learn words, phrases, and grammar, and less on the mechanics of writing.  This lesson teaches some of the mechanic as it relates to punctuation, capitalization, and spacing.  This section discusses capitalization.

           

            Chinese does not use the equivalent of capitalization.  When chatting on the internet, even Americans fail to capitalize many words.  Internet chat is considered one of the most informal uses of language.  Internet chat is even more informal than email.  The goal of this lesson is not to teach informal writing but to teach you how to write business letters or formal writing such as scientific journal articles. 

 

            The use of capitalization varies by language.  Spanish may be a little more informal that English.  “Most German- speakers still cling to their sacred Großschreibung (capitalization)” as one website noted.  In German, the first letters of all nouns are capitalized.  English hits the middle ground, with the first letters of some words capitalized and other not.  Here are some basic rules for English.

 

Rule: Capitalize the first word of a complete sentence or a quoted sentence but not the first letter of a quoted phrase or the first word of a broken quotation.

 

Examples:

 

Tom quoted Shakespeare and said, “To be or not to be, that is the question.”

He considered Shakespeare to be “the world’s best playwright.”

“I love his writing,” he said, “and the way he uses words.

 

            Be aware that poetry is an exception.  Poets have what is called “poetic license” and can ignore the rules of grammar at will, including the rules of capitalization.  In fact, sometimes poets use little or no punctuation as my poem does below (written as a freshman in college in 1971 after a hard test).  Poets are given the liberty or “license” to write in any way they want.

 

College

 

                                                            I lived

                                                            once

                                                            but they killed me

 

                                                            It wasn’t                                                         

                                                            murder

                                                            they just did it

 

 

Rule: Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives.

 

Definition: A proper noun is “a particular person, place, or thing” as most books about English will tell you.

 

Examples of common nouns: The city lies near a river and lake in the mountains of a state and is her home.  She wants to visit a foreign country and meet some foreign friends.

Examples of proper nouns: Mountain Home lies near the White River and Lake Norfork in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and is Sheila Hyatt’s home.  She wants to visit China and meet some Chinese friends.

 

Other examples of proper nouns include:

 

Clubs and groups: the Sierra Club; The Nature Conservancy or TNC, as they call themselves; the North Central Arkansas Audubon Society.

Company names (some of which choose odd ways to capitalize their names): Kentucky Fried Chicken; eBay; Bank of America.

Institutions: University of Arkansas; Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce.

Religions and holy books: Buddhist; Catholic; Church of Christ; Genesis; Torah; Koran; Bible; the Old Testament.

Political Parties: Socialist; Democrat.

Nationalities: Chinese; American; English; Vietnamese.

Titles of books or names for vehicles: “The Color of My Mountain”; “A Free Life”; the space shuttle Columbia; the air craft carrier Kennedy.

Titles for persons: President Obama; Dr. Smith, Ph. D.; Philip Hyatt, B. S., M. S.; Uncle Jim; Grandpa Smith; but not grandpa, uncle, mom, etc.

Days, etc: Christmas Day; Spring Festival; Tuesday; December; but not spring, summer, fall, and winter, yesterday, tomorrow.

Directions: Capitalize directions if they refer to a region: the Old South; the frontier West; the industrialized Northeast.

Geographical names: World Trade Center; Lake Norfork; Buffalo National River; Mars; Betelgeuse; but not earth, sun, moon. 

Governmental names: People’s Republic of China; Song Dynasty; Sichuan Province; the state of Arkansas; United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service (an agency of the department); US House of Representatives; Fire Department of New York.

Names of publications: the Arkansas Gazette; the Baxter Bulletin; China Daily.  Note: you do not capital “the” in most cases.  One organization, The Nature Conservancy, chooses to use the “The” in a capitalized form.  Other companies have started to use unusual capitalization to make their names or products stand out: eBay; ArcView, FIREMON. While traditionalists find this very annoying, language is changing.

 

Note: do not capitalize general or incomplete names: the agency, the city, the park.

 

Definition: A proper adjective is an adjective that is modified from a proper noun.

 

Examples: Spanish / the Spanish language; French / French fries.

 

Specific classes in school are capitalized, but the names of general classes are not.

 

We write “biology, math, or history” but also write “English, German, World History II, or Algebra I.”

 

Rule: Capitalize

 

Rule: Capitalize

 

Apostrophe

 

 

 

Comma

 

Definition: An appositive is a word or words which modify or describe adjoining words.

 

Example: The author, who wrote this book, just used an appositive.  The words “who wrote this book” describe the subject of the sentence, the “author.”

 

Rule: Use two commas to set off, or identify, an appositive. 

 

Examples:

 

            John, the farmer, started work at dawn.

            Birds, especially blackbirds, ate John’s corn.

            He broke his femur, or upper leg bone, when he fell.

 

Parenthetical expressions.

 

            Sometimes a writer adds information in the middle of a sentence.  This is called “using a parenthetical expression” and I just used one!  When speaking, we use a slight pause instead of saying “comma.”  Read these sentences aloud.

 

            Little things, like commas, are important.

            When  writing in English, or in other languages, never put a space before a comma.

 

            Some expressions are often set off by commas.  If we are speaking aloud, we add a slight pause.  Consider these sentences.

 

            Anyway, I suppose, perhaps, maybe, I should finish this sentence.

            For example, to tell the truth, I believe it can be confusing.

            By the way, a comma works well here, in this case.

 

            Commas may be used in many other ways.  Here are some examples.

 

To set off a name.

      Example:

To write an address.

      Example: 7861 White Oak Street, Reseda, California.

To write a date.

      Example: June 4, 1964.

To set off the words “yes” or “no” or other short phrases.

      Examples: Yes, I did.  Anyway, I shouldn’t have.

To set off a quotation.

Example: “My Chinese friends,” Sedgehead said, “often put a space before a comma, but that’s incorrect.

After a salutation.

      Example: Dear John,

      Example: Sincerely,

When using phrases.

Example: During the night, the fire spread quickly.  Far way, the dispatcher called for help.  After the sun rose, they could see the results of the fire.

To set off a group of three digits in a large number.

      Example: China has 1,346,863,275 people.

To separate words in a series

      Examples:

          Preferred: planes, trains, and automobiles.

          Also correct: planes, trains and automobiles.

The second example above, while correct, does not work with some combinations of words.  For clarity, one might say “planes, as well as trains and automobiles.” 

 

 

Capitalization

 

            My Chinese friends often neglect to use proper capitalization.  Here are some guidelines.

 

Rule: capitalize as noted below.

 

1) first words

            - of a sentence

            - of a quoted sentence within a quotation

            -a line of poetry

                        Example: Hamlet said, “To be or not to be, that is the question.”

                        Example:

                                    The music from the box has stopped.

                                    The light has gone past dim.

                                    The darkness pulls his chair up close.

                                    The cold now settles in.

 

2) Proper nouns and proper adjectives, the names of specific persons, places, or things.

 

Common nouns: man; city; holiday.

Proper nouns: Bob; San Francisco; Spring Festival.

Proper adjectives: Chinese food; a Christmas party; the annual Four-of-July celebration.

Specific courses: Biology II; English; World History.

Titles of companies or organizations: Sierra Club; Kentucky Fried Chicken; University of Arkansas; Sedgehead Home Services.

Groups of people: Socialist; Democrat; Buddhist; Jew; Methodist; Chinese; Hindu; French.

Geographic locations: Lake Norfork; Yosemite National Park; Kisatchie National Forest; New York’s Central Park; White River; the Yellow River; Picken’s Nose.

Governmental bodies: United States Supreme Court; Congress; the House of Representatives; Office of the President; United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service; Fire Department of New York; New York Police Department.

Names of publications: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; China Daily.

Books, articles, poems: A Free Life; The Color of My Mountain; Arkansas Carex: an Annotated List; Ode to a Cold Night.

Days: Friday; Christmas Day; Memorial Day; but not spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Names, titles, degrees: President Barack Obama; Ph. D.; M. D.; the President; Governor Bill Clinton, Governor of Arkansas; B. S.; M. A.; Mayor of New York.

Family name titles: Uncle Jack; Aunt Marie; Grandpa Muncey.

Stars, planets, satellites: Mars, Betelguese; Chang’e No. 1; but not earth, moon, or sun.

Specific gods, holy men, and holy texts: Koran, Bible, Jesus, Buddha, but not the name of a non-specific god (not God, unless you mean a specific god)

I (not i) as a word.

 

 

Part 5: Assignments:

 

Part 1

Write ten sentences using commas properly.  Try to use some wording similar to some of the examples above.

Part 2

Punctuate these sentences

a) Sedgehead a botanist likes to collect sedges

b) He collected a plant on April 5 1993 in Mountain View Arkansas

c) This species he said has never been found in Arkansas

      (Please note: for this sentence you also need to use quotation marks).

d) Walking over hill and dale he collected dozens of plants

e) He has a good sense of direction he can usually walk directly back to his car

f) He found is car but it would not start

g) R Dale Thomas a retired botanist from Tennessee has collected over 171000 plant specimens

h) To make it easier to dry the plants he uses light bulbs as heaters

i) He bought his first plant press on July 12 1987

j) A plant press a device to dry plant specimens is also used to flatten the specimens

 

Part 3

 

The following paragraph has little punctuation or capitalization.  Some punctuation, such as the use of a semicolon, has not been discussed in this lesson.  I have deleted any semicolons and some other punctuation.  This will make this exercise a little more challenging.  If you become confused, don’t worry.  I will not share your grade with anyone unless you give me permission.  Your responses are confidential.  Also note that I found at least one error in the original text based on the rules above!  Rewrite it with proper use of English (taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_program ).

chinese lunar lxploration program, (clep) (simplified chinese 中国探月 traditional chinese 中國探月 pinyin Zhōngguó Tànyuè) also known as chang'e program is a program of robotic explorations and human missions to the moon undertaken by china national space administration (cnsa) peoples republic of chinas space agency It uses chang'e lunar orbiters, rovers and soil return spacecraft and adapted long march 3a, long march 5/e and long march 7 launch vehicles the launch and the flight are monitored constantly by a tt&c system (deep space tracking network with radio antennas of 50 m in beijing 40 m in kunming shanghai and ürümqi forming a 3000 km vlbi antenna) and the ground application system responsible for downlink data reception

The first spacecraft of the program change 1 an un-manned lunar orbiter was successfully launched at xichang satellite launch center on october 24 2007 (delayed from April 17-19 2007)

ouyang ziyuan one of the most prominent chinese experts in geological research on underground nuclear testing and extraterrestrial materials was the first to advocate not only the exploitation of the known huge lunar reserves of metals such as iron but also the mining of lunar helium-3 as an ideal fuel for nuclear fusion power plants he is now in charge of the change program.

Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) (simplified Chinese: 中国探月; traditional Chinese: 中國探月; pinyin: Zhōngguó Tànyuè) also known as Chang'e program is a program of robotic explorations and human missions to the Moon undertaken by China National Space Administration (CNSA), People's Republic of China's space agency. It uses Chang'e lunar orbiters, rovers and soil return spacecraft and adapted Long March 3A, Long March 5/E and Long March 7 launch vehicles. The launch and the flight are monitored constantly by a TT&C System (Deep Space Tracking Network, with radio antennas of 50 m in Beijing, 40 m in Kunming, Shanghai and Ürümqi, forming a 3000 km VLBI antenna.) and the Ground Application System, responsible for downlink data reception.

The first spacecraft of the program, Chang'e 1, an un-manned lunar orbiter was successfully launched at Xichang Satellite Launch Center on October 24, 2007 (delayed from 17–19 April 2007).

Ouyang Ziyuan, one of the most prominent Chinese experts in geological research on underground nuclear testing and extraterrestrial materials, was the first to advocate not only the exploitation of the known huge lunar reserves of metals such as iron, but also the mining of lunar helium-3 as an ideal fuel for nuclear fusion power plants. He is now in charge of the Chang'e program.