Part of Speech and

Capitalization/Punctuation

Lecture 1
•i visitied mr. smith, the chairman of the board, on september 10.

•president smith gave a speech in which he said "resigning is not an

option.“

•may i visit the oval office, president?

•he loved the book, which was called "a day in france.“

•the federal bureau of investigations (f.b.i.) looks into crimes, and the
bureau also protects america.

•i am originally from the south but now i live in the north.

•my courses this semester include english, science, and math 100.

•the state board collects state and federal taxes.

•september and october are the prettiest months of autumn.

•the book, "the big red dog" is a hit among children: they enjoy
reading about the dogs adventures
Answer Key to Capitalization Worksheet
1. I visited Mr. Smith, the chairman of the board, on September 10.

"I" must always be capitalized in the English language.

Mr. Smith must be capitalized because it is a proper noun.
September must be capitalized beause it is the name of a month.

2. President Smith gave a speech in which he said "Resigning is not an

option.“

President must be capitalized because it is a title preceding a name.

Smith must be capitalied because it is a proper noun.
Resigning must be capitalized because it is the first word in a quoted
sentence.

3. May I visit the oval office, President?

May must be capitalized because it is the first word of the sentence.

I must be capitalized because I must always be capitalized.
President must be capitalized because it is being used as a direct
address.
4. He loved the book, which was called "A Day in France.“

He must be capitalized because it is the first word of the sentence.

A must be capitalized because it is the first word in a title.
Day must be capitalized because it is a major word in a title.
France must be capitalized both because it is the name of a country, and
because it is a major word in a title.

5. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (F.B.I.) looks into crimes, and the
Bureau also protects America.

The must be capitalized because it is the first word of the sentence.

Federal Bureau of Investigation must be capitalized because it is a title ("of" is
not capitalized because it is a preposition within a title.)
F.B.I. must be capitalized because it is an acronym.
Bureau must be capitalized, because it is a proper noun (shorthand) for the
F.B.I.

6. I am originally from the South but i drove north and now i live in the North.

I must be capitalized because it is the start of the sentence, and because I

must always be capitalied.
South must be capitalized because it refers to a specific location/ region within
the context of this sentence.
The second North must be capitalized as well, because it too refers to a
specific location. However, the first north remains lower case because it is not
referring to a specific location.
7. My courses this semester include English, science, and Math 100.

My must be capitalized because it is the start of the sentence.

English must be capitalized because it is derived from a proper noun (England).
Math must be capitalized because it is part of a specific course name (Math
100).

8. The State Board collects state and federal taxes.

The must be capitalized because it is the start of the sentence.

State Board must be capitalized because it refers to a proper noun. The words
state and federal later in the sentence do not refer to a specific state or federal
agency. Since they are not a title, no capitalization of those words is necessary.

9. September and October are the prettiest months of autumn.

September and October need to be capitalized because they are the names of
months. Autumn does not need to capitalized because seasons are not proper
nouns.

10. The book, "The Big Red Dog," is a hit among children: they enjoy reading
about the dog's adventures.

The must be capitalized because it is the start of the sentence.

Each of the words in the title The Big Red Dog must be capitalized because none of them
are prepositions.
The "they" after the colon does not need to be capitalized. The first word of a sentence
after a colon should be capitalized only if two related sentences follow the colon.
 Nouns
- Definition: A word or word group that is used to name a person,
place, thing, or an idea.

-Examples: Mrs. Pruett, Texas, suitcase, and freedom.

Common Nouns vs. Proper Nouns

Common Noun:
-Definition: A common noun names any one of a group or persons,
places, things, or ideas and is generally not capitalized.

-Examples: Book, school, marker, computer, phone, and backpack.

Proper Noun:
-Definition: A proper noun names a particular person, place, thing, or
idea, and is capitalized.

-Examples: Holt Handbook, Nesbitt Discovery Academy, Mac

computer, IPhone, and Jansport backpack.
 Activity
The Longest List
Have students break into groups, and have them
make a four-column chart with the titles “Person,"
“Place," “Thing," or “Idea." Tell them that they will
have twenty seconds to fill out each column with
as many nouns as they can think of. This fast-
paced noun activity should take less than two
minutes. Encourage students to share their lists
with the class, and reward the longest fully-correct
list with a small prize or a bit of congratulatory
praise.
 Pronouns

- Definition: A word that is used in place of one or more nouns.

-Examples: I, they, your, our, she, we, them, he, us, him, his, their,
them, and its.

He is playing
with the train.

They are playing all Is she sleeping in her bed?

together.
 Personal Pronoun

-Definition: A personal pronoun refers to the one speaking in first

person, the one spoken to is second person, or the one being spoken
about is third person.

-First Person: I, me, my, mine, we, us, ours, our.

-Second person: you, yours, your.
-Third person: He, him his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, their, theirs.
Look, I am good
at reading!

They are playing You click the

jump rope. icon to open
the game.
Demonstrative and Interrogative Pronouns

-Demonstrative Pronouns:
-Definition: A demonstrative pronoun is used to point out a
specific person, place, thing, or idea.
-Examples: This, That, These, Those.
I think this is
good enough.

-Interrogative Pronouns:
-Definition: An interrogative pronoun introduces a question.
-Examples: Who, whom, which, what, whose.

Hmmm, who is
in my class?
Personal Pronouns

I and me and us and we,

Are the “First Person
Four,"
Second person: only you,
There aren’t any more.
Third person
is he and she,
It and her and him.
Don’t forget
about they and them
You know them all! You
win!
Indefinite Pronouns
Oh, there’s anybody, anyone, and each.
And there’s everybody, everyone,
and some.
Oh, there’s anything and everything
And nobody and somebody
And something, nothing, any, most,
and none.
Yes, there’s either, neither, nothing,
few, and both.
And there’s any, many, someone, and
there’s one.
Indefinite and fun to sing
You’ll love them more than anything,
And now this pronoun song is finally
done!
Demonstrative
Pronouns

This, that, these,

and those
Are pronouns that we
teach.
They are all
demonstrative,
And you can point at
each.
 Adjective

-Definition: A word that is used to modify a noun or a pronoun.

Green Die. Transparent Old Man

ghost Haunted House
 Demonstrative Adjectives and Articles

-Demonstrative Adjective:
-Definition: A demonstrative adjective is an adjective which modifies
a noun or pronoun.
-Example:
-Did Jenifer draw this one or that one?
-Let’s take these sandwiches and those apples on our
picnic.
-Articles:
-Definition: An Indefinite Article is when they refer to any member
of a group.
-Examples:
-A girl won.
-The one day sale is on Saturday.
 Verb

-Definition: A verb is a word that is used to express action or a state

of being.
-Example: Texting, jumping, push, doing.

Mom helps
Jack do his
homework.

She is
exercising. The boys get
on the bus.
 Helping Verbs
-Definition: Helping Verbs help the main verb express action or a state
of being.
-Examples: can, do, has, might, should, and could.

Hey! You should put the toys

in the box.

Please, can you

cut the cake
now?
 Adverb
- Definition: A word that modifies a verb.
-Examples: There, up, here, down, tomorrow, weekly, later, and early.
(Think –ly too.)

The girl is going

to ride her bike
up the street.

It is going to rain
tomorrow and
weekly from now
on.
 Preposition

-Definition: A word that shows the relationship of a noun or a

pronoun to another word. (Remember the song!)
-Examples: Aboard, below, from, since, about, beneath, throughout,
concerning, past, and without.

They are aboard the

This guy train.
is from
history.
 Conjunction

-Definition: A word that joins word or words groups.

Decide whether to stay or go.

Coordinating Conjunctions:
-Examples: And, but, or nor, for yet so.
-Examples: You are supposed to walk on the street or the sidewalk.
Correlative Conjunctions:
-Examples: Both…and, Not only…but also, Whether…or.
-Example: Both Jim and Roberto were standing outside.
 Interjection

-Definition: A word that expresses emotion.

-Definition: An interjection has no grammatical relation to the rest

of the sentence.

-Examples: Crap! Wow! Yuck! Yippee! Uh-oh! Well!

WEEE! I’m YUCK! This

Swinging! is nasty!

OWW! This Hurts.