UNIT 11 Capitalisation and Punctuation
Lesson 1: An Introduction
Read the story given below and discuss with your partner where the capital
letters have been used:
There was a poor boy named Rakib. He lived in a small village of Ghorasal in
Palash upazila under Narsingdi district. His mother died on a Sunday in
January 1994. At that time, Rakib was only five. When he was 12, he started
to work in a rich man's family as a domestic help since his father was not in a
position to bring him up. Rakib used to obey the orders of the family members
although Mojnu, the only son of the rich man, did not like to get things done
by Rakib. Rakib was happy to see his master's son Mojnu going to a school
named Fulkuri High School. Although he had to work hard, he used to ponder
upon the things and events around him whenever he could find time. "I want
to learn what my master's son is learning” said Rakib to himself. He made
friendship with Mojnu. Mojnu used to tell stories to Rakib about the successes
of some hard-working people with a view to inspiring his friend. He also used
to tell stories about some countries such as Singapore, Australia, and Japan.
Rakib thought, “If I could go to the countries!” He started to learn English and
Japanese languages through watching TV, and by reading books named Learn
English, Learn Japanese. Alongside learning languages, he started to learn
about different nations such as the French, the Americans, and the Indians. By
this time Rakib was 22. He became a member of the local Library near the high
school and used to borrow books from there. By reading books and through
holding dialogues with his friend, he acquired knowledge equivalent to a
secondary school passed student with good grade. Last week he read about
the Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh and about the French
Revolution which made him more aware of his rights and responsibilities. He
got a job in a Singapore Dockyard through browsing the Internet at the library.
The senior members working voluntarily at the library were of great help in
this regard. Rakib's hard work started to make his long-cherished dream a
reality. Rakib is grateful to Allah for His help to make his plan successful.
Work in pairs and make a list where capital letters are used in writing. The
first one is done for you. (The first letter in a sentence becomes capital.)
Now compare your list with the one given below.
Features of Capitalisation
1. The first letter of the first word in a sentence (The bird is flying.)
2. Names of people (Rakib, Mojnu, Rahim, Ratan, etc.), places (Ghorasal,
Palash, Narsingdi, Dhaka, London, etc), days (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
etc.), months (January, February, March, etc.), rivers (the Padma, the
Ganges, the Megna, the Buriganga, etc.), mountains (Mt. Everest, Mt.
Cook), huge constructions (the Sears Tower, the Eifel Tower, etc.) start
with capital letters.
3. Names of organizations (Savar High School, High Court, Notre Dame
College, World Bank, etc.) begin with capital letters.
4. The pronoun “l” always is capital (As he called me for help, I helped
him).
5. Names of nations (Bangladeshis, Americans, British) begin with capital
letters.
6. The main words in a title of a book or of a chapter or an article (Learn
English, Learn Japanese; Great Expectations; The Liberation War of
1971, etc.) start with capital letters.
7. The main words of historical events or documents (Declaration of
Independence, French Revolution, etc.) always start with capital letters.
8. Letters and acronyms that stand for names or organizations (UNICEF,
TV, IELTS etc.) have to be written with capital letters.
9.Names of the Almighty and related pronouns are always capital (1 am
surprised to see God's power and His immense love for mankind).
10. The first word in Quotation Marks starts with a capital letter (He said to
me, “Go home at once").
Lesson 2: Use of Punctuations
Look at the following punctuation marks and discuss in pairs what their
names are and why they are used.
Now compare your answers from the given table.
Exercise 1:
Read the following dialogue and use punctuation marks in each gap as
necessary.
Disha: Did you call me yesterday_.
Papia: Sorry_ I forgot to call you_However_Nazrul called you_
Disha: Why did Nazrul call me_
Papia: He said_ _I want to give some things to Disha_
Disha: What are those things_
Papia: So far as I know_ they are a set of books_ a box of colour pencils_an
Oxford Dictionary and a laptop_
Exercise 2:
Now, read the following application written by a class eight student. Work in
pairs to decide why his English teacher has underlined some areas. Consider
capitalization and the use of punctuation marks.
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