CAPITALIZATION

CAPITAL LETTERSCapital letters are about twice the height of lowercase letters. Some of you need to work on your handwriting. Some problems I noticed:

• Not distinguishing properly between capital and lowercase letters

• Lowercase letters that fill up the entire space • Stray marks between letters. (Use a legible pen that

doesn’t stray.) • Writing that is too light to read or of uneven weight/

darkness (Don’t write essays in pencil.)• Writing that is so small that it is difficult to articulate

distinguishing marks of individual letters, especially vowels. (also r vs v)

• Uncrossed T’s, disconnected loops as with a, o, b, and d

COLLECT WORDS WITH CAPITAL LET TERS

Exclude words that are the first word of a sentence.

Write words you find with capital letters on a sticky note.

Any time you find words that go together as a unit, put

them all together on one sticky note.

If a capitalized word is the first word of dialogue or a

quotation, you must record the quotation marks before

the word to show this.

Lucky Trimble crouched in a wedge of shade behind the Dumpster. Her ear

near a hole in the paint-chipped wall of Hard Pan’s Found Object Wind Chime

Museum and Visitor Center, she listened as Short Sammy told the story of how

he hit rock-bottom. How he quit drinking and found his Higher Power. Short

Sammy’s story, of all the rock-bottom stories Lucky had heard at twelve-step

anonymous meetings—alcoholics, gamblers, smokers, and overeaters—was still

her favorite.

Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to

Johnny Cash all morning in his parked ‘62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car

when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy.

- Susan Patron, The Higher Power of Lucky (2006)

COLLECT WORDS WITH CAPITAL LET TERS

The girl crouched in a

wedge of shade behind the

large, metal trash

container. Her ear near a

hole in the paint-chipped wall

of the museum, she listened

as the short man told the

story of how he hit rock-

bottom.

Lucky Trimble crouched

in a wedge of shade behind

the Dumpster. Her ear near

a hole in the paint-chipped

wall of Hard Pan’s Found

Object Wind Chime

Museum and Visitor

Center, she listened as

Short Sammy told the story

of how he hit rock-bottom.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

COLLECT WORDS WITH CAPITAL LET TERS

Exclude words that are the first word of a sentence.

Write words you find with capital letters on a sticky note.

Any time you find words that go together as a unit, put

them all together on one sticky note.

If a capitalized word is the first word of dialogue or a

quotation, you must record the quotation marks before

the word to show this.

CATEGORIZE T HE CAPITALIZED W ORD S YOU COLLECT ED IN TO GROUPS.

WORDS THAT NEED CAPITAL LET TERS

Proper nouns (specific names of people, places, cultures,

and brand names)

The pronoun I

Proper adjectives (proper nouns used as adjectives)

Titles (books, songs, TV shows, movies, poems)

First word of a direct quotation

Titles used before a person’s name

Initialisms (DVD)

SHOULD WE CAPITALIZE?

Plant

Tree

Oak Tree

The Jerry Lee Martin Memorial Oak

Tree

SHOULD WE CAPITALIZE?

President

President Washington

We watched the President on TV.

SHOULD WE CAPITALIZE?

Doctor

Doctor Jackson

“Tell me the truth, Doctor. How

much time do I have?”

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

All week I worked hard, for

I knew when friday came we

would finally get to put on

the pads.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

Finally it was time to head

to huntsville, tx were my visit

would begin.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

There were many plans to

do, She moved the date until

May instead of March.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

My Senior Class was the

first class at my school to

have a senior field day.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

I ended up in the Hospital

for three days to run test.

It turned out I was great

thanks to the grace of god.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

I couldn’t wait to hit

someone and feel the

Adrinline run through my

body.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

Attending Church was very

important to me because

without God I would not have

made it this far in life.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

My Mom found out She was pregnant.

My mom just popped out the words,

“i’m pregnant,” that moment In my life

was so happy.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

“Down, set, hut” The

Quarterback yelled out as I

took off on my route.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

“OH MY GOSH!” I

screamed

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

“I wonder what we’ve done

this time,” I mumbled to my

friend Jeni. “Who knows?”

She replied.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

What a magical experience

for anyone that was 17!

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

Instead, they won three tickets to

the Chicago Bulls versus the Boston

Celtics.

I was so excited to see Michael

Jordan play.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

A significant event in my life

would have to be when I found

out that I was graduatin- g from

Humble High.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

That was my life changing

story.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

On August 12, 2008, my

mom gave birth to my little

brother, and that was the most

significant thing in my life.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

Attend the University of

Sam Houston St.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

My cousin decided to play “I SPY” to

make the trip more fun.

After a while we finally made it to the

theme park “Six Flags Over Texas.”

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

June 8th, 2009, I was on my

way to Arlington, Texas for a

family vacation to Six Flags

Over Texas.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

There were things wrong with this story (the biggest hole was probably Roger’s

failure to simply start over with a different glue), but it was cute, it was fairly

original, and I knew I has done some pretty good writing. After a long time spent

studying the markets in my beat-up Writer’s Digest, I sent “Happy Stamps” off to

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. It came back three weeks later with a form

rejection slip attached. This slip bore Alfred Hitchcock’s unmistakable profile in

red ink and wished me good luck with my story. At the bottom was an unsigned

jotted message, the only personal response I got from AHMM over eight years of

periodic submissions. “Don’t staple manuscripts,” the postscript read. “Loose

pages plus paperclip equal correct way to submit copy.” This was pretty cold

advice, I thought, but useful in its way. I have never stapled a manuscript since.

- Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2001)