WRITING

MECHANICS
1. Apostrophe
2. Quotation marks
3. Comma
4. Colon
5. Semicolon
6. Dash
7. Parentheses
8. Hyphen
9. Capitalization
10. Number
11. Acronym
12. Abbreviation
13. Period
14.Question Mark
15.Exclamation Point
1. APOSTROPHE ’
• Apostrophe in contractions
• Two words are combined
have + not = haven’t (the o in not has
been omitted)
I + am = I’m it + is = it’s
I + have = I’ve it + has = it’s
I + had = I’d
who + is = who’s
APOSTROPHE TO SHOW
OWNERSHIP OR
POSSESSION
• To show possession, we can use
words such as belongs to, or
possessed by.

the umbrella that belongs to Mark

the tape recorder owned by the school the gentleness of my father
BUT THE APOSTROPHE AND S
IS OFTEN THE
EASIEST WAY TO DO THIS
Mark’s umbrella
the children’s toys
the school’s tape recorder
my father’s gentleness
ACRONYMS
• Do not use periods after letters and spaces between
letters
• A term must be written out fully the first time it is used;
for the subsequent references, the acronym is acceptable.
Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
The DOST recently launched a new technology on
product development and packaging.

Write the plural form of an acronym without an

apostrophe.
Their DVDs cost too much.
NUMBERS
• Numbers that cannot be written out in one of two words
should be written in Arabic numerals

- one, five, twenty-one, one hundred, eighteen hundred, 625,

1976

• In the case of recurrent use of numeric, statistical, or

scientific data, use numerals for those numbers but write
out other numbers in the text, if possible, in one or two
words.
There were 900 deaths and 20,000 injuries on the roads last
year, but the statistics for the previous year were worse.
• Hyphenate compound numbers from twenty-one to
ninety-nine, compounds with a number as the first
element (e.g., two-way street), and the written form of
fractions.
- The fraction 3/10 would be spelled out as three-tenths.
• Do not begin a sentence with a numeral
Good: Eighteen ninety-eight is an important date in
Philippine history.
Better: An important date in Philippine history is 1898.
• Do not mix numerals with written numbers when they
refer to similar things
- Only 10 of the 125 cats were Siamese. (not ten of the 125
cats)
CAPITALIZATION
• 1. Title case: Capitalize the first word, last word,
and principal words in titles, subtitles, including
that follow a hyphen in compound terms.
• Use for titles of books and articles cited in the
text and in references
• Use for major headings in your paper
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland &
Through the Looking-Glass

Winnie-the-Pooh
SENTENCE CASE:
Capitalize the first word, the first word after a
colon, and any proper nouns in the heading or title
- Use for titles of most non-English works

- Use for lower-paragraph subheadings

It’s been snowing for three days straight: The roads

around here aren’t very safe for driving.
DO NOT CAPITALIZE THE FOLLOWING,
UNLESS THEY BEGIN A TITLE OR FOLLOW A
COLON

• 1. Articles: a, an, the

• 2. Prepositions: against, between, in, of, to, on
• 3. Conjunctions: and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet
• 4. Infinitive: to
1.Horrible acting, laughable dialogue, and a ridiculous plot --- if
you like these things you’ll love this movie.