Continuous English improvement. International students hear those three little words almost as soon as they come to Canada. After spending years preparing for English exams, they find out that the hard work is just beginning!
Learning to write for university or college in English is a challenge!
There are some very basic, yet very common English mistakes that can be easily corrected.
One of these is learning the difference between capital and small letters. You probably know that WRITING IN ALL CAPS IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING ONLINE. You’ve probably also seen them used incorrectly for emphasis.
Here is the correct way to use capital letters (also called big or uppercase letters).
The first letter in the first word of all sentences is capitalized. Need proof? Look at the first letter in the sentences in this blog post!
We also use capital letters in the first letter of proper names for people, places and companies or legal entities. Cities, countries, continents, planets and street names are all places to be capitalized. The names for languages and groups of people are also capitalized.
Need an example?
“Hey! Sanjay! Look at these English courses from Edusity.com. The company is based in North America with an office in Asia. I know a lot of Chinese and Indian students who take their courses.”
All the important words in titles are capitalized too. That includes titles of courses, books, movies and TV shows.
Some examples:
Financial Literacy for Teens (a course)
Never Have I Ever (a TV show)
Principles of Nuclear Physics (probably a book, but no one at Edusity has read it)
You should also use capital letters the same way in your school documents.
Last, but not least, is everyone’s favourite use of capital letters. Acronyms!
You know IBM, but do you know our sister company TBG (The Babb Group). What about FYI (for your information) and ASAP (as soon as possible)?
Now, try to use capital letters properly.
In the passage below, we’ve removed all of the capital letters. Copy the text and put them back in correctly.
how to improve your english:
slow down. many students are in the habit of scanning texts in search of answers. the goal, instead, is to take time with the material to learn the terms that are used in your topic area. students must get the full effect and understand every word they read. this is especially true when reviewing instructions for completing essays, lab reports, and problem sets.
reflect and make connections. part of slowing down means pausing to think about the readings and other learning material. students should ask themselves these questions after each reading session:
how does this new information connect to my experiences or to what I have seen in the world?
how does this approach build upon what i learned in the past?
try to implement these tips asap.
The text comes from Edusity’s blog post Five Tips for Continuous English Improvement already. Click on the link to read it now.
When you’ve finished, email us at blast@edusity.com with the subject line I Learned to Use Capital Letters and we’ll send you the answer key.
Links referenced in this post: