4th instalment
Its and it’s
This is fairly straightforward. You only use the apostrophe between the ‘t” and the ‘s’ when ‘it’s’ meaning ‘it is’ is being used as an abbreviated verb or action word.
e.g. ‘it’s always better to be honest and trustworthy’.
‘Its’, without the apostrophe means ‘its is being used to show possession.
e.g. ‘the dog loves its master’. This usage means that the dog is being shown as ‘possessing’ its master.
You should only capitalise words …
when you are referring to the name of a person, an organisation or when a title has been conferred onto something. Avoid using capital letters to draw attention to something; because if you capitalise to emphasise something it looks like the writer is shouting at the reader.
When you are dealing with dialogue you must always put a new speaker on a new line. Dialogue needs to be either put within inverted commas or italicised.
Pauses
A full stop, followed by a capital letter means that the author wants the reader to pause and take a breath before continuing with reading.
A semi-colon is used when a shorter pause is needed.
A dash is used when a short pause is needed; when the writer wants to link, say, two phrases where a thought, followed by a linking pause, leads to a continuation of a thought.
For example: you can take your dog for a walk – but your pet must be on a leash.
Titles must be capitalised when followed by a name, such as; Colonel Masters, President Trump, or Lord Jameson.
Tenses, active and passive voice, direct and indirect speech, and syntax have been extensively covered in instalments 1 and 2.
At the end of the course, I will collate all the instalments into a book, which will be available on Amazon; but until them, I will continue with the nitty-gritty of English.
Instalment 4 will follow soon.
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