1. Introduction to Writing Skills
- What are Writing Skills? Writing skills are a core part of verbal communication. They involve expressing ourselves clearly and effectively through the written word.
- Forms of Written Communication: We use writing skills for many things, including:
- Emails and Letters
- Notes and Articles
- SMS/Chat Messages
- Blogs and Reports
- Why is it Important? Good writing skills are essential because they help us present our message in a clear, professional, and organized way.
2. The Foundation of Writing: Sentences and Phrases
- Sentence: A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. It must have a subject and a verb.
- Example: "Pooja goes to school." (This makes complete sense).
- Phrase: A phrase is a group of words that does not express a complete thought. It adds meaning but cannot stand on its own.
- Example: "Pooja goes." (This is incomplete. We are left asking, "Where does she go?").
3. Essential Rules for Writing: Capitalization and Punctuation
A. Capitalization
Capitalization means using the capital (uppercase) form of a letter. While all sentences begin with a capital letter, there are other important rules. An easy way to remember them is with the acronym TINS.
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T - Titles: Capitalize the first letter of titles used before a person's name.
- Example: Dr. Malik, Mr. Pandey, Professor Sharma.
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I - The word 'I': The pronoun 'I' is always capitalized, no matter where it appears in a sentence.
- Example: He said that I should go to the mall.
-
N - Names: Capitalize the first letter of proper nouns, which include:
- Names of People: Suresh, Ravi.
- Names of Places: London, India, Delhi.
- Names of Days and Months: Friday, June, October.
- Names of Brands/Organizations: Nike, Google.
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S - Starting Letter of a Sentence: The first word of every new sentence must begin with a capital letter.
- Example: The little girl lost her book. She was very sad.
B. Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols used to structure sentences and make their meaning clear.
| Punctuation Mark | Symbol | How to Use It | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Stop (Period) | . | 1. At the end of a complete sentence (a statement). 2. After some abbreviations (short forms). | - Omar is a professor. - Prof. Omar is teaching. |
| Comma | , | 1. To show a short pause in a sentence. 2. To separate items in a list. | - After getting down from the bus, I walked to my school. - I bought apples, bananas, and grapes. |
| Question Mark | ? | At the end of a sentence that asks a direct question. | - Where is your book? - Are you coming to the party? |
| Exclamation Mark | ! | At the end of a sentence or word to show a strong feeling, like excitement, surprise, or anger. | - What a beautiful dress! - Hooray! We won the match. |
| Apostrophe | ' | 1. To show possession (that something belongs to someone). Add 's. 2. To show a contraction (when letters are omitted in informal speech). | - That is Shobha's cat. (The cat belongs to Shobha). - She isn't coming today. (isn't = is not). |
4. The Building Blocks of Sentences: Parts of Speech
Every word in a sentence has a specific job. This job is called its "part of speech." Understanding them helps us build correct and meaningful sentences.
A. Main Parts of Speech
| Part of Speech | Job / What it is | Examples | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noun | A naming word. It names a person, place, animal, thing, or idea. | Kavita, book, tiger, truth, India, happiness. | Kavita bought a book. |
| Pronoun | A word used in place of a noun to avoid repetition. | I, you, he, she, it, we, they, us. | Kavita bought a book. She has a great collection. |
| Adjective | A describing word. It describes a noun or a pronoun. | best-selling, large, red, weak, beautiful. | Kavita bought a best-selling book. |
| Verb | An action word or a "state of being" word. It shows what the noun is doing. | buys, run, eat, think, is, are. | Kavita buys a new book every month. |
| Adverb | A word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. It often answers "How?", "When?", or "Where?". | quickly, easily, always, yesterday, here. | Kavita quickly read her book. |
B. Supporting Parts of Speech (The "Glue" Words)
These words connect the main parts of speech to form complete sentences.
| Part of Speech | Job / What it is | Examples | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article | Words used before nouns to specify if they are general or specific. | a, an, the | Wow! The boy saw a bird. |
| Conjunction | A joining word. It connects words, phrases, or sentences. | and, but, or, because, so. | The boy was surprised because he saw a bird. |
| Preposition | A word that shows the relationship between a noun/pronoun and another word in the sentence (often showing location or time). | in, on, at, under, over. | A bird was flying over his head. |
| Interjection | A word or phrase that expresses a strong, sudden emotion. It is usually followed by an exclamation mark. | Wow!, Oh!, Ouch!, Hooray!, Help! | Wow! The boy was taken by surprise. |
Arbind Singh
Teacher, Software developer
Innovative educator and tech enthusiast dedicated to empowering students through robotics, programming, and digital tools.