Capitalization, Abbreviation, and Indentation.

Hey, Platzinaut. 👀
My notes of the lesson, never stop learning. 👇

Capitalization

Is when you write the first letter of a word in upper case and the remaining letters in lowercase. There are some basic rules for that. Let’s see the first one:

• The first letter of a sentence

My name is Fernanda

• The pronoun “I”

My sister and I watch TV.

• Names and Titles

This is Mr. Jones.

• Cities and Countries

I live in Bogotá, Colombia.

• Nationalities and languages

I am Colombian, and I speak Spanish.

• Days/Months/Holidays

Today is Sunday, February 14th. It’s Valentine’s Day!

Abbreviation

Abbreviations are the shortened form of a word, and we are going to start seeing two different types.

Acronym

We can form an acronym using the first letter of different words. You can say an acronym as a word. Examples:

• PIN (Personal Identification Number)
• Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
• LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)

Initialism

It is similar to an acronym. We also form an initialism using the first letter of other words. But the difference here is you cannot say an initialism as a word. In this case, you have to say a letter by letter like:

• DIY (Do It Yourself)
• USA (United States of America)
• DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)

You can also form some abbreviations by removing some letters of one single word.

• Titles

Mr. Jones.

Dr. Gonzalez.

• Places

5th Ave.

Main St.

• Times/Dates

10 am.

Jan.

Mon.

• Units of measurement

20 g.

80 oz.

In American English 🇺🇸

You normally put a period in the end of the abbreviation, like:

• Mr.
• Dr.
• Mon.

In British English 🇬🇧

You only use the period in the end of the abbreviation if the last letter of the abbreviation is different from the original word.

• Mr
• Dr
• Mon.

Paragraph Format

First-line Indent:

In this format, you have to leave a small space between the edge and the beginning of your text. You use this kind of format to write biographies, narratives and academic publications. This kind of format makes your reader read your text in a linear way.

Block

As the name says, we write our paragraphs in blocks, and instead of leaving a blank space in the edge of the paper, you are going to leave a blank space between paragraphs. This type of format gives the idea to your reader that all the information is inside each paragraph. Very common when you are writing guides or manuals.