Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Composition · Lesson Appendix · Part 3: Part III: Punctuation, and the Appendix
96. Capital letters and italics
Goal: Your child knows the book's ten rules for capital letters.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and a pencil (or a slate)
What's in the book
The last pages give ten rules for capital letters, a note on italic words in the Bible, and how to underline words in handwriting to show italics and capitals.
The lesson, step by step
Review
Ask for the principal parts of three irregular verbs.
The rules
Read the rules together:
The first word of every sentence should begin with a capital letter.
The first word of every line of poetry should begin with a capital letter.
Proper names of persons, places, days, etc., should begin with capital letters.
Titles of honor or distinction should begin with capital letters.
I and O, used as single words, should be capitals.
The book also covers names for God, races and nations, words from proper names, and important words.
Oral practice
Say words and let your child say capital or not: monday, river, mississippi, french, president lincoln, spring.
Underlining
The book explains that in handwriting, one line under a word means italics, two lines small capitals, three lines capitals. Try it.
Write
Dictate three sentences that use several of the rules, and check the capitals together.
Use it today
Look at a poem. Does each line begin with a capital, as the book says?
Tip
This is a good final review. Your child has now been through the whole book. Celebrate!
Answers to the book's problems
Monday: capital (day). river: none. Mississippi: capital (place). French: capital (nation). President Lincoln: capitals (title and name). spring: none (seasons are not capitalized).
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.