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Common Errors Workbook |
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Punctuation and mechanics |
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23. Capitalizing with colons, parentheses, and quotations |
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Special rules of capitalization apply around colons, parentheses, and quotation marks. Here are some guidelines for capitalizing with these types of punctuation.
If a colon is followed by a main clause, you may or may not capitalize the first letter after the colon.
Example: Many of us who use the World Wide Web have never asked a simple question: Where did it come from?
Here the material following the colon is a main clause, so the word Where can be capitalized.
A capital letter should not be used if the material following the colon is not a main clause.
Example: The World Wide Web started in an unlikely place: the Swiss Alps.
Here a phrase (not a main clause) follows the colon, so the is not capitalized.
If parenthetical material stands alone as a complete and separate sentence, capitalize its first word. However, do not capitalize the first word of the parenthetical material if it is part of a larger sentence.
Example: Tim Berners-Lee developed a system known as HTML. (This hypertext language allowed words in one of his files to be linked to other files.)
Capitalize the first letter of a quotation if the sentence contains an attribution and the quotation can stand alone as a sentence.
Example: According to one software engineer, "The debut of the World Wide Web in 1991 instantly brought order to cyberspace."
However, do not capitalize the first letter of a quotation if it is a smoothly integrated phrase.
Example: According to another expert, the World Wide Web "revolutionized the way we handle information."
Remember: The first letter of material introduced by a colon, parenthesis, or quotation mark is generally capitalized if the material constitutes a main clause.
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