#1 Capitalize the letter I on it’s own.
Wrong: When we meet tomorrow, i will have the demo ready.
#2 Capitalize the first letter of every sentence.
Wrong: the website goes live tomorrow. are you ready?
Correct: The website goes live tomorrow. Are you ready?
#3 Capitalize the first letter of proper nouns.
(names, company names, your job title, days of the week, month names, country and city names, etc.)
Wrong: Our offices in india are located in hyderabad, indore, and kochi. The newest office in kochi opened on wednesday, june 7.
Correct: Our offices in India are located in Hyderabad, Indore, and Kochi. The newest office in Kochi opened on Wednesday, June 7.
#4 Ensure there is a punctuation mark (full stop/period, question mark, exclamation mark) at the end of every statement.
Wrong: Today I will go to the store
Correct: Today I will go to the store.
#5 Ensure there is no space before a punctuation mark.
Wrong: We need to plan the kickoff meeting . Should I invite Jacob , Prema ,and Yash ?
Note: There will be a space after the punctuation mark.
#6 Use a question mark at the end of a question.
Wrong: Can we meet tomorrow. (incorrect punctuation mark)
Wrong: Can we meet tomorrow (lacking punctuation mark)
#7 Use an apostrophe for contractions or to show possession.
Wrong: Lets go out of station for the weekend.
Note: It may be better to write out contractions to avoid this mistake.
(Let us go out of station for the weekend.)
Wrong: This was Rithikas house.
Correct: This was Rithika’s house.
Wrong: The mans name was Ronald.
Correct: The man’s name was Ronald.
#8 Use the correct article before required words (a/an/the)
Wrong: I need to write an user story.
Correct: I need to write a user story. (or) I need to write the user story.
Correct: Sam will join the meeting 10 minutes late.
Once you master this, you will be able to answer Shashi’s question, “Why India and not the India?” or “Why the USA and not USA?”