Writing Mechanics BBS First Year Business English
Writing Mechanics
Writing mechanic refers to the conventional governing rules of written language. These rules include spelling, punctuation, capitalization, semicolon, commas and abbreviations etc. These rules are to be mastered to make information clear and understandable.
A. Punctuation (https://youtu.be/RPL8iij1X2A ) marks are the indications that assist to direct the written words. They make us alert about transitions, pauses and stops. They help us follow thoughts through sentences and paragraphs making our communication effective. The following are the common punctuations in English:
B. Apostrophe (’) is used in possessives of nouns like Amit’s house, and Employees’ quarter. It is used for contractions like can’t, don’t, won’t and also is used in plurals like the 90s, (but not the 1990s)
C. Commas (,) (https://youtu.be/tLlfuIAjaC0 ): The following are the uses of commas:
a. Adjacent to quotation mark: He said, ‘’I bought a car.’’
b. To set apart appositives: Pokhara, a city of Kaski, is a tourist place.
c. In a list, except for the last item: Jagat, Ramit, Srijal and Meena
d. After introductory words or phrases: First of all, let me introduce him.
e. On dates like October 12, 2021
f. Between two geographical places like (Simara, Bara), (Baneshwar, Kathmandu)
g. After salutation or closing in letters like Dear Sir, Yours faithfully,
h. After proper nouns in imperative like Akriti, tell me about your interests.
i. Before conjunction in independent clauses like She bought a cell, and she bought a laptop.
D. An exclamation mark (!) is used for surprise, excitement, or strong emotions such as That was an amazing feat! Alas! He is dead.
E. Question mark (?) (https://youtu.be/1aa--jf4CjY ) is used to ask a question like ‘Where do you go?’ to reconfirm something like ‘So, you are coming?’ , ‘he drives, doesn’t he?’
F. Quotation mark (‘’…’’) is used before and after the quoted statement like ‘He said, ‘’I enjoy browsing Facebook.’’ It is used before and after book chapters, document titles, magazine articles, short story titles, songs etc. like
a. She reads the poem ‘’All the World is a Stage’’ by Shakespeare.
b. She prefers to listen to ‘Kun mandirma janchhau yaatri’’ by Narayan Gopal
G. Colon (:) is used with lists like The following: trucks, cars and cycles. Colon is also used in ratios, number relationships like 4:1, 9:15 am
H. Underlining (___ ) is used to indicate titles, or longer works such as albums, books, documentaries, movies, television etc. Muna Madan is interesting to read. We watched Balidan last week.
I. Dash (-) : (https://youtu.be/f8ddM6UQdlE ) (Asked Question in Board Exam): There are two types of the dash that are used in writing.
ü Em dash (longer dash ) – is used to separate a phrase, an utterance, or a series of examples within a text such as All the people in the room Sita, Madan and Bunu -- are ready for study.
ü En Dash (shorter dash, half of Em dahs) - is used to indicate ranges like ‘See pages 46-73, for negative numbers -5⁰ C and a bulleted list like Fruits- mango, apples, and litchi etc.
J. Ellipses (……) (https://youtu.be/JmRMfFVw6NE ) is used to indicate a quote from a part of a continuing text like: The study suggests ‘’….. spending more time on an advertisement does not necessarily increase sales. But, it may affect sales negatively….’’ Ellipses are used to indicate a pause like Now, there is peace…. And there is right ….. and also to show hesitation as ‘I was ….. well, what do I say …… very irritated….. to say the least.’
K. Hyphens (-): They are used in two-word adjectives before a noun like a one-way ticket, red-faced boy and also with compound numbers like thirty-one, twenty-one. Hyphens can be used with the prefixes and suffixes like ex-mate, self-motivated, and god-like and between a prefix and a capitalized word like mid-September.
L. Italics ( sugar ) are used for emphasis, to separate headings, titles, and document titles. He bought a pen yesterday, She composed an essay on Human Race.
M. Parenthesis ( ): is a punctuation mark used to enclose information, similar to a bracket that is used to explain or define like: She handed me the khukuri (curled knife).
N. Period (.): is similar to a full stop that is used ( https://youtu.be/GVdiQEtbrE8 ) to end a sentence like ‘My boss announces new information and it is used to separate a file name from a file extension like business.docx and for abbreviations like a.m., p.m., e.g., Mt.
O. Semi-colon or Semicolon (;) is used to connect two independent sentences like Gurung, the owner of Supermarket, is expanding his business; he is opening a new outlet in other cities. It is also used to separate items in a list like Our company opened two branches in Jhapa; three in Morang and four in Pokhara.
P. Slashes ( / ) are used to show fractions like ½, ¾. They also show the separate lines of a poem in a running text such as ‘My contemplations are of Time / that has transfigured me. / there's not a woman turns her face / upon a broken tree’
Q. Abbreviations (use of short-form) are used in titles like Mr, Mrs, Dr, Ph. D or Jr. They are used as acronyms for names of institutions like World Trade Organization (WTO), International Labour Organization ( ILO), International Monetary Fund (IMF).
R. Capitalization (Uppercase):( https://youtu.be/fxFGB5vErvw ) is used in the first word of a sentence like: He got a new credit card. The pronoun ‘I’: I worked all day without a break. The first letter of Proper nouns, Abbreviation
Writing Numbers
Writing Numbers (https://youtu.be/PlvkCH3owas ): The following are the uses of commas:
a. Spell out all the numbers beginning a sentence such as Three hundred persons were invited but only fifty-one turned up.
b. Hyphenate all the compound numbers from twenty-one: Three hundred persons were invited but only fifty-one turned up.
c. Write out 1 to 9: one, two, three, four ….. nine such as She has written nine novels.
d. We use numbers from 10 and above: 10, 36, 152 such as They have ten branches of their bank in Kathmandu valley.
e. Punctuate numbers: start with the last 3 digits ( 300,000), for numbers comprising four digits or more: 5,000
f. Fractions: only in tables and for units of measurement. In the text, spell out: half for ½ (Half of the participants noted that they prefer using cells in the study.)
g. For clarity, use noon and midnight instead of writing 12:00 am and 12:00 pm like He has arranged a short meeting at noon. (not at 12:00 am)
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Click for Unit Two: https://limbuchandrabahadur.blogspot.com/2025/11/business-language-and-fundamentals-of.html
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