When to Use Capital Letters.
Capitalization
First word in a sentence, proper names, and titles.
Start a sentence with a capital letter.
The easiest capitalization rule to remember is this — always start a sentence with a capital letter. All sentences start with a capitalized first word and end with punctuation !, ?, or .
Capitalize Proper Names
We capitalize specific people, places, and things. (When in doubt always check the dictionary to determine if a word should be capitalized.) Capitalize people's names and titles; peoples; languages; nationalities; religions; political parties; racial or civic groups; athletic teams; geographical locations; institutions; historical and calendar periods and events; trademarks; institutions; words referring to supreme beings. Examples:
- Dr. Peter Parker, M.D.,
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada, North America,
- Torontonian, Canadian, English, French,
- Catholic, Liberal, Liberal Party of Canada,
- The Blue Jays, the Olympics,
- Monday, September, Christmas, Precambrian Period,
- Microsoft, Coke, Pepsi, Apple,
- Sing aloud unto God our strength.
Capitalize Key Words in a Title
Titles of books, plays, poems, songs, movies, papers , etc. are capitalized as such: the first and last word in the title is always capitalized, as well as all other words except small articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. Example: The Lord of the Rings.
Sample Sentences
| Phrase | Capitalized/Punctuated | Joined |
|
sam rolls out of bed he grabs his hair gel and runs downstairs to join dad who is leaving for work |
Sam rolls out of bed. He grabs his hair gel and runs downstairs to join Dad, who is leaving for work. |
Sam rolls out of bed. He grabs his hair gel and runs downstairs to join Dad, who is leaving for work. |
|
dad looks in the hall mirror he straightens his tie and looks again a tuft of hair is sticking up at the back of dad's head it sticks up every morning dad sighs his breath fogs the glass |
Dad looks in the hall mirror. He straightens his tie and looks again. A tuft of hair is sticking up at the back of Dad's head. It sticks up every morning. Dad sighs. His breath fogs the glass. |
Dad looks in the hall mirror. He straightens his tie and looks again. A tuft of hair is sticking up at the back of Dad's head. (It sticks up every morning). Dad sighs. His breath fogs the glass. |
Learn more about punctuation.
Sources
- Textbook: Andrews, Deborah C., and Blickle, Margaret D. Technical Writing, Principles and Forms. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., NY, NY 1982.
- Textbook: Hodges John. C., and Whitten, Mary E. Harbrace College Handbook, Cdn Ed. Longman Canada Ltd., Don Mills, ON 1977.
- Northern Illinois University - Effective Writing Practices Lectures
- Walden University - Grammar and Composition Lectures