Capitalization

Capitalization

1.       Capitalize all parts of a person’s name.

2.       Capitalize the titles of relatives only when the title precedes the person’s name or when they take the place of a person’s name.

 My favorite relative is Uncle Harry.

My uncle is a lawyer, and he has a square head.

Are you ready, Mom?

My mother and father are still married after 35 years.

The same rule applies to professional titles.

                                We are all happy that Doctor Wilkinson is in our class.

We had to go to the doctor when I fell off my roof.

3.       Capitalize the names of streets, cities, and states.

4.       Capitalize the names of countries, languages, and ethnic groups.

5.       Capitalize the names of specific buildings, geographical features, schools, and other institutions.

The Grand Canyon is not in Canada, but people in Quebec speak French.

The Russians are going to be in big trouble if they don’t get out of the Ukraine.

6.       Capitalize the days of the week, months of the year, and the names of holidays. Do NOT capitalize the names of the seasons.

My favorite day is Friday; my favorite month is June because it is in the summer.

7.       Capitalize directions of the compass only when they refer to specific regions.

I can tell from her accent that she was raised in the South.

It is always beautiful in the Southwest, but it rains a lot in the Northwest.

Go two blocks south and one block east to get to the magic bridge.

8.       Capitalize the names of companies and brand names but not the names of the products themselves.

General Foods Corporations makes my favorite cereal, Cheerios.

We love Hersey’s chocolate syrup.

9.       Capitalize the first word of every sentence.

10.   Capitalize the subject pronoun I (unless you are e.e. cummings).

11.   Capitalize the first word of a title and all other words in the title except for articles (a, an, the) and except for conjunctions and prepositions that have fewer than five letters.

To end the year, we will read the book Being the Boy in the Bubble.

12.   Capitalize the names of academic subjects only if they are already proper nouns or if they are common nouns followed by a course number.

My favorite classes are English, Spanish and chemistry, but I dislike Algebra 101.

13.   Capitalize the names of specific historical events, such as wars, revolutions, religious and political movements, and specific ears.

The Roaring 20’s seemed like a fun time to be alive, but the Great Depression ended all that fun.

The Battle of Gettysburg took place during the Civil War, right?