5.10: Capitalization
- Page ID
- 341056
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Rules for Capitalization
- Capitalize the first word of a sentence.
- Always capitalize nationalities, races, languages, and religions. For example, American, African American, Hispanic, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and so on.
- Do not capitalize nouns for people, places, things, streets, buildings, events, and titles when the noun is used in general or common way.
- Capitalize days of the week, months of the year, and holidays.
- Capitalize titles of positions when they are accompanied by proper names.
- Examples: President Obama, Governor Scott Brown, Judge Wheeler.
- Capitalize the names of specific movements or events.
- Examples: the Civil Rights Movement, World War II, D-Day
- Capitalize the letters that make up abbreviations for organizations or agencies.
- Examples: FEMA, EPA, NFL. CNN.
- Computer-related words such as “Internet” and “World Wide Web” are usually capitalized; however, “email” and “online” are never capitalized.
- Proper nouns—the names of specific people, places, objects, streets, buildings, events, or titles of individuals—are always capitalized.
| Common Noun | Proper Noun |
|---|---|
| museum | The Art Institute of Chicago |
| theater | Apollo Theater |
| country | Malaysia |
| uncle | Uncle Javier |
| doctor | Dr. Jackson |
| book | Pride and Prejudice |
| college | Smith College |
| war | the Spanish-American War |
| historical event | The Renaissance |
- Learning and applying the basic rules of capitalization is a fundamental aspect of good writing.
- Identifying and correcting errors in capitalization is an important writing skill.