Capitalization Rules

Capitalization, or using uppercase letters, rules can be confusing. So how do you know when to use capital letters?

English has a few major rules that help us use proper capitalization! These include

1. Beginning a new sentence

2. Names

3. Beginning of a quote

4. Key words in a title

This is one of the first rules we learn in writing. When we start a new thought, we begin the first word of our new sentence with an uppercase letter. This applies to all types of sentences.

Statement: They are leaving the office at 5p.m. today.

Question: Who is bringing dessert for the picnic?

Interjection: Oh no!

To review, a noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. A proper noun is a specific person, place, thing, or idea that is given a specific name.

The Names of People

We always capitalize a word if it is a person's name.

Examples: Sally, Joshua, Danielle, Lily

Family words such as mom or grandpa may be capitalized if they are used as that person's name in the sentence! To check if this is the case, you can try replacing the family word with a name. If the sentence still works grammatically, then the family word should be capitalized.

Example:

Mom (Stacy) told me to eat my green beans.

My mom told me to eat my green beans.

Names of specific people groups, including religions and nationalities as well as their languages, are also capitalized.

Examples:

American, Ethiopian

Christian, Buddhist

Latin, Tagalog, English

The Names of Places

We also capitalize the names of specific places. This includes cities, countries, stores, schools, parks, etc.

Examples:

New York City

Botswana

Wal-Mart

Enlightium Academy

Franklin Park

The Names of Specific Things

Some objects also have names that are proper nouns. This may be because it is a brand name or because it is named after its inventor/discoverer.

Examples:

Ziploc bag

Macbook Pro

Parkinson's disease

The Names of Specific Times

Because we have named the days of the week and months of the year, including specific holidays like Christmas, we also capitalize the names of these times. This may also include specific eras in history!

Examples:

Monday, Friday, Sunday

March, June, September

Easter, Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Reformation, Renaissance

Like starting a new sentence, starting a new quotation or section of dialogue should begin with a capital letter most of the time.

Example: After her mother scolded her, Annabelle yelled, "That's not fair!"

However, if we put the dialogue tag (he said, she said) in the middle of a quote, we do not have to capitalize the first word after the dialogue tag.

Example: "That's not fair," Annabelle yelled, "since it was Timothy's fault!"

When we write titles, the majority of the words will be capitalized. However, we do not usually capitalize words like "the, of, and" unless they appear at the beginning of a title.

Examples:

The Magician's Nephew

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Click here for a more in-depth explanation of capital letters. Check out the video below as well!

Check out these capitalization worksheets for extra practice.