Capitalization

Like gaudy buildings, capital letters boldly say, “Something important is here.” The English language has accorded this special status to words that begin a sentence, proper adjectives and nouns (the names of specific persons, places, and things), titles and subtitles, the first person pronoun I, abbreviations, and acronyms. How disrespectful to rob a specific person, place, or thing of its rightful capital letter. How confusing to read a paragraph that does not begin its sentences with capital letters, urging you to run on and on, relying on mere periods to slow you down. Even more confusing is to read a paragraph that hedges its bets by using a capital some of the time and leaving it out of the same construction the rest of the time. You’ll never make an instructor happy that way.

Most confusing, however, are the new rules regarding capitalizing in email. The same rules as in print apply in the body of email, but how about when a URL such as bloomfield.edu starts a sentence? Furthermore, what of capitalization in twittering and blogging? The writing consultants at the Bloomfield College Writing Center are carefully perusing style guides and other authoritative sources before making a decision. Meanwhile, they caution, whatever you do, be consistent.

Rules Governing Capitalization

1. Capitalize the first letter in a sentence or direct quote.

2. Capitalize the personal pronoun I and names of people.

3. Capitalize names of places and languages.

4. Capitalize names of specific groups, such as religions, nationalities, companies, and clubs.

5. Capitalize all calendar items, except seasons.

6. Capitalize names of products.

7. Capitalize titles of books, television or stage shows, magazines, movies, articles, poems, stories, and papers.

8. Capitalize family words that stand in for names. For example: Dad is a mechanic. However: My dad is a mechanic.

9. Capitalize specific school courses. For example: Advanced Physics.

*Based on Langan, John and Janet M. Goldstein. English Brushup. 4th ed. Boston:

McGraw Hill, 2007.