5 Capitalization Rules from pd. 6 (Lucky Charms)

  1. The pronoun “I”
  2. First word in a sentence
  3. Proper nouns
  4. Last names
  5. Country names
  6. Specific landmarks
  7. First word after quotation mark
  8. Nouns and first words of titles
  9. Names of holidays
  10. Planets
  11. Historical events
  12. Religions

QUESTIONS

  1. When are numbers capitalized?

Henry the Fifth

Twenty-third Street

The Three Amigos

When they are part of a title or name

  1. When are common nouns capitalized?

See above

  1. When are…

(a)Days of the weekcapitalized? Always

(b)Directionscapitalized?When they are naming a region or when it is part of the country’s/state’s name South Carolina, North Africa

(c)Months capitalized?always

  1. Why is island capitalized when we write “St. John Island” or sea in Caribbean Sea?They are part of the name
  2. Do we capitalize the first word in a line of poetry?

If it is capitalized in the original version

  1. Are streets capitalized?yes

5 Capitalization Rules from pd. 2 (Flintstone)

  1. Always capitalize names of countries, people, landmarks and street names
  2. First word of a title is always capitalized
  3. Always capitalize the letter “I”when it is used as a pronoun
  4. Always capitalize the first word after a quotation mark
  5. Always capitalize Mr. & Mrs.
  6. Always capitalize proper nouns
  7. Always capitalize the first word in a sentence
  8. Do not capitalize objects, adjectives, or ideas
  9. Do not capitalize coordinates (north, east, etc)

QUESTIONS

  1. Are these correct?

“John,” he said, “stop it.”

John said, “Stop it.”

Yes, both are correct.

  1. What if an idea is personified? Does it get capitalized?

No: We embraced victory.

  1. Do we capitalize numbers when they are written as words?Only if they are part of a name (of a street address, title)

I have two sisters.

Henry the Eighth was fat.

I live on Fifty-second Street.

52nd

  1. When are cardinal points capitalized; when are they not?

I live in the northern part of Colorado.

I live in Northern Colorado.

Have you been to the Middle East?

  1. Do other words in the title (besides the first) get capitalized?

In MLA style, all the “important” words are capitalized. For poems, copy it exactly as you see it in the text.

  1. Do dates get capitalized?

Today is December second.

Today is December 2nd.

What are you doing on the Fourth of July?

When was the War of 1812?

5 Capitalization Rules from pd. 4 (Jetsons)

  1. “I” is always capitalized when it’s a pronoun
  2. Capitalize beginning of a sentence
  3. Capitalize proper nouns
  4. Capitalize the first word in quotations if the quote is a complete sentenceie Jane said, “This is ridiculous.” But: Jane called the class “ridiculous.”
  5. Capitalize titles with names ie Uncle Bob
  6. Capitalize directions if they are a part of a name ie West Indies
  7. Capitalize titles of books, TV shows, movies
  8. Addresses, countries, names of parks are capitalized
  9. Religions, organizations, product names, months, days, languages are capitalized
  10. Subjects as names of classes (not math, but Math 101), schools, seas, mountains are capitalized

QUESTIONS

  1. How do we know when to capitalize north, east, west, and south?

The West Indies

I’m going north.

If it is just describing a direction, it’s not capitalized. If the direction is a part of the name (of a country, region, or state) then it is capitalized.

South Carolina

North Africa

South America

  1. Are all street names capitalized?YES.

I live on Shamrock Street.

My sister lives on Woodford Avenue.

Where is First Avenue?

  1. Which words in a title are capitalized?

The first, and any words that are not articles (the, a, an) or prepositions (of, on) or conjunctions (and, but)

  1. When is the word island capitalized and when isn’t it?

When it is referring to a specific island and is part of the name:

Santorini Island

She visited the island of Santorini

  1. Is the word street capitalized?

Yes, if you are giving the street NAME

I live on that street.

I live on Shamrock Street.

  1. Why don’t you capitalize articles in titles?

Because you don’t. MLA said so. And, you need to capitalize articles when they are the first word of the title.

  1. Why is west capitalized but not western?

It’s not. West and western are capitalized if they are part of a name.

I live in West Hollywood.

He lives out west.

  1. Why are numbers in addresses capitalized?

Because.

  1. Why is “I” capitalized?

To avoid misreading and make it distinct.

And maybe because in German, all nouns are capitalized, and the English language likes to borrow rules from other languages even if they don’t make sense anymore 