Capitalization Notes----Quiz on Thursday
Capital letters are signals to readers. They can mark important differences in meaning.
The White House A white house
- Capitalize the first word in every sentence
- Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence:
“How many pets does your family have?” asked Gwen.
Felipe said, “We have two dogs, one cat, and two parakeets.”
- In letters or e-mails, capitalize the first word in the salutation:
Greetings, friends, Dear Sir,
In the closing: Very truly yours, Sincerely
- Capitalize the pronoun Ianytime you use it
When I visited Denver, I visited the museum and the zoo.
If you like, I’ll show you the photos from my trip.
- Capitalize proper nouns:
A common noun names any one of a group of persons, places, things or ideas.
A proper noun names a particular person, place, thing, or idea
Common Proper
school RiverwoodMiddle School
store Macy’
teacher Mrs. Guthrie
country Africa
month November
- Names of persons and animals:
Eric The Garza family W.C. Handy Lassie
Judy Blume Mr. Joseph Jinx (your cat or dog)
- Geographical names:
Asia (continent) San Diego (city) Costa Rica (country)
Hudson Bay (body of water)
- Organizations, teams, institutions, and government bodies:
The HoustonTexans The Boy Scouts League of Women Voters
LouisianaStateSenate KennedyMiddle School
- Names of historical events and periods: Battle of Bunker Hill
special events: TexasState Fair
periods: The Ice Age
calendar items: Easter Fourth of July Thursday
- Nationalities, races, and peoples:
Mexican Cherokee Asian African American
- Names of religions and their followers: Christianity, Christians
holy days and celebrations: Yom Kippur, Christmas
sacred writings: the Torah, the Bible
specific deities: Allah, Buddha, Jesus Christ
- Names of businesses and brand names of business products:
Tan’s Dry Cleaners Bank of America Aunt Oatie’s
Men’s Wearhouse Starbucks
- Names of planets, constellations, and stars, and other heavenly bodies:
Venus Big Dipper Milky Way Ursa Major
- Names of ships, trains, aircraft and spacecraft:
Air Force One Sputnik the Mayflower Atlantis
Carnival Celebration Queen Elizabeth 2
- Names on memorials: The Jefferson Memorial
monuments: NavajoNational Monument
awards: The Academy Awards
- Names of specific buildings and other structures:
The Golden Gate Bridge The White House The EiffelTower
Hoover Dam Fairmont Hotel
Capitalize proper adjectives—an adjective formed by a proper noun
Roman army Martian landscape Japanese restaurant
Arthurian legends Chinese checkers Mexican food
- Capitalize abbreviations if the words they stand for are capitalized
Main Street/St. Governor Jackson/Gov. Jackson
abbreviations that come before or after personal names: Mr. James GarySantos, Jr
abbreviations of organizations, businesses, and government bodies:
SWAT NASA UN (United Nations) CIA
abbreviations used in addresses: 9120 Maple Ave. Apt. 206 P.O. Box 3346
abbreviations of geographical names: St. Louis Bahama Is. Cook Co. TX or OK
DO NOT capitalize the names of school subjects: history social studies math art
DO capitalize the names of language classes and courses that contain a number:
English Spanish TexasHistory 201 Music III
- Capitalize a person’s title when the title comes before the name:
Judge O’Connor Mrs. Santos Mayor Bradley
- Capitalize a word showing a family relationship when the word is used before
or in place of a person’s name: I asked Mom if we could help her cook.
We spoke to Aunt Cindy on the phone.
Cousin Ben Grandmother Uncle Bob
DO NOT capitalize a word showing a family relationship when the word follows
a possessive noun or pronoun: your aunt Cindy my cousin Ben Ty’s granny
- Capitalize the first and last words and all important words in titles and subtitles:
Woman’s Day (magazine) The Wizard of Oz
“Broken Chain” (short story) The Ballet Class (artwork)