When do i capitalize words

If you're still unclear on the do's and don'ts of capitalization rules, getting a professional proofread can give you the confidence boost you need. Scribendi's in-house editors work with writers from all over the globe to perfect their writing. They know that no piece of writing is complete without a professional edit, and they love to see a good piece of writing transformed into a great one.

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I need to have my essay, project, assignment, or term paper edited and proofread. I want to sound professional and to get hired. I have a resume, letter, email, or personal document that I need to have edited and proofread. Toggle navigation. Infographics Videos Podcasts Articles. The Rules of Capitalization. Written by Scribendi When to Use Capitals. Polish your writing with professional proofreading. Get Started. About the Author Scribendi's in-house editors work with writers from all over the globe to perfect their writing.

Have you Read? Related Posts. Nouns can be defined more precisely by the other words that go with them. In particular, nouns often have the definite article "the" in front of them. ESL Writing Tips You are a professional and are very proficient at academic writing in your first language, but when it comes to translating your work into written English, suddenly you don't know your "ifs" from your "ofs.

However, here are some helpful tips to improve your ESL writing. There are specific direction capitalization rules about when you should capitalize east , west , north , and south , but if you're describing the direction, you won't capitalize it. Whether you're majoring in political science or mechanical engineering, you don't need to capitalize the first letter of your academic focus.

The same goes for a subject that you're studying, such as math or language arts. The only exception for capitalizing subjects is if the subject is the name of a class, such as British Literature or Algebra II. Your birthday, anniversary and other special occasions are momentous days, but that doesn't mean they should be capitalized. If you're wishing someone a "Happy birthday," you don't need to capitalize "birthday.

No matter what you write, there will be moments when you'll have to decide whether or not to capitalize a word. It only takes a little bit of practice and, the more you read and write, the more these rules will stick. Once you feel like a capitalization pro, check out these special cases for capitalization.

Ever heard of capitonyms? They're the snowflakes of the English language that change meaning when you capitalize them. Have fun out there! All rights reserved. The First Letter in a Sentence It's important to always capitalize the first letter of a sentence. Proper Nouns and Adjectives Specific people, places or things will generally be capitalized. Examples of proper adjectives include: Adjectives based on place names Irish, Californian, Canadian Adjectives derived from names Shakespearean, Orwellian, Darwinian Adjectives from religions Islamic, Buddhist, Christian You can form proper adjectives from nearly every proper noun.

The Pronoun I It's only necessary to capitalize other pronouns when they begin a sentence. I don't know about you, but I would wait for it to go on sale. Sandra and I are going to the movies later tonight.

Book and Movie Titles Books, movies, poems, and other creative works often require capitalization for their titles. It depends on the style guide you're using, but generally, you capitalize the following words in a title: the first word adjectives nouns verbs the last word Meanwhile, you generally don't want to capitalize: articles a, an, the conjunctions for, and, but, so prepositions with three or fewer letters in, on, at.

Examples of Book and Movie Title Capitalization The first letter of a work of art is always capitalized, even if it's an article, preposition or conjunction. The First Word in Quotations If the sentence is a quotation within a larger sentence, capitalize it, but only if it's a complete sentence. Here are some examples: Capitalized: The waiter said, " My manager will be here shortly," but he never came.

Not Capitalized: The waiter told us that his manager would "be here shortly," but he never came. Capitalized: Ernest Hemingway famously said, " The way to learn whether a person is trustworthy is to trust him. Titles of People Not only do you capitalize the first letter of a person's first, middle and last names John Quincy Adams , but you also capitalize suffixes like Jr. Not Capitalized: Sam Jones is the most productive marketing director in the department. Capitalized: Aunt Olive always makes the best pies.

Not Capitalized: My aunt always makes the best pies. Many books have subtitles. When including these, put a colon after the work's title and follow the same rules of composition capitalization for the subtitle. All sides would agree that the main title should be written, The Stuff of Thought. But depending on which capitalization policy you choose, the subtitle might be any of the following:. Any title of more than two words can be a challenge. How would you capitalize a title such as not yet rich?

Since the first and last word in any title are always capitalized, the only question is whether to cap yet. In this case, yet is an adverb, and adverbs are always capped. So make it Not Yet Rich. Now suppose the title is rich yet miserable. This time yet is one of the seven coordinating conjunctions the others are and , or , nor , but , for , and so.

Since coordinating conjunctions are not capitalized in titles, the right answer is Rich yet Miserable. In the first title, up is a preposition, and short prepositions are not capitalized.

In the second title, Up is an adverb and should be capped. In the first example, the preposition off is lowercase. But the word must be capped in the second example because put off , meaning "to postpone," is a two-word phrasal verb a verb of two or more words.

One-word verbs, helping verbs , and phrasal verbs are always capitalized. Off is also capped in the third sentence because the word functions as an adjective in that title, and adjectives are always capitalized. Although the seven coordinating conjunctions are not capitalized, you may have noticed there are many more than seven conjunctions in English.

Most of these are called subordinating conjunctions , because they join a subordinate clause to a main clause. Familiar examples include as , although , before , since , until , when. There are three approaches to capping subordinating conjunctions: capitalize them all, lowercase them all, or capitalize them if they are words of four letters or more.

Take your pick. Enable JavaScript Uh oh! Hide Notice. Capitalization Rules Capitalization is the writing of a word with its first letter in uppercase and the remaining letters in lowercase. Examples: the Golden Gate Bridge the Grand Canyon a Russian song a Shakespearean sonnet a Freudian slip With the passage of time, some words originally derived from proper nouns have taken on a life, and authority, of their own and no longer require capitalization.

Examples: herculean from the mythological hero Hercules quixotic from the hero of the classic novel Don Quixote draconian from ancient-Athenian lawgiver Draco The main function of capitals is to focus attention on particular elements within any group of people, places, or things. Constitution but constitutional , the Electoral College, Department of Agriculture. Note: Many authorities do not capitalize federal or state unless it is part of the official title: State Water Resources Control Board , but state water board ; Federal Communications Commission , but federal regulations.

Do not capitalize heaven, hell, the devil, satanic. Special occasions the Olympic Games, the Cannes Film Festival Streets and roads Lowercase Reference List Here is a list of categories not capitalized unless an item contains a proper noun or proper adjective or, sometimes, a trademark. Animals antelope, black bear, Bengal tiger, yellow-bellied sapsucker, German shepherd Elements Always lowercase, even when the name is derived from a proper noun: einsteinium, nobelium, californium Foods Lowercase except for brand names, proper nouns and adjectives, or custom-named recipes: Tabasco sauce, Russian dressing, pepper crusted bluefin tuna, Mandy's Bluefin Surprise Heavenly bodies besides planets Never capitalize the moon or the sun.

Medical conditions Epstein-Barr syndrome, tuberculosis, Parkinson's disease Minerals Plants, vegetables, and fruits poinsettia, Douglas fir, Jerusalem artichoke, organic celery, Golden Delicious apples Seasons and seasonal data spring, summertime, the winter solstice, the autumnal equinox, daylight saving time.

Example: EBay opened strong in trading today. NOTE Out of respect, some writers and publishers choose to capitalize the highest ranks in government, royalty, religion, etc.

However, titles replacing someone's first name are generally capitalized. Example: Here comes Professor Ames. Rule 6c. Capitalize nicknames in all cases. Example: We visited The Hague. Capitalize art movements.

The following rules for capitalizing composition titles are virtually universal. Capitalize the title's first and last word. Capitalize all adjectives, adverbs, and nouns. Capitalize all pronouns including it. Capitalize all verbs, including all forms of the state of being verbs am , is , are , was , will be , etc. Capitalize no , not , and the interjection O e. Do not capitalize an article a , an , the unless it is first or last in the title.

Do not capitalize a coordinating conjunction and , or , no r, but , for , yet , so unless it is first or last in the title. Do not capitalize the word to , with or without an infinitive, unless it is first or last in the title.

Capitalizing composition titles is fraught with gray areas. Pick a policy and be consistent. Are you ready for the quiz? Capitalization Quiz Capitalization Quiz 2. Quotation Marks? Capitalization Rules Video. Capitalization Articles.