Capitalization Rules

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CAPITALIZATION RULES

1) Capitalize the pronoun I.

Example: Jennifer and I went to the movies yesterday.

2) Capitalize the first letter of the first word of each sentence.

Example: Learning to capitalize correctly will improve your writing.

3) Capitalize the first letter of names of people, organizations, and
places.

Example: Juan went on a trip to Tokyo, Japan for his company, General Motors Corporation.

4) Capitalize the first letter of adjectives that are made from the
names of people and places.

Example: I like Mexican food.

5) Capitalize initials

Example: My brother's favorite author is H.G. Wells.

6) Capitalize the first letter of directions only when they are used
to designate actual places, not when they point in a direction.

Example: When we visited the Southwest, we actually had to drive north.

7) Capitalize the first letter of the names of months and
the days of the week.

Example: My birthday will be on a Friday next June.

8) Capitalize the official title of a person (including abbreviations),
but only when you use it with the person's name.

Example: Did Clarissa recommend Dr. Montoya to you?

9) Capitalize words used as names or parts of names.

Example: Did Uncle George call my mom to tell her our grandmother is with Dad?

10) Capitalize the first letter of important words in a title of a
book, magazine, story, essay, etc.

Example: I enjoyed Mark's essay, "The Truth About Being a Good Student."

11) Capitalize historical events and documents.

Example: The Emancipation Proclamation was issued during the Civil War.

12) Capitalize the name of languages, races, nationalities, and
religions.

Example: I learned in Spanish class that several Hispanics are Catholic.

13) Capitalize acronyms. (An acronym is a word formed by the
first, or first few, letters of words in a long name of an
organization.)

Example: CARE is the Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere.

14) Capitalize initialisms. (An initialism is similar to acronym, but
a word is not formed from the letters.)

Example: The Central Intelligence Agency is simply known as the CIA.

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This site last updated 5 September 2005.

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