A capital idea.

. . . a guide

to the proper care and feeding

of capital letters

Capitalize the first word of every sentence — unless that sentence is in parentheses incorporated within another sentence.

Glacial till or debris ( s ome geologists call this material “garbage”) is often deposited in formations called morains .

Capitalize the personal pronoun I .

Capitalize the names of family relations when they are used as substitutes for names:

I went to visit my U ncle Ted and A unt Margaret.

G randma and G randpa live with D ad and M om now.

I went with my m om and d ad to visit my a unt and u ncle.

Notice the role of the modifying pronoun here.

In titles , capitalize the first , last , and all important words . Usually, we don’t capitalize articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions.

I n the L ake of the W oods

W ar and P eace

I K now T his M uch I s T rue

Capitalize names of specific persons, places, and geographical locations.

My brother C harlie, who used to live in the M iddle E ast and write books about the O ld W est, now lives in H artford, C onnecticut.

Don’t capitalize directions.

They moved up n orth, to the s outhern shore of Lake Erie.

Capitalize names of days of the week, months, and holidays.

V alentines D ay, which is always on F ebruary 14, falls on T uesday this year.

Don’t capitalize the names of seasons.

Next f all, before the w inter storms begin, we’re heading south.

Capitalize the names of historical events.

The B attle of the B ulge was an important event in W orld W ar II .

The R eformation took place in the s ixteenth c entury.

Capitalize the names of religions and religious terms.

G od, C hrist, A llah, B uddha, C hristianity, C hristians, J udaism, J ews, I slam, M uslims

Capitalize the names of nations, nationalities, languages, and words based on such words.

S omalia, S wedish, E nglish muffin, I rish stew, J apanese maple, J ew’s harp, F rench horn

We usually don’t capitalize “white” and “black.”

There are very few b lacks in this predominantly w hite community.

Capitalize the names of academic courses when they’re used as titles .

He took C arpentry 101, but he did much better in his e conomics and English l iterature courses.

B rand names . . . .

F ord, K leenex, L evi’s (not j eans), x erox on a X erox copier, A dvil (but a spirin)

Capitalize titles when they precede names.

D ean Arrington introduced P resident Carter to S ecretary Bogglesworth.

. . . usually not after a name . . . .

Joe Chuckles, who was c hairman of the b oard of d irectors in 1995, has since retired.

You can capitalize the names of political entities in in-house publications to avoid confusion.

The C ounty and C ity have agreed to reimburse the f ederal g overnment for sewer expenses.

You would not capitalize those names in a newspaper report, say.

At the last c ouncil meeting, the c ounty agreed to reimburse the f ederal g overnment.

Consult a good dictionary!

. . . like the online Merriam-Webster’s:

This PowerPoint presentation was created by

Charles Darling, PhD

Professor of English and Webmaster

Capital Community College

Hartford, Connecticut

copyright November 1999

Modified by Turgut Ozal High School