Capitalization
Lesson 1 : Name of People
A. Always capitalize the pronoun 'I'.

EXAMPLE
I always make sure I capitalize the pronoun I correctly.

B. Always capitalize the names of people and animals.

EXAMPLE
Joe, Mary, Clifford, Garfield, Spot, Scruffy

C. Capitalize all parts of a name. Some surnames (last names) have unusual capitalization because of their original meaning. Names with more than one part can vary as families change spelling to make it simpler.

EXAMPLE
Sean O'Malley (son/grandson of Malley)
Erin MacDonald (son/grandson of Donald)(Some families do spell it Macdonald.)
Daniel ben Joseph (son of Joseph)
Pierre du Lac (of a town named Lac)
Bernard Vincent Schmall Jr. (all parts of the name capitalized)

D. Terms of endearment used as names are also capitalized.

EXAMPLE
Good morning, Sweetheart.

E. Always capitalize initials of names.

EXAMPLE
Peter M. Carlson, Sallie P. Emerson.

F. Capitalize courtesy titles and abbreviations of titles when they are used with names or in place of names. Capitalize them when used in a direct address. Do not capitalize them if they do not replace the name. If they are preceded by the or a/an, they are not capitalized.

EXAMPLE
Mister Thompson, Mr. Thompson
Missus Gutierrez, Mrs. Gutierrez
Miss Hennessey (no abbreviation)
Dr. Colombo, Fr. Page, the rev. Dennison (Notice the the before Reverend - it's left over from an archaic way of speaking about a minister.)
Good morning, Doctor. How are you today? (Doctor is replacing his/her name.)
The doctor came to check on me after I had been sick. (Doctor isn't capitalized because it's being used as a common noun, not a title.)

Hint:
Try replacing the title with a name. If it works, capitalize it. If it doesn't make sense, don't capitalize it. Examples: Good morning, Doctor George. How are you today? The doctor Gina came to check on me after I had been sick.

G. Capitalize abbreviations after a person's name. Some college degrees seem to have unusual capitalization. You are capitalizing the first letter of each word. While you're at it, notice the periods. You'll see them again in another unit.

EXAMPLE
Sr., Jr., III
A.A. (Associate of Arts)
B.S. (Bachelor of Science)
M.D. (Medical Doctor)
Ph.D. (Philosophical Doctor)
D.D.S. (Doctor of Dental Science)

Titles
A. Capitalize family relationship titles when they are used with names or in place of names. Do not capitalize them if they do not replace the name.

EXAMPLE
Aunt Denise, Uncle Jerry, Grandfather Joe.
Mom told you to ask Dad since she was busy.
My mother told you to ask my father since she was busy.

Hint:
If you can put the person's name in place of the title, you should capitalize it. If you can't replace the title with the name, don't capitalize it.

EXAMPLE
Mom told you to ask Dad since she was busy. Mom Nora told you to ask Dad Leo since she was busy.  (That works, so they should be capitalized.)
My mother told you to ask my father since she was busy. My mother Nora told you to ask my father Leo since she was busy.  (That doesn't work, so they shouldn't be capitalized.)

Hint:
If the title is preceded by a possessive pronoun (my, your, his, her, its, our, their) or a possessive noun (Josh's, Susie's) it should not be capitalized.

B. Capitalize titles of heads of state, royalty, and nobility when they are used with names, in place of names, or as appositives. Members of the nobility are often called by their titles. Therefore, the title becomes an alternate name and is capitalized. Titles of nobility are also capitalized when they are the names of titles of state or nobility.

EXAMPLE
Queen Elizabeth, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Duke Gunnar, President George Washington. Good morning, Prime Minister. the Duke of York, President of the United States.

C. Do not capitalize them if they do not replace the name.

EXAMPLE
The queen lives in a castle near the duke.
The president of the club is my sister.

Hint:
According to some style manuals, the titles President or Prime Minister are capitalized to show special respect if they refer to the current holder of that office. This is a style choice, not a grammar rule. It varies from one style manual to another.

EXAMPLE
This week we watched the President meet with the Prime Minister of England.
In 1778 George Washington was president. (Not the current president)
The prince bowed to the queen. (Not the current prince or current queen)

Names of Places
A. Capitalize the names of places. Make sure to capitalize all the parts of the name except for the articles (a, an, the), and short (2-4 letter) prepositions (of, to, in, with ...).

EXAMPLE
Orlando, Orange County, Florida, Atlantic Ocean, Lake Ontario, Des Plaines River, Gulf of Mexico, Kale Avenue, 32nd Street, Highway A1A

Hint:
If you spell out a hyphenated street number, don't capitalize the second part. Example: Seventy-third Street

Hint:
We often put the in front of a place name. It is not part of the name and not capitalized.

EXAMPLE
the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains

B. Capitalize the names of the compass points (north, south, west, east) only if they are part of a name. If they point a direction, do not capitalize them.

EXAMPLE
Turn west on Main Street, and you will get to U.S. 1, which will take you all the way through the South to Key West.
Oddly, we had to fly north to catch our next flight on our way to tour the Southwest.

Hint:
You don't capitalize front, left, right, back, so don't capitalize the compass points when you could substitute those words.

EXAMPLE
When you get to the end of the street turn west left, and park in the northfront parking lot.

Names of Groups of People
A. Because you capitalize the names of places, you capitalize the words that come from them. Capitalize the names of nationalities or ethnic groups, languages, and their adjectives.

EXAMPLE
German, Caucasian, Asian, Japanese

B. Capitalize the names of religions, religious followers, holidays, and religious writings.

EXAMPLE
Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism
Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus
Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Holi
Bible, Torah, Koran, Vedas

C. The names of gods and goddesses are capitalized.

The Judeo-Christian god is named God, since they believe He is the only one. Believers also capitalize pronouns (like he and him) when referring to God. "God" is only capitalized when being used as a name. The Muslim name Allah is a translation of the name God. When referring to Greek, Roman, and other groups of gods and goddesses, only the name is capitalized.

EXAMPLE
God, Allah
Greek god Zeus, Egyptian goddess Isis

When people form a group and give it a name, it should be capitalized. Capitalize names of organizations, institutions, stores, businesses, teams, political parties, and government bodies.

Hint:
Do not capitalize words like hospital, high school, church, etc. unless they are part of the name.

EXAMPLE
I will be in high school next year. Last year I attended Wilson Middle School.
Central Intelligence Agency
Department of Agriculture

D. Capitalize the abbreviations of organization names as well.

EXAMPLE
YMCA, CBS, FBI, NBA

Names of Things
A. When people build things and give them names, capitalize the names. Capitalize the names of buildings, monuments, bridges, and other landmarks.

EXAMPLE
Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Canyon

B. For the same reason, capitalize the names of cars, trains, airplanes, ships, and spacecraft.

EXAMPLE
Model T, Orient Express, Concorde, USS Enterprise, Atlantis

C. When people start a company and give it a name, they then put the name on their products. Capitalize the brand names of products, but not the word that tells what the product is unless it is part of the product's name.

EXAMPLE
Kleenex tissue, Nike sneakers, Ford cars (Ford Mustang), Sony television

Names in School
A. Only capitalize the names of school subjects if they are languages or specific names of classes.

EXAMPLE
English, language arts, math, Algebra 1, science, Biology 101, history, U.S. History to the Civil War

Hint:
There are many math classes. Many specific names of classes have numbers in them. Others are long, complicated names so students and teachers can tell the difference between classes on a schedule.

B. Capitalize the names of classes (groups of students) only when they are part of the name of something else.

EXAMPLE
Ana is going to be a junior next year.
The junior class sponsors the Senior Prom each year.

C. Capitalize the names of historical events, periods, and documents. Primeval and medieval are adjectives but are not capitalized.  20th century and other centuries are not capitalized).

EXAMPLE
War of the Roses, Civil War, Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, Dark Ages, Middle Ages, Renaissance

D. Capitalize the names of special events, awards, and degrees.

EXAMPLE
Spring Soiree, Academy Award, Language Arts Award, Bachelor of Science (not bachelor's degree, which could be any degree at that level)

E. Capitalize the names of planets and universal bodies.

EXAMPLE
Venus, Polaris, Halley's Comet, Milky Way

Note: If you think about the history of astronomy, as people noticed planets, stars, and later moons and other objects in the universe, they gave them names. Strangely, no one ever named our sun, our moon, or our planet! Therefore, we don't capitalize sun and moon when we refer to ours. That would be like capitalizing student when referring to you. We only capitalize earth when we are using it as the name of the planet, usually in context with other planet names. (We usually put the in front of earth when it is not capitalized.)

EXAMPLE
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
The moon affects the tides as it waxes and wanes.
Dinosaurs no longer roam the earth.
Mars takes longer to circle the sun than Earth does.

Names on the Calendar
A. Capitalize the days of the week and the months of the year because they were (mostly) named after people. We don't capitalize seasons because they don't come from names unless they are part of the name of an event.

Our days of the week come from the Anglo-Saxons, who spoke a Germanic language. They borrowed them from the Romans, who named them after planets and celestial bodies - sun, moon, Mars, Venus, Saturn. You may recognize these roots if you know the days of the week in Spanish or Italian.

EXAMPLE
Monday	Moon's day
Tuesday	Tew's day - a Norse god of war
Wednesday	Woden's day - a Norse god who guides souls
Thursday	Thor's day - another Norse god, the chief god
Friday	Frige's day - another Norse goddess - Are you seeing a pattern yet?
Saturday	Saturn's day - a Roman god - What's he doing here?
Sunday	Sun's day

EXAMPLE
January	Janus - Roman god of gates and doorways
February	month of februa - purification
March	Mars - Roman god of war
April	Aphrodite - Greek goddess of love
May	Maia - Roman goddess of spring
June	Juno - Roman goddess of marriage and women
July	named after Julius Caesar, the emperor who began a revision of the Roman calendar
August	named after Augustus Caesar, who finished the calendar revision
September	seventh month
October	eighth month
November	ninth month
December	tenth month - Obviously things have changed since they were named

B. Seasons are only capitalized if they are part of the name of something.

EXAMPLE
Fall Festival, Winter Ball

C. Always capitalize the names of holidays.

EXAMPLE
Memorial Day, Flag Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Yom Kippur

D. Always capitalize the abbreviations b.c., a.d., c.e., and b.c.e. Usually these abbreviations are capitalized but at the height of lowercase letters. Some computers will do this automatically. You can do it manually by changing the font size. It is okay to leave it the capital height; it just may look strange to you.

E. Do not capitalize a.m. and p.m. In the past, publishers used a.m. and p.m. or am and pm. Now, most use a.m. and p.m.

EXAMPLE
We will leave tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.
The Roman Empire began in around 27 b.c.e. and lasted until a.d. 476. (Note that a.d. [Anno Domini] precedes the date.)

Firsts
A. You already know that you should capitalize the first words of sentences.

EXAMPLE
You learned this rule in first grade.

B. If a question is followed by a question fragment that is closely related to the first, capitalize the fragment as well.

EXAMPLE
She won a million dollars? Really?

C. When capitalizing on dialogue, the basic rule is fairly simple. Capitalize the sentences as they would have been capitalized when spoken. The speaker's sentence began with a capital letter, so no matter where the quotation falls in a sentence, capitalize the first word of the speaker's sentence, and only the first word. The narrator's sentence also always begins with capital.

EXAMPLE
That boy is my friend and not my cousin.
The girl said, "That boy is my friend and not my cousin."
"That boy is my friend and not my cousin," said the girl.
"That boy is my friend," said the girl, "and not my cousin."

D. If the speaker said more than one sentence, each sentence is capitalized.

EXAMPLE
"James is my friend and not my cousin," said Marcos. "My cousin is Justin."

Hint:
Imagine crossing out the narrative part and check the capitalization. Example: "James is my friend," said Marcos, "and not my cousin."

E. Capitalize all the important words in a title. Aren't they all important? Not really. Unless they are the first or last word in the title, you can skip the articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet) and short (2-4 letter) prepositions (of, to, in, with). You must capitalize all other short words, including verbs.

EXAMPLE
All Quiet on the Western Front
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Bridge over the River Kwai
Who Was That Masked Man?
When We Were Young.

F. The word the may precede a title. The best way to tell if it is part of the title and should be capitalized is if it is in italics or in quotation marks.

EXAMPLE
The New York Times
"The Way Home."

Conventions
A. Capitalize the first words of greetings and closings of letters. Sometimes family relationship titles are used in place of names. Remember to capitalize them. If the greeting or closing is more than one word, only capitalize the first.

EXAMPLE
Dear Sally, ... Love, Jeff
Dear Sis, ... Your sister, Lisa
My dear Gertrude, ... Love always, Josephine

B. People often use family titles as names in greetings and closings of letters. The titles are capitalized. Sometimes the family titles are not part of the name and aren't capitalized. Watch carefully.

EXAMPLE
Dear Aunt Susan, ... Your niece, Jessie.  (Susan's name is Aunt Susan, but Jessie doesn't call herself Niece Jessie.)
Dear Mom, ...
My dear mother, ...

C. Capitalize the first word of each line of traditional poetry. How can you tell if poetry is traditional? The first word of each line is capitalized. Basically, do whatever the poet did.

EXAMPLE
Roses are red, Violets are blue, Sugar is sweet, And so are you.

D. Capitalize the word O. It is generally used in formal addresses, prayers, or poetry. It is not the same as the interjection oh. Frequently, but not always, the word after the O is capitalized because it is a direct address used as a name.

EXAMPLE
You are the woman of my dreams, O Juliet.
Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero ... (The Odyssey)
You, O most beautiful lady, are my inspiration ...

E. Capitalize the first word in each line of an outline.