The English language has some strange rules about when to use capital letters. Here are some important guidelines:
- Capitalize the pronoun I.
Example: Jennifer and I went to the movies yesterday. - Capitalize the first letter of the first word of each sentence.
Example: Learning to capitalize correctly will improve your writing. - 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. - Capitalize the first letter of adjectives that are made from the names of people and places.
Example: I like Mexican food. - Capitalize initials
Example: My brother’s favorite author is H.G. Wells. - 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. - 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. - 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? - Capitalize words used as names or parts of names.
Example: Did Uncle George call my mom to tell her our grandmother is with Dad? - 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.” - Capitalize historical events and documents.
Example: The Emancipation Proclamation was issued during the Civil War. - Capitalize the name of languages, races, nationalities, and religions.
Example: I learned in Spanish class that several Hispanics are Catholic. - 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. - 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.