Understanding Capitalization Rules

When writing in English, writers must follow certain rules. One important set of rules is the capitalization rules. Capitalizing a letter means to write it as an uppercase (capital) letter. Capitalizing a word means to write the first letter of that word as a capital (uppercase) letter while keeping the rest of the letters in lowercase. For example, to capitalize the word palace, one would write is as Palace.

Why Is Capitalization Important?

Writers and students often wonder about this question: Why is capitalization important?

Capitalization is important for several reasons. First, capitalization rules are part of the grammar and writing rules that writers must adhere to when writing in English. A piece of writing that is written following the proper rules is easier to read and understand. Second, writers capitalize certain words to show their importance or to signal a change in the words’ meanings. Lastly, proper capitalization helps writing to become more effective and clearer.

Proper Capitalization Examples

The following sections detail proper capitalization, while answering this question: What does a writer capitalize?

Proper capitalization rules regarding proper nouns, titles, sentences, pronouns, acronyms, emphasis, and dialogues will be explained.

Proper Nouns

Are all proper nouns capitalized? The answer is yes. While common nouns are nouns that refer to generic persons, places, and things, proper nouns refer to specific persons, places, or things. For example, (a) man is a common noun, but James is a proper noun.

All proper nouns are to be capitalized, meaning the first letter of the proper noun must be written as a capital letter. If the proper noun consists of more than one word, then all the words of the proper noun must be capitalized. For example, Zora Neale Hurston is a proper noun made up of three words; therefore, Z, N, and H are all written as capital letters.

Below is a list showing examples of how to capitalize proper nouns.

Titles

All the titles of books, magazines, movies, plays, songs, essays, and articles must be capitalized. However, there are certain rules to be followed in this regard.

1.The first word of the title must be capitalized.

2.All the major words must be capitalized.

• Major words are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and all words that are four or more letters (including prepositions and conjunctions).

3.All the minor words must be written in lowercase.

• Minor words are conjunctions, prepositions, and articles.

An example of a book title with correct capitalization.

First Word in a Sentence

The first word of a sentence must always be capitalized regardless of the word’s length or part of speech. A period at the end of a sentence marks the end of one thought, and the capital letter in the beginning of a new sentence marks the beginning of a new thought. This is why it is important to start a new sentence with a capital letter.

The Pronoun “I”

The pronoun I is the only pronoun that must be capitalized under any and all circumstances.

Emphasis

Writers can choose to capitalize one, or a few, words in their writings for emphasis. For example, one might write “Please remember to buy Skim or SKIM milk” to emphasize that the milk must be skim. However, these days, with the ubiquity of texts and emails, writing a whole sentence, or even more than a few words, all in capital letters, might convey the feeling of shouting and rudeness. Although it is possible to show emphasis with a capitalized word, other options such as bolding or highlighting the word, if possible, are more encouraged.

Dialogue

Dialogues in books or plays must also be written according to capitalization rules. The following is an example of a dialogue:

“Please remember to get us some milk,” said Molly.

“Ok. I will not forget,” replied Sally as she was closing the door.

Molly ran to the door and shouted, “Make sure it is skim.”

“I know,” Sally rolled her eyes and said, “skim”.

As shown in the above example, a complete sentence always starts with a capital letter. In dialogues this is regardless of where the sentence is located, in the beginning, middle, or end of the dialogue. For instance, the sentence “Please remember to get us some milk.” is in the beginning of the sentence starting with capital P. However, the sentence “Make sure it is skim.” is at the end of the sentence, but it starts with capital M to mark the beginning of a new piece of dialogue, which is also a complete sentence. If the words in the quotation do not constitute a complete sentence, then no capitalization is necessary. The last line of the above dialogue ends with the word skim in quotations; it is not a sentence, so no capitalization is necessary.

Acronyms

Acronyms are words that are formed from the initials of each major word of a phrase. Every single letter in an acronym must be capitalized.

Tips for Using Capitalization

The table below shows examples of common mistakes that writers make with capitalization. Explanations and tips on how to avoid these mistakes are also provided.

An example of capitalized proper nouns: Arizona State University

Lesson Summary

Capitalization rules play an important part in making writing effective and clear. It is important to capitalize certain words, so readers can recognize how important the words are and can recognize a possible change in meaning.

Proper nouns, the pronoun I, acronyms, and major words in a title should be capitalized. Also, every sentence must start with a capital letter to mark the beginning of a new thought.