The Rules of Capitalization
When to Capitalize Words and Terms in Writing
To capitalize or not to capitalize, that is the question. Of course, when they begin school, most students are taught to capitalize proper nouns but not common nouns. The problem, however, is that many of the same students continue on in their education and eventually graduate without being able to recognize the difference between proper nouns and common nouns; plus, they fail to learn there are some additional rules that apply if one is going to avoid capitalizing words unnecessarily.
Definition of Common and Proper Nouns
A noun is label for a person, place, or thing. Whereas proper nouns refer to specific people, places, or things, common nouns refer to nonspecific people, places, or things.
Proper Nouns: Uncle Fred, Tom Jones, Governor Harris, New York City, Great Smoky Mountains, Washington Monument, Calloway Gardens, etc.
Common Nouns: uncle, man, governor, city, mountains, monument, gardens, etc.
Rules of Capitalization
Capitalize the following items:
- The first word of every sentence, even when that sentence is in parentheses: My personal motto is simple: Live and let live. (Actually applying it, however, is difficult when I’m around certain people.)
- The first person pronoun “I.”
- Names of particular people, places, and things, including nicknames and trademarks: Tom Jones, Uncle Sam, Aunt Susan: Cedar Grove Road, Campbell High School, Empire State Building, Paris; Big Ben, Old Vic, Big Brother; Kleenex, Laundromat, Xerox, etc.
- People of all cultures and their languages; Ohioan, Floridian, Southerner, Italian, Latin, Eskimo, Spanish, English, French, Russian, Yiddish, etc.
- Days of the week, months, and holidays: Friday, December, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Presidents’ Day, etc.
- Historical documents, periods, and events; the Bill of Rights, Constitution, Ten Commandments, Vietnam War, Renaissance, Romantic Era, Eocene Period, etc.
- Names of specific geographic areas: Deep South, Arctic Circle, Old West, Pacific Northwest, Yellowstone National Park, etc. (Note: words like north and south are not capitalized when referring to direction but are capitalized when referring to specific areas of the country: the North, the South, etc.)
- Religions and their followers, holy books, and holy days, as well as words referring to specific supreme beings; Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew, Catholic, Muslim, Jew, Baptist, Methodist, Mormon; Holy Bible, Quran, Torah, Book of Revelations; Yom Kipper, Easter, Ramadan; Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, God, etc. (Note: Also capitalize pronouns that refer to specific supreme beings.)
- Personifications: In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S. Eliot writes, “I have seen the Eternal Footman hold my coat and snicker;” “Old Man Winter came roaring into the valley.”
- Companies, organizations, institutions, government agencies: Microsoft, General Electric, Federal Express; Atlanta Falcons, American Red Cross, Phi Beta Kappa; Harvard University, Institute of Noetic Sciences; Congress, United Postal Service, Department of Homeland Security, etc.
- Derivatives if they originate from proper nouns: Americanization, Machiavellian, Shakespearean, Kafkaesque, Orwellian, etc.
- Shortened forms of capitalized words and acronyms: D.C., LA, IRS, CNN, NATO, OPEC, NASA, etc.
- Titles if they precede the name but not if they follow it; Governor Bobby Jindal; Bobby Jindal is a governor; Aunt Grace; Grace Holt is my favorite aunt; Colonel Tom Jones; Tom is a colonel; etc.
- All words in the title of a story, poem, article, play, film, song, symphony, work of art, etc, excluding conjunctions, prepositions, articles and the “to” in infinitives unless they are the first word in the title: “To Build a Fire;” “Those Winter Mornings;” “How to Become Rich in Ten Easy Steps;” “Rock Around the Clock;” For Whom the Bell Tolls; Death of a Salesman; No Country for Old Men; Moonlight Sonata; The Hands of God, etc. (Note: Titles of shorter works are in quotations; titles of longer works, including musical compositions and works of art, are italicized).
- Titles of specific courses of study but not individual subjects: I am taking history this semester; Last semester I had Dr. Yancy for History 102; I do not enjoy literature; I hated my American Literature 125 class!
Exceptions to the Rules of Capitalization
Once he or she learns the rules, however, a writer must keep in mind that when of even if a word is capitalized sometimes depends upon its meaning and usage in given instances. For example, this sentence, “When he jumped from the plane without a parachute, Tom plunged to earth;” compared to this sentence, “Tom dreamed of being an astronaut and looking down on Earth from space.” In the first sentence, “earth” refers to the ground (a common noun), but in the second sentence “Earth” refers to a particular planet (a proper noun).
By learning the rules of capitalization, or at least bothering to look them up when in doubt, writers can increase their authority in the eyes of readers and strengthen the power of their words.
Readers who found this article helpful might also benefit from the following articles:
Rules of Capitalization
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When to Capitalize Words and Terms
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Capitalizing Words
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Using Capital Words
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