capitalization rules write source textbook pgs. 676-685
TRANSCRIPT
Capitalization Rules
Write Source TextbookPgs. 676-685
Proper Nouns & Adjectives
O Capitalize all proper nouns and proper adjectives.
O A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, thing, or idea. A proper adjective is an adjective formed from a proper noun.
O See examples on p.676 (676.1)
Names of PeopleO Capitalize the names of people
and also the initials or abbreviations that stand for those names.
O See examples on p.676 (676.2)
Titles Used with NamesO Capitalize titles used with names
of persons; also capitalize abbreviations standing for those titles.
O See examples on p.676 (676.3)
Words Used as NamesO Capitalize words such as mother,
father, aunt, and uncle when these words are used as names.
O Ex. Uncle Wade plays golf. Aunt Cathy is funny.
O Words such as aunt, uncle, mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa are usually not capitalized if they come after a possessive pronoun (my, his, our).
O See examples on p.676 (676.4)
School SubjectsO Capitalize the name of a specific
educational course, but not the name of a general subject. (Exception—the names of all languages are proper nouns and are always capitalized: Spanish, English, Latin, German)
O See examples on p. 678 (678.1)
Official NamesO Capitalize the names of
businesses and the official names of their products. (These are called trade names.) Do not, however, capitalize a general word like “toothpaste” when it follows the trade name.
O See examples on p.678 (678.2)
Races, Languages, Nationalities, Religions
O Capitalize the names of languages, races, nationalities, and religions, as well as the proper adjectives formed from them.
O See examples on p.678 (678.3)
Days, Months, Holidays
O Capitalize the names of days of the week, months of the year, and special holidays.
O See examples on p.678 (678.4)O Do not capitalize the names of
seasons. (winter, spring, summer, fall/autumn)
Historical Events
O Capitalize the names of historical events, documents, and periods of time.
O See examples on p.678 (678.5)
Geographic NamesO Capitalize the following
geographic names: O Planets & heavenly bodies (Lowercase
the word “earth” except when used as the proper name of our planet.)
O Continents, countries, states, provinces, counties, cities, bodies of water, landforms, public areas, roads and highways, buildings, monuments
O See examples on p.680 (680.1)
Particular Sections of the Country
O Capitalize words that indicate particular sections of the country. Also capitalize proper adjectives formed from the names of specific sections of a country.
O See examples on p.680 (680.2)O Words that simply indicate a
direction are not capitalized, nor are the adjectives that are formed from them.
First WordsO Capitalize the first word of every
sentence and the first word in a direct quotation.
O See examples on p.682 (682.1)O Do not capitalize the first word in an
indirect quotation.
TitlesO Capitalize the first word of a
title, the last word, and every word in between except articles (a, an, the), short prepositions, & coordinating conjunctions.
O Follow this rule for titles of books, newspapers, magazines, poems, plays, songs, articles, movies, works of art, pictures, stories, and essays.
O See examples on p.682 (682.2)
Abbreviations
OCapitalize abbreviations of titles and organizations.
O See examples on p.684 (684.1)
Organizations
O Capitalize the name of an organization, an association, or a team.
O See examples on p.684 (684.2)
Letters
O Capitalize the letters used to indicate form or shape.
O Ex. T-shirt, U-turn, A-frame, T-ballO See examples on p.684 (684.3)