Michelle-- Hey, I have a quick question that might seem silly.
Kevin-- Shoot!
Michelle-- Sometimes I get confused about capital letters and when to use them. What are some guidelines for this?
Kevin—Great question! First and foremost, always capitalize the first letter of the first word of every sentence!
Even when you introduce a quotation, if the quotation begins its own sentence rather than beginning mid-sentence,
you capitalize: Abraham Lincoln said, “Four score and seven years ago…”
The next rule is another simple one. Always capitalize the pronoun "I." Even it’s part of a contraction, still capitalize it.
Michelle-- What about proper nouns?
Kevin-- Good point to bring up! Proper nouns are the names of specific people, places, or things,
and they are always capitalized too. It doesn't matter if it's real people or fictional people.
Even if you're referring to specific family members instead of generic family relations, you capitalize too.
One helpful tip that helps you know when to capitalize words like Mom or Dad is this--
think about whether or not you are using that word as the person's name or as a description.
If it's a description of who that person is, then you keep it lower case.
Tell your dad to set the table! But, if it's serving as the person's name, then you capitalize. Hey, Dad! Set the table!
Proper nouns can also be specific countries, cities, geographical locations, or structures.
They can even be specific businesses, organizations, or patented products.
Michelle-- Oh, okay!
Kevin—Now also keep in mind that proper adjectives must be capitalized as well.
These are words derived from a proper noun. They can identify religious affiliation, nationality, ethnicity,
schools of thought pioneered by a specific person, and so on.
Michelle-- I see.
Kevin-- Here's the trickiest rule. You always capitalize the specific titles of books, songs, movies, and other literary works.
But you don't capitalize every word in the title. Here's what you want to do.
Always capitalize the first and last word of a title.
Always capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Don't capitalize articles unless they are at the beginning of your title.
Don't capitalize prepositions that are less than three letters long.
Don't capitalize short conjunctions. So, for instance, in the title The Cat in the Hat,
the first “The” is capitalized because it is the first word.
Cat and Hat are nouns so we capitalize them. “In” and the second “the” are lowercase.
Whenever you deal with the titles of specific poems, short stories, plays, books, games and so on,
make sure you capitalize appropriately. So, does that all make sense?
Michelle-- Hmm, for the most part, but I still have a few questions.
Kevin-- Ask away!
Michelle-- Is god capitalized?
Kevin-- As a general term, no. Monotheists believe in one god, while polytheists believe in more than one god.
But if it is used as a proper noun referring to a specific god, then absolutely!
If referring to the Judeo-Christian God, you capitalize, as well other specific religious figures or interpretations of God
across various cultures.
Michelle-- Makes sense. What about north, south, east, and west?
Kevin-- If you’re talking about specific sections of a specific geographic area, then yes.
The American Civil War was between the North and the South.
That’s specifically the American North and South.
But used generically in a set of directions, it’s lowercase. Springfield is south of Chicago.
Michelle-- And the days of the week? Or how about the months in a year? Or holidays? Are they all proper nouns?
Kevin-- Yes, they are. Capitalize all of them.
Michelle-- The seasons are probably capitalized too. Right?
Kevin-- No, actually. The seasons are lowercase most of the time.
Unless you are referring to a specific historical time like The Summer of 2011,
then you got a proper noun on your hands and need to capitalize. Any other questions?
Michelle-- It seems like a lot to remember. I'm sure that I will have more uncertainty.
Kevin-- And that's okay. We all second-guess ourselves from time to time. Just check the dictionary.
If a word is capitalized the way it’s listed in the dictionary, then that's definitely the way to go.