Capitalization Rules

Rule # 1 – The First Word in a Sentence. For example: The monkey skillfully shot the ball from half court leading his team to victory.

Rule # 2 – Proper Nouns Specific People Specific Places Edward Cullen The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben Specific Things (Brand Names)

Rule # 3 – the Proper I I

Rule # 4 - Poetry Always capitalize the first word in poetry. Oh Juliette! Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m good looking and so are you!

Rule # 5 – Salutation and Closing in a letter Dear Santa, Please bring me more pencils, pens, and notebook paper. I would really appreciate a three ring binder with dividers, as well. Your friend, Rodney.

Rule # 6 – Dialogue. The first word that a person says is always capitalized. If the speech is interrupted, leaving the listener hanging, the first word of the continuation is NOT capitalized. If the speech is interrupted, but finishes with a complete sentence, when it continues the first word will be capitalized.

Some Examples: “If all goes well, you should be in Madagascar by morning, Blake,” instructed Mrs. Freed. “If you could travel ahead to September 14, 4078,” asked Ms. MacLauchlan, “would you bring your CD player or a thermos full of Gatorade?” “ Yesterday, Al pushed a cucumber off the roof, but it bounced off a baby carriage and landed on a Dachshund,” Fred told his brother. “Did you see it happen?”

Rule # 7 - Abbreviations If a word is abbreviated, shortened, the abbreviation always starts with a capital letter. Mrs. = mistress Mr. = master Dr. = doctor

Rule # 9 – Initials and Acronyms Initials and acronyms are like abbreviations; they are letters that represent complete words. For example: Dr. A. P. Snodgrass is short for Doctor Awfully Pungent Snodgrass. R.A.H. is short for Read At Home! LHJHS is short for Liberty Hill Junior High. Go Panthers!

Rule # 10 – Countries, Languages, and Nationalities. The names of countries are always capitalized because they are SPECIFIC PLACES. Britain Germany France The languages that people speak are also capitalized. English German French A person’s nationality is also spelled with a capital letter. British German French