1. Capitalization and Titles
PUNCTUATION LESSON

2. Capitalization First word of a sentence
First word of each line in poetry, even in the middle of a sentence or thought
The wind was a torrent of darkness
Among the dusty trees.
First word of a direct quote
Andy said, “The movie was great.”
First word and all other important words in titles of books, poems, stories, songs
The Hunger Games
“Jingle Bells”

3. Capitalization Proper nouns Proper adjectives
James T. White; Easter; Florida; Greece
Proper adjectives
Chinese food; Russian language
A person’s title before a name
Mayor Hale; Doctor Johns; Governor Brown
The abbreviations of titles
Ms. Drake; Dr. Johns; Sen. Bennett
Abbreviations of days and months
Fri.
Abbreviations of parts of addresses
375 N. Fourth St.
Titles of members of the armed forces
Major Ronald Nelson
All letters in the abbreviations of states
Las Vegas, NV

4. Titles of works need to be underlined OR put inside “quotation marks.”

5. Underlined: Longer/Bigger Works
Novels
Music Albums
Magazines and Newspapers
TV Shows
Movies
Paintings
Long Poems
Operas
Note: When handwriting titles of longer works, underline them. When typing, italicize them instead.

6. Quotation Marks: Shorter Works
Song titles
Chapters in books
Essays
TV Episodes
Short Poems
Newspaper and Magazine Articles
Magazine Articles
Essays
Photographs
Short Poems
Short Stories