1. Capitalization

2. Capitalize the first word in every sentence. My brother asked, “Will you drive me to school?” Also remember that traditionally the first word in a line of poetry is capitalized – Keys To have a key Is to open up doors, Open your imagination Let your thoughts run wildly through the Dark crisp night. Chant words and phrases over and over Until you are delirious.

3. Capitalize the interjection O and the pronoun I. The interjection O is usually used only for invocations and is followed by the name of the person or thing being addressed. – Don’t confuse O with oh. Example: Walt Whitman’s tribute to Abraham Lincoln begins, “O Captain! My Captain!”

4. Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives. A common noun names one member of a group of people, places, or things. – These are only capitalized if they begin a sentence, begin a direct quotation, or are part of a title. A proper noun names a particular person, place, or thing. Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns.

5. Proper nouns and proper adjectives Common Nouns Proper NounsProper Adjectives a writerShakespeareShakespearean characters a countryNew ZealandNew Zealand coastline a presidentJeffersonJeffersonian ideals an islandHawaiiHawaiian climate

6. More on Proper Nouns In proper nouns made up of two or more words, all articles coordinating conjunctions, and short prepositions (those with fewer than five letters)are not capitalized Examples: Queen of Spain American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

7. Compound Words The parts of a compound word are capitalized as if each part stood alone Examples: African AmericanCentral American nations Chinese checkersEnglish-speaking tourists Note: Proper nouns and proper adjectives may lose their capitals after long usage. Examples: madras, sandwich, watt, puritan

8. Capitalize the names of persons. Given Names: Patricia, Brian, Toshio, Aretha – Surnames: Sanchez, Goldblum, Williams, Ozawa Some names contain more than one capital letter. – Usage varies in the capitalization of van, von, du, de la, and other parts of multiword names. – La Fontaine, McEwen, O’Conner, Van Doren, van Gogh

9. Capitalize geographical names. Type of NameExamples Towns, CitiesBoston Denver South Bend Tokyo Chicago Rio de Janeiro Counties, Townships Marion County Nottinghamshire Lafayette Parish Lewis Township StatesWisconsin New York Oklahoma Regionsthe East Northern Hemisphere the Southwest New England

10. Words that are indicating direction are not capitalized North, western, southeast, east of the river, driving south, western Iowa The abbreviations of names of states are always capitalized.

11. Other Capitalization Situations CountriesUnited States of America, Mozambique ContinentsNorth America, Asia, Africa, Europe IslandsCatalina Island, Greater Antilles, Florida Keys, Isle of Pines MountainsBlue Ridge Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Humphrey’s Peak, Mount McKinley Other Land Formations Cape Cod, Isthmus of Panama, Mojave Desert, Horse Cave, Mississippi Valley, Point Sur

12. More Capitalization Situations Bodies of WaterPacific Ocean, Great Lakes, Strait of Hormuz, Saint Lawrence Seaway ParksPoint Reyes National Seashore Gates of the Artic National Park Mahoney State Park Roads, Highways, Streets Route 30, Michigan Avenue, Interstate 55, North Tenth Street, Pennsylvania Turnpike, Morningside Drive