Common Rules for Capital Letter Usage

i Common Rules For Capital Letter Usage Capitalize Proper Nouns Capitalized every time: BUT! • names of people • places • corporations • countries languages • organizations • events and items of importance When organizations are referred to indirectly, they do not need to be capitalized. NEW YORK CHTY POLICE DEPT "John is an officer with the New The George Washington Bridge York Police Department, the largest municipal police department in the United States." Formal Titles and Family Names Title before name > capital letter Title after the name > small letter P. "The conference will be led by Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft." "We are pleased to introduce President Obama." Capitalizing Directionss BUT! Use initial caps when using the directions to designate a geographic area. Do not use initial caps when referring to the cardinal directions. E. "Growing up in a military family, Hunter "The storm is moving north at 17 miles per hour" spent many years in the Far East." Capitalize Days, Months and Holidays Always capitalize: BUT! • days of the week • months • holidays Seasons do not need to be capitalized. • events "Carol is going to Vail, Colorado, this winter." Independence Day Quotes and Titles "D" When forming direct quotes placed inside formal quotation marks, the first letter of the quote should always be capitalized. If citing the title of a book, movie or song, capitalize the initial character, but write all articles and short prepositions in lowercase "Jenny said 'Dances with Wolves' is her favorite Kevin Costner movie." letters. Abbreviations and Specific Names In most cases, derivative words do not need to be capitalized. Abbreviations and acronyms based on proper nouns should be written in all capital letters. BC The Penicillium fungus is used to make penicillin. NBC is also known as the National Broadcasting Company. Folow Us on Twitter ©2012 Grammar.net All rights reserved @grammarnet