LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  1. Recognize standard capitalization conventions.
  2. Utilize capitalization in proper situations.

With the advent of new social networking structures, such as text messaging, IM (instant messaging), and Facebook, the reliance on traditional standard capital letters has been relaxed in informal settings. The use of capital letters required additional efforts for people using only a couple of fingers or thumbs for typing words, and this laxity of capitalization became more commonplace.

Rather quickly, the use of abbreviations and lack of capital letters became fashionable—almost like a status symbol indicating a person’s social networking awareness. Despite the common exclusion of capital letters in personal situations, capital letters are still the proper choice in professional and academic settings. If you are someone who writes far more often on a cell phone than on a computer, you are likely to benefit from a brush up on capitalization rules for those occasions when you are composing more official documents.

Proper Nouns, Trade Names, I, and O

Some words are capitalized whenever they are used. The following video from Khan Academy explains the difference between common and proper nouns:

“Common and Proper Nouns.” Published by Khan Academy.

Proper nouns, trade names, the pronoun “I,” and “O” when used as an interjection make up this category of words.

Proper nouns include names of specific persons, places, or things. Words that are typically common nouns can become proper nouns when they are used as part of a name.

People

Proper Nouns

Common Nouns (Not Proper)

Places

Proper Nouns

Common Nouns (Not Proper)

Things

Proper Nouns

Common Nouns (Not Proper)

Trade Names

Trade names include names of specific companies and products.

Proper Nouns

Common Nouns (Not Proper)

I and O

The letters “I” and “O” each represent words that are always capitalized.

First Word in a Sentence

Capitalizing the first word in a sentence appears fairly straightforward at first glance. But there are actually some variations you should keep in mind.

Key Words in Titles and Subtitles

In titles and subtitles, capitalize key words, including first words, last words, nouns, verbs, pronouns, adverbs, and adjectives. Do not capitalize articles, conjunctions, or prepositions unless they are in the initial position (either at the beginning of the entire title or at the beginning of the phrase after a colon if there is one).

Abbreviations

Capitalize abbreviations of proper nouns, such as the following:

Bulleted Items

If the items in a bulleted list are sentences, capitalize the first word of each item, as follows:

Semester exam schedule:

If the items are not sentences and are not continuations of a sentence stem, capitalize the first word of each item, as follows:

Semester exam schedule:

If the items are continuations of a sentence stem, do not capitalize the first word unless it happens to be a proper noun.

Semester exams will be held on

Common Misuse of Capital Letters

Avoid the unnecessary use of capital letters. As a rule, you can avoid capitalization errors by adhering to the rules for capitalization. But the following “don’t capitalize” suggestions can help you to avoid making some common mistakes.

 


Adapted from Chapter 19 “Mechanics” in Writer’s Handbook v 1.0 used according to Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

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