Capitalization
Text messages, casual e-mails, and instant messages often ignore the rules of capitalization. In fact, it can seem unnecessary to capitalize in these contexts. In more formal communication, however, correct capitalization is vital.
Capitalize the First Word of a Sentence
Capitalize the first letter in a sentence.
Correct: The museum has a new butterfly exhibit.
Correct: Cooking can be therapeutic.
Capitalize Proper Nouns
Proper nouns are the names of specific people, places, objects, streets, buildings, events, or titles of individuals and are always capitalized.
Incorrect: He grew up in belleville, ontario.
Correct: He grew up in Belleville, Ontario.
Incorrect: The cn tower is in toronto.
Correct: The CN Tower is in Toronto.
Nationalities, languages and reliGions
Capitalize nationalities, races, languages, and religions. For example, American, African American, Hispanic, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and so on.
Common nouns
Do not capitalize common nouns, which are the nouns for people, places, things, buildings, events, titles, and ideas when the noun is used in general or common way. See the following chart for the difference between proper nouns and common nouns. (Note that other rules override this, such as the rule to capitalize the first letter of a sentence.)
| Common Noun | Proper Noun |
|---|---|
| museum | The Art Institute of Chicago |
| theater | Apollo Theater |
| country | Malaysia |
| uncle | Uncle Javier |
| doctor | Dr. Jackson |
| book | Pride and Prejudice |
| college | Smith College |
| war | the Spanish-American War |
| historical event | The Renaissance |
Capitalize Days of the Week, Months of the Year, and Holidays
Incorrect: On wednesday, I will be traveling to Toronto for a music festival.
Correct: On Wednesday, I will be traveling to Toronto for a music festival.
Incorrect: My favourite holiday is the victoria day weekend.
Correct: My favourite holiday is the Victoria Day weekend.
Capitalize Titles
For titles of works, such as articles, books, movies, songs–even your own essays in your classes–capitalize the first letter of each word, except for prepositions and articles that appear in-between the first and last words.
Incorrect: The novel We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson is one of my favorites.
Correct: The novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson is one of my favorites.
Writing at Work
Using all capital letters in a message comes across like shouting. In addition, all capital letters are actually more difficult to read and may annoy the reader. To avoid “shouting” at or annoying your reader, follow the rules of capitalization and find other ways to emphasize your point.
Attribution
This chapter is an adaptation of Capitalization by Josh Woods, editor and contributor, as well as an unnamed author (by request from the original publisher), and other authors named separately and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. You can download this book free at The Writing Textbook Copyright © 2021.
