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    Rules on Capitalization

    Rules for capitalization can be confusing. Not all grammar books agree on the same style. The guidelines in this post are based on the latest accepted usage for business and personal writing.

    Capitalize the first word in any sentence, the personal pronoun I, and the first word of a direct quotation if it is a complete statement.

      • Night falls quickly in the mountains.
        The door was open when I arrived home.
      • He looked at the cake and said, “Diets, like pie crust, are made to be broken.”

    Proper Nouns and Adjectives

    Capitalize all proper nouns and adjectives such as the names of persons, business firms, business products, institutions, government bodies and agencies, and public and private organizations.

    Personal names:

    Lance Armstrong, Barbara Walters

    Business firm:

    Wal-Mart, Mrs. Field’s Cookies

    Business products:

    Honda Civic, Downy, Dr Pepper

    Institutions:

    Adler Planetarium, Stanford University

    Government bodies and agencies:

    Internal Revenue Service, Civil Rights Commission, Office of Homeland Security

    Public organizations:

    Junior Chamber of Commerce, Girl Scouts of America

    Private organizations:

    Midwest Authors Guild, JoAnn Kilmer Foundation

    Proper adjectives:

    Canadian beer, American flag, Australian kangaroo

    Hyphenated Names and Prefixes

    Capitalize all hyphenated names and hyphenated proper nouns. Also, capitalize all proper nouns and adjectives used with a prefix, but do not capitalize the prefix.

      • Send the bill to Mrs. Simon-Allen.
      • The Minneapolis-St. Paul project has been approved.
      • I am neither anti-British nor pro-French; I happen to enjoy both countries equally well.
      • He will always be a pro-Chicago politician.

    Family Relationships

    Capitalize words describing family relationships only when they substitute for a proper noun or are used with the person’s name. Do not capitalize the words if they are used with a possessive pronoun.

      • I told Aunt Julia that my sister would be late.
      • She described her father to me perfectly.
      • Granny Winters and Grampa McDonough live in the same neighborhood.
      • We got a letter from Aunt Helen and Uncle Bill.
      • Do you know her cousin Lucia?

    Nationalities and Races

    Capitalize the names of nationalities. Racial groups may be lowercased or capitalized. The only firm rule is be consistent. If you capitalize one racial group, capitalize the others as well.

    Nationalities

    Racial Groups

    Australian

    Chinese

    Indian

    Thai

    Black or black

    White or white

    Languages and School Subjects

    Capitalize languages and those school subjects followed by a number. Do not capitalize general school subjects unless the subject is a language.

    Languages

    School Subjects

    Arabic

    English

    Korean

    Polish

    Biology 403

    French

    history

    literature

    Social Science 202

    conversational Spanish

    statistics

    Religious Names and Terms

    The names of all religions, denominations, and local groups are capitalized.

    Religions

    Buddhism

    Islam

    Shintoism

    Christianity

    Judaism

    Taoism

    Hinduism

    Denominations and Movements

    Jehovah’s Witnesses

    Methodism

    Mormonism

    Sufism

    Theosophy

    Zen Buddhism

    Local Groups

    Church of the Redeemer

    Midwest Baptist Conference

    Saint Leonard's House

    Temple Shalom

    Capitalize the names of deities and revered persons.

    the Almighty

    Allah

    Lamb of God

    Pan

    Kali

    Child of God

    Jehovah

    Holy Ghost

    Shiva

    Egun-gun

    the Word

    Logos

    Mother of God

    Kwan Yin

    Astarte

    Capitalize the names of sacred works individual parts.

    the Bible

    the Talmud

    Genesis

    Apostles’ Creed

    the Decalogue

    the Koran

    the Vedas

    the Beatitudes

    Epistles

    Book of Job

    the Book of David

    the Tripitaka

    the Diamond Sutra

    Sermon on the Mount

    Acts of the Apostles

    Capitalize religious holidays and terms relating to the Eucharistic sacrament.

    Ascension of the Virgin

    Christmas

    Easter

    High Mass

    Holy Communion

    Lent

    Passover

    Ramadan

    Yom Kippur

    Names of other rites and services are not capitalized in a text.

    baptism

    bar (bas) mitzvah

    confession

    confirmation

    evening prayer

    matins

    seder

    vesper service

    worship service

    Academic Degrees and Personal Titles

    Capitalize academic degrees and personal titles used as part of people’s names or as a substitute for their names. Titles used after a person’s name or by themselves generally are not capitalized.

    The exception to the rule occurs when the title refers to the highest national, state, or church offices, such as the President of the United States. In such cases, the title may be capitalized.

    Professor Louise Sasaki

    Louise Sasaki, PhD

    Dr. Bernard Stone

    Bernard Stone, MD

    President Don Roth

    Don Roth, president

    Director Ellen Tate

    Ellen Tate, director

    Vice President Johnson

    the Vice President (of the United States)

    Cardinal Cody

    the Cardinal

    Pope Benedict XVI

    the Pope

    Reverend Alice Milano

    the reverend

    General George Custer

    the general

    Admiral Patricia Tracey

    the admiral

    Queen Elizabeth

    the Queen

    Count von Moltke

    the count

    Historic Events, Special Events, and Holidays

    Capitalize the names of historic events and periods, special events, holidays, and other publicly recognized special days.

    Battle of Midway

    Black History Month

    Columbus Day

    Elizabethan Age

    Han Dynasty

    Hundred Years’ War

    Labor Day

    Live AID Africa

    Miami Book Fair

    Mother’s Day

    National Pickle Week

    New Year’s Day

    Nicene Council

    Presidents’ Day

    Thanksgiving

    World War II

    Historical Monuments, Places, and Buildings

    Capitalize the names of all historical monuments, places, and buildings.

    Arlington National Cemetery

    the Chicago Loop

    the Latin Quarter

    the Prudential Building

    Times Square

    Washington Monument

    Calendar Days, Months, and Seasons

    Capitalize the names of all days of the week and months of the year. Seasons of the year are lowercase unless they are personified.

    Tuesday

    November

    fall

    Wednesday

    June

    winter

    Friday

    April

    summer

    But: Have we not seen, Summer, your jeweled nights, your days young and fair?

    Documents

    Capitalize the first word and all other words except articles (a, an, the) and prepositions under five letters (in, to, out) in charters, treaties, declarations, laws, and other official documents. However, when the words charter, act, treaty, and law are used alone, they generally are not capitalized.

    Articles of Incorporation

    Declaration of Independence

    Magna Carta

    Treaty of Orleans

    Uniform Commercial Code

    Wanger Act

    Titles of Publications

    Capitalize the first word and all other words except articles and prepositions under five letters in the titles of books, chapters, magazines, articles, newspapers, musical compositions, and other publications.

    The Handmaid’s Tale (opera)

    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (book)

    “The Midwest’s Blue-Collar Blues” (article)

    “Do Your Own Tune-Ups” (chapter)

    Kansas City Star (newspaper)

    Compass Points

    Points of the compass are not capitalized when they refer simply to direction or are used as adjectives. They are capitalized when they refer to regions of the country.

    east

    west

    the South

    the North Central states

    north

    south

    the East

    southwest

    northwest

    the Southwest

    eastern

    western

    the Northeast

    Geographic Names and Regions

    Capitalize all geographic names and regions of a country, continent, or hemisphere.

    Cities, Townships, Countries, States, Continents

    California

    India

    New York

    Niles Township

    South America

    Western Hemisphere

    Islands, Peninsulas, Straits, Beaches

    Baja Peninsula

    Canary Islands

    Strait of Magellan

    Strait of Malacca

    Myrtle Beach

    Padre Island

    Bodies of Water

    Aegean Sea

    Lake Tahoe

    Nile River

    Tinker Creek

    Victoria Falls

    Walden Pond

    Mountains and Mountain Chains

    the Andes

    Cascade Mountains

    Kilimanjaro

    Mount Everest

    Mount Fuji

    Pikes Peak

    Parks, Forests, Canyons, Dams

    Aswan Dam

    Bright Angel Canyon

    Three Gorges Dam

    Humboldt Redwoods Forest

    Serengeti National Preserve

    Yosemite National Park

    Scientific Terms

    The rules for capitalizing scientific terms, particularly the division of plants and animals, can be complex and bewildering. This section presents some general rules for capitalizing the more common terms that are likely to be used.

    Common Names of Plants and Animals. Usually, lowercase the name of plants and animals, capitalizing only proper nouns and adjectives used with the names. Check a dictionary to be sure of accuracy.

    black-eyed Susan

    Cooper’s hawk

    border collie

    golden retriever

    jack-in-the-pulpit

    mustang

    Persian cat

    rhesus monkey

    Rhode Island red

    Rocky Mountain sheep

    rose of Sharon

    Thomson’s gazelle

    thoroughbred

    white leghorn fowl

    Geological Terms. Capitalize the names of eras, periods, epochs, and episodes but not the words era, period, and so on used with the term.

      • Ice Age (reference to Pleistocene glacial epoch)
      • Lower Jurassic period
      • Pliocene epoch
      • Paleozoic era
      • Cambrian period

    Astronomical Terms. Capitalize all proper names of asteroids, planets and their satellites, constellations, and other astronomical phenomena. In many cases, earth, sun, and moon are lowercased unless used with other planets in a sentence.

    Alpha Centauri

    Andromeda Galaxy

    Arcturus

    Big Dipper

    Cassiopeia

    the Crab Nebula

    Demos

    Halley’s Comet

    the Leonids

    Mercury

    Milky Way

    North Star

    Orion

    Pleiades

    Saturn

    Descriptive terms that apply to astronomical or meteorological phenomena are not capitalized.

    aurora borealis

    blizzard

    hurricane

    the rings of Jupiter

    meteor shower

    sun dogs

    tornado

    the moons of Uranus

    Medical Terms. Lowercase the names of diseases, syndromes, symptoms, tests, drugs, and the like. Capitalize only proper nouns and adjectives or trade names used with these terms.

    aspirin

    finger-nose test

    Guillain-Barré syndrome

    infectious granuloma

    acetaminophen

    Parkinson’s disease

    poliomyelitis

    Salk vaccine

    tetracycline

    Tylenol

    Physical and Chemical Terms. Lowercase laws, theorems, principles, and the like, capitalizing only proper nouns and adjectives used with these terms. Chemical symbols are also capitalized and set without periods.

    Boyle’s law

    C-14

    carbon 14

    general theory of relativity

    Lorenz transformations

    Maxwell’s equations

    Newton’s second law

    Planck’s constant

    sulfuric acid

    uranium 238

    Capitals with Numbers

    Capitalize a noun or abbreviation before a number when it designates a formal part of a written work.

    Act V, Scene 3

    Book IV

    Chapter 14 or Chap. 14

    Paragraph 3 or Para. 3

    Section 44 or Sec. 44

    Unit 3

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