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.”
- Night falls quickly in the mountains.
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 |