English Capitalization Rules

• Capitalization rules in English are important to follow
• Capitalize the first word in a sentence, for example: My best friend is my dog
• Capitalize the pronoun "I", for example: He and I never argue
• Capitalize abbreviations and acronyms formed from the first letters of words, such as USA, IBM, UN, VW, AIDS, CBS
• Capitalize all proper nouns
• Proper nouns include names of deities, such as God, Allah, Shiva
• Capitalize names of people and their titles, such as Mr. and Mrs. John Smith, President George Washington
• Do not capitalize a title without a name, for example: my math professor, the former prime minister
• Some writers capitalize titles such as president and prime minister when they clearly refer to one person, for example: The president (OR President) will speak to the nation on television tonight
• Capitalize names of specific groups of people such as nationalities, races, and ethnic groups, languages, and religions, such as Asian, Caucasian, Japanese, Indian, Muslim, Hispanic
• Capitalize names of specific places on a map, such as New York City, Indian Ocean, North Pole, Main Street
• Capitalize names of specific geographic areas, such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe
• Do not capitalize the names of compass directions, for example: Drive east for two blocks, and then turn south
• Capitalize names of days, months, and special days, such as Monday, January, Independence Day, Ramadan
• Do not capitalize the names of the seasons, such as spring, summer, fall (autumn), winter
• Capitalize names of specific structures such as buildings, bridges, dams, monuments, such as Golden Gate Bridge, the White House, Aswan High Dam, Taj Mahal
• Capitalize names of specific organizations such as government agencies, businesses, schools, clubs, teams, such as State Department, Harvard University, French Students Club, Bank of Canada, New York Yankees, Red Cross
• Capitalize names of school subjects with course numbers, such as Business Administration 312, Chemistry 101
• Do not capitalize names of classes without numbers, except languages, such as chemistry, French literature
• Capitalize the first, last, and all important words in the titles of books, magazines, newspapers, plays, films, stories, songs, paintings, statues, television programs, such as War and Peace, Toronto Star, Jingle Bells, The Three Little Pigs, Paris Match, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom
• Italicize (or underline) titles of books, magazines, newspapers, plays, and films

Capital Letters

• Capital letters should always be used for the first word in a sentence, for example: In the beginning ...
• Capitalize days and months, for example: Friday 21st July
• Capitalize nationality words, for example: Indonesia and the Indonesians
• Capitalize languages, for example: Most Swiss speak French and German
• Capitalize names of people/places, for example: Dr Martin Lee from Sydney, Australia
• Capitalize book titles (main words only), for example: Power and the State
• Capitalize historical periods, for example: The Bronze Age, the Great Depression
• Capitalize names of organisations, for example: Sheffield Hallam University
• Capitalize the first person pronoun, for example: By Monday I had finished the book
• Seasons are not capitalised, for example: The course began in autumn

Full Stops

• A full stop (.) is a punctuation mark that is used to end declarative sentences
• A declarative sentence is any sentence that makes a statement
• Examples of declarative sentences: There is a range of therapeutic approaches available, Some behaviours may have more than one function, I am a student
• Following a full stop, always use a capital letter at the start of the next sentence, for example: A decision to buy a house is important. Seeking professional advice can be helpful
• Use periods/full stops to indicate when a sentence is finished, for example: The student concluded the research phase of the project very quickly
• Use periods/full stops when using common Latin abbreviations
• e.g. = exempli gratia, which means “for instance"
• i.e. = id est, which means "in other words"
• etc. = et cetera, which means “and the rest”, or, “and so on”
• A sentence is a group of words that (a) contains at least one subject and one verb and (b) expresses a complete thought
• Run-on sentences should be avoided
• A run-on sentence is when two or more consecutive sentences merge together due to the absence of a full stop
• Example of a run-on sentence that should be avoided: Risk taking is a part of life it should be managed properly
• Correct sentence: Risk taking is a part of life. It should be managed properly
• It is incorrect to insert a comma instead of a full stop, which is called comma-splicing
• Example of comma-splicing that should be avoided: Risk taking is a part of life, it should be managed properly
• Correct sentence: Risk taking is a part of life. It should be managed properly