Lesson 2: Capitalization of Proper Nouns and Titles

Definition

Capitalize the names of special events, holidays, calendar items, and historical events and periods.

Explanation

Give important time-related nouns the respect of a capital letter! This applies to major celebrations like New Year's Day, specific days or months like Monday or June, and significant eras like the American Revolution. Remember, seasons are a special case; spring or winter are not capitalized unless they are part of a special event's name, like the Winter Olympics, or are personified in literature.

Examples

• The day we now celebrate as Presidents' Day was once called Washington’s Birthday.
• The paleontologists found a fossil from the Jurassic era.
• One line from the story reads, “O Spring, bring us your warm breezes and fresh flowers!”

Definition

Capitalize the names of nationalities, races, and peoples.

Explanation

This rule is all about respecting identity. When you refer to a group of people based on their country, ethnicity, or heritage, their name always gets a capital letter. This is true whether you're talking about one person (an Italian) or the entire group (the Dutch).

Examples

• Choose the correctly capitalized word group: a. italians b. African Americans
• Choose the correctly capitalized word group: a. the romans b. the Greeks
• Choose the correctly capitalized word group: a. a South African b. a georgian

Definition

Capitalize the names of ships, trains, aircraft, and spacecraft as well as the names of businesses and the brand names of business products.

Explanation

If it has a unique, official name, it gets a capital letter. This rule covers everything from a company like Sue's Designs to a specific product like Kleenex. It also applies to famous vehicles, which are treated as proper nouns—think of the Orient Express or the space shuttle Eagle.

Examples

• They sailed on a ship called the Ocean Queen across the sea.
• Her uncle works for Creative Cards Co., a business that designs stationery.
• I always write my notes with a Uni-ball, my favorite brand of pen.

Definition

Capitalize the names of buildings and other structures, monuments, memorials, and awards.

Explanation

Famous places and prestigious honors need capitalization. This rule includes skyscrapers like the Empire State Building and significant awards like the Academy Award. Pay special attention to the word 'the'—it usually isn't capitalized unless it's officially the first word of the name. For example, you would write 'the Caldecott Medal'.

Examples

• When Maria toured Paris, she took photos of the Eiffel Tower.
• He truly deserves an Emmy for his incredible performance in that show.
• Our teacher wanted to stand at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.

Definition

Capitalize the names of religions and their followers, holy days and celebrations, sacred writings, and specific deities.

Explanation

To show respect for diverse beliefs, always capitalize terms specific to a religion. This includes the religion itself (Catholicism), its followers (Puritans), special holidays (Passover), sacred texts (the Torah), and the names of deities (Allah). This helps distinguish these proper nouns from general terms.

Examples

• The hero of the myth was punished because he angered the god Zeus.
• What is the title of the first book of the Bible?
• Because his family observes the holy days of Ramadan, he is fasting during the day.

Definition

Capitalize the names of specific planets, stars, constellations, and other heavenly bodies.

Explanation

When discussing celestial objects by their specific names, such as Mars, Rigel, or the Milky Way, always use a capital letter. However, a key exception applies to 'earth', 'sun', and 'moon'. These words are only capitalized when you're discussing them as specific astronomical bodies in a scientific context alongside other planets.

Examples

• The planet Earth is the third planet from our Sun.
• We must all work to protect the earth.
• My favorite constellation to find is Ursa Minor because it contains the North Star.

Definition

Capitalize the names of language classes or course names that contain a number.

Explanation

Not all school subjects are capitalized! You only need to capitalize a subject if it's a language (e.g., German, French) or a specific course with a number in its title (e.g., Trigonometry I). General subjects like geometry or journalism stay lowercase. Remember, for long course titles, do not capitalize short words like prepositions (of) or articles (the).

Examples

• Which course name is capitalized correctly? a. algebra I b. Civics 101
• Next Saturday, the community center is offering Bicycle Maintenance I.
• I wonder what will be taught in the class called Conversational Japanese III.

Definition

Capitalize proper adjectives.

Explanation

A proper adjective is simply an adjective formed from a proper noun. Since you capitalize proper nouns like Ireland or Plato, you must also capitalize the adjectives derived from them. This is why we write about Irish music or Platonic philosophy. It’s a consistent rule that connects nouns and their descriptions.

Examples

• We used to live in an old Victorian building.
• Tessa is studying Roman art at the local university.
• The Alaskan landscape is home to eagles, bears, and caribou.

Definition

Capitalize professional, military, civil, official, and noble titles of persons when the title appears immediately before the person’s name.

Explanation

Titles like Doctor, Senator, or King are capitalized only when they are attached directly to a person's name, acting as part of their name (e.g., Mayor Smith). Be aware that if the title is used alone or follows the name, especially after an article like 'a' or 'the', it should remain lowercase. For instance: “The president gave a speech.”

Examples

• We watched Prince Charles wave to the crowd.
• My computer science teacher is named Professor Cho.
• According to Senator Hawley, serving in office is a great responsibility.

Definition

Capitalize the titles of creative works, including books, articles, songs, poems, movies, television programs, musical compositions, paintings, sculptures, and plays.

Explanation

In any title, capitalize the first and last words, plus all “important” words in between. The unimportant words (which stay lowercase unless they are the first word) are short articles like a, an, and the; short prepositions like of, in, and to; and coordinating conjunctions like and, but, and or.

Examples

• Carrie’s copy of the book A Walk in the Woods has a picture of a forest on the cover.
• What is the theme of the article “Bravery in an Unexpected Place” that Ruben is reading?
• The movie Father of the Bride made my parents laugh.