Grammar

Capitalization part 1

People and Cultures

• People’s names and titles, the names of the languages they speak, and the religions they practice are all proper nouns and should be capitalized.

Names and Initials

Sandra Cisneros

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Personal Titles and Abbreviations

Capitalize titles and abbreviations of titles that are used before names or indirect address.

Professor Stevens

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr .

Capitalize titles of royalty or nobility only when it precedes a person’s name.

Queen Elizabeth ISir Winston Churchill

Important:The poetry reading was attended by Sir Robert.

The audience included the prince and the princess.

Family Relationships

Capitalize words indicating family relationships only when they are used as part of the name or in direct address.

Aunt Ruth Uncle Ed Grandma Johnson When my mother and Aunt Betty were children,

did you read poetry to them, Grandfather?

The pronoun I

My friends and I had never been to a poetry slam before,

Ethnic Groups, Languages and Nationalities

Capitalize the names of Ethnic groups, races, languages, and nationalities, along with adjectives formed from these names.

English Chinese Cherokee Spanish Swahili German

Religious TermsCapitalize the names of religions, religious denominations, sacred days, sacred writings,

and deities .

Do not capitalize god or goddess when they refer to gods of ancient mythology .

Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom.

Religions Christianity, Islam, Judaism

Denominations and sects Sunni, Baptist, Methodist

Sacred days Ramadan, Easter

Sacred writing Koran, Bible, Torah

Deities Allah, God

First Words and Titles

First words in sentences, most lines of poetry, quotations, and outline entries are capitalized. Greetings and closings in letters and important words in titles are capitalized.

Sentences and Poetry

Capitalize the first word of every sentence.

Capitalize the first word in every line of traditional poetry.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel And be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth

Quotations Capitalize the first word in a direct quotation if it is a complete sentence. (do not capitalize a direct quotation if it is a fragment.

The e-mail said, “Is anyone interested in reenacting a battle”?

One player said reenactments are “the closest we can get to time travel”.

In a divided quotation, do not capitalize the first word of the second part unless it starts a new sentence.

“We have the costumes,” the e-mail continued, “but we need history experts”.

“Join our group,” the writer said. “You’ll have fun”.

Parts of a letterIn a letter, capitalize the first word of the greeting, words such as Sir or Madam, and the first word of the closing.

May 20,2015Civil War Reenactors

1800 W. Wheeling St.Boston, MA 02124Dear Sir:I would be very interested in joining your group.I’ve read a lot about American history, and I’ve always wanted to take part in a reenactments. Please send me more information.

Yours truly,Ellen Hobson

Outlines Capitalize the first word of each entry in an outline, as well as the letters that introduce major subsections.

1 -Historical reenactments A. Reenactments of events in American

History 1 -Famous battles

2 -Nonmilitary events

Titles Capitalize the first, the last word, and all other important words in a title. Do not capitalize conjunctions, articles, or prepositions of fewer than five letters.

Books The Old Man and the Sea

Plays and musicals The Devil and the Daniel Webster

Short stories The Most Dangerous Game

Magazines and newspapers New York Times

Movies Gone With the Wind

Television shows The Simpsons

Works of art The Thinker, Ophelia

Poems The Road Not Taken