C

C

apitalizat

ion in the

apital

The Capitol Building

Writers need to know when to

capitalize.

Rule #1•A lways capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence.

Rule #2• Capitalize Proper Nouns–People

–Places

–Things Including product names

Name Examples:• Capitalize the full name including

first, middle and last names.

John Quincy Adams

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Ronald Wilson Reagan

Don’t forget…• Capitalize first, middle and last name too!

HelloAmelia Mary Earhart

HelloMy name is:

your

Place Examples:

National Mall White House

Thing Examples:

Potomac

River

Constitution of the

United States

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Event Examples:

The Civil War

Burning of Washington

March on Washington

Capitalize Initials Too!

Washington D.C.

General Robert E. Lee

Rule #3• Always capitalize the pronoun “I”

Honestly, I always capitalize “I” in a

sentence.

I’ve

“I” Examples:• Also capitalize contractions

with “I”

I’d

I’m

I’ll

•Always capitalize dates.

Rule #4

July4

Date Examples:• Days of the week

• Months of the year

• Holidays

Monday TuesdayWednesday

October DecemberNovember

Thanksgiving

Independence Day

Capitalize Abbreviations Too!

• Days of the week

• Months of the year

Mon.Tues.

Weds.

Oct. Dec.Nov.

Rule #5•Capitalize important words in a title

President of the United States

of America

Title Examples:Book Titles

U.S.

HistoryMovie Titles

Song Titles

Article Titles

he ournal of ajor eorge ashington

Don’t forget…•Always capitalize the first and last words of a title.

r. mith oes to

ashington merica the eautiful

m s g w

a bt j m g

w

MW

AB

TW

Capitalize all of the words except:

Articles: a an theConjuctions: and but or so nor

Prepostitions: at by for in of on to up

he ournal ajor eorge ashingtonW

T

merica eautiful

r. mith oes

ashingtonBA

Don’t forget…• Capitalize everything else except

for articles, conjunctions and prepositions.

s g

j

M

m g

Wto

the

of

S G

J M G

to

the

of

#1 Capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence.

#2 Capitalize the first letter of proper nouns.Capitalize the first letter of first, middle and last names of

people. Also capitalize initials.Capitalize places, events and things using rule #5 for titles.

#3 Capitalize the pronoun “I”. Also capitalize the “I” in I’d, I’ve, I’m or I’ll.

#4 Capitalize months, days of the week and holidays.

#5 Capitalize important words in titles.Always capitalize the first letter of the first and last words

in a title.Then capitalize all of the words except for the following:Articles: a an theConjuctions: and but or so norPrepostitions: at by for in of on to up

Capitalization in the Capital - Rules