Ten Capitalization Rules

Basic Capitalization Rules

1. Start of a sentence: Always capitalize the first word of a sentence.

- Example: "Today is a beautiful day."

2. Proper nouns: Capitalize the names of specific people, places, organizations, and sometimes things.

- Example: "Mary visited New York City."

3. Titles preceding names, but not titles that follow names.

- Example: "Professor Smith," but "John Smith, professor of Chemistry."

4. Directional nouns: Only capitalize directions when they refer to regions or are part of a proper noun.

- Example: "West Coast" vs. "I drove west."

5. Days, months, and holidays: Always capitalize them.

- Example: "Monday", "January", "Christmas"

6. Nationalities, races, languages, and religions: Capitalize these terms.

- Example: "American," "Asian," "English," "Christianity"

7. First-person singular pronoun, "I": Always capitalize "I."

- Example: "I am going to the store."

8. Names of courses: Capitalize specific course titles.

- Example: "I'm studying Biology 101 this semester."

9. Historical periods and events: Capitalize them.

- Examples: "The Renaissance," "the Great Depression"

10. Titles of books, movies, songs, and other titled works: Capitalize the first word and each following word unless it is an article, preposition, or coordinating conjunction.

- Example: "To Kill a Mockingbird", "The Fast and the Furious"

Remember, these are general rules, and there are exceptions in English grammar.