CAPITALIZATION RULES

CAPITALIZATION RULES

1.       The first word of a sentence

e.g. Mother  Teresa is admired for her work all over the world

2.       The pronoun I

e.g. The nuns and I try to care for poor, sick people throughout the world.

3.       Abbreviations and acronyms, which are words formed from the first letters of the words in the names of organizations.

e.g.        FBI

USA

UN

UNICEF

IBM

YMCA

DDT

AIDS

WHO

IKIP

4.       All proper nouns

a.       Names of deities

e.g. God, Allah, Shiva

b.      Names of people and their titles

e.g.        Jane P. Doe, Ph. D

                Diana, Princess of Wales

                Dr. Jonas Salk

                Professor D. King

                Mr. and Mrs. Daisy

Note:    but not a title without a name

                e.g.        the general

                                the prince

                                the king

                                the professor

c.       Names of specific places you could find on a map

e.g.        Harajuku, Shibuya, Japan

                                Toba Lake

d.      Names of days, months, and special days

e.g.        Saturday

                                January

                                Valentine Day

                                Ramadhan

Note: but not the names of the seasons

e.      Names of specific groups of people (nationalities, races, and ethics groups), language and religions

e.g.        Asian

                Caucasian

                American            

f.        Names of geographic areas

e.g.        the Middle East

the Southern

the North

note:     but not the names of compass directions

g.       Names of school subjects with course numbers

e.g.        Language Testing I

                Speaking III

note: but not names of classes without numbers, except languages.

h.      Names of specific structures such as buildings and bridges

e.g.        the White House

                Eiffel

                Tokyo Tower

i.         Names of specific organizations (business, clubs, schools)

e.g.        St. Mary’s High School

                American Heart Association

j.        Titles of composition, stories, books, magazines, newspapers, plays, poems, and movies.

e.g.        Introducing Myself

                Introduction to Academic Writing

Note: underline or italicize the titles of books, magazines, newspapers, plays, and movies.

PRACTICE

1.       farnas is a student from iran. she speak english, french, and farsi. her major is chemistry.

2.       three important holidays in the united state are christmast, hanukkah, and new year’s day.

3.       president john f. kennedy was born on may 29, 1917, and was assassinated on november 22, 1963.

4.       greenhills college is located in boston, massachusetts.

5.       i am taking four classes this semester: english 40, sociology 32, typing, and computer science course.