A CAPITAL IDEA!The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters Capitalize the first word of every sentence — unless that sentence is in parentheses incorporated within another sentence.. A CAPIT
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
a guide
to the proper care and feeding
of capital letters
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize the first word of every
sentence — unless that sentence is
in parentheses incorporated within another sentence.
Capitalize the personal pronoun I
Glacial till or debris (some geologists call this material “garbage”) is often
deposited in formations called morains.
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize the names of family
relations when they are used as
substitutes for names:
I went to visit my Uncle Ted and Aunt
Margaret
dad to visit my aunt and uncle.
Grandma and Grandpa live with Dad and
Mom now.
Notice the role of the modifying pronoun here.
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
In titles, capitalize the first ,
last , and all important words Usually, we don’t capitalize
articles, prepositions, and
coordinating conjunctions.
I n the L ake of the
W W oods ar and P eace
I Know This Much Is True
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize names of specific persons, places,
and geographical locations.
Don’t capitalize directions.
My brother Charlie, who used to live in the Middle East and write books about the Old West, now lives in Hartford, Connecticut.
They moved up north, to the southern shore of
Lake Erie
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize names of days of the week, months, and holidays.
Don’t capitalize the names of seasons.
Valentines Day, which is always on
February 14, falls on Tuesday this
year
Next f all, before the w inter storms begin, we’re heading south
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize the names of historical events.
Capitalize the names of religions and religious terms.
The Battle of the Bulge was an
important event in World War II
G od, C hrist, A llah, B uddha, C hristianity,
C hristians, J udaism, J ews, I slam, M uslims
The R eformation took place in the sixteenth century.
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize the names of nations, nationalities,
languages, and words based on such words
We usually don’t capitalize “white” and
“black.”
S omalia, S wedish, E nglish muffin,
I rish stew, J apanese maple, J ew’s
harp, F rench horn
There are very few blacks in this predominantly white community
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize the names of academic courses
when they’re used as titles.
B rand names
He took C arpentry 101, but he did much better in his economics and English literature courses.
F ord, K leenex, L evi’s (not jeans), xerox on a
X erox copier, A dvil (but aspirin)
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize titles when they precede names.
usually not after a name
D ean Arrington introduced
P resident Carter to S ecretary
Bogglesworth.
Joe Chuckles, who was chairman of the board of directors in 1995, has since
retired
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
You can capitalize the names of political entities
in in-house publications to avoid confusion.
You would not capitalize those names
in a newspaper report, say.
The C ounty and C ity have agreed
to reimburse the federal
government for sewer expenses.
At the last council meeting, the county agreed
to reimburse the federal government
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Consult a good dictionary!
like the online Merriam-Webster’s:
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The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
This PowerPoint presentation was created by Charles Darling, PhD
Professor of English and Webmaster
Capital Community College
Hartford, Connecticut
copyright November 1999