Capitalization
Determining when to capitalize nouns can be confusing, but if you apply the following
rules, you should have few problems.
People
Names of particular people
Albert Einstein, Scarlett Johansson,
Denzel Washington
Titles that precedes the name
President Lincoln, Professor Mani
Titles that follow or replace the name of a
high-ranking person
George Bush, past President
(Note: Grammar guides vary on this rule; most consider
it at the discretion of the writer.)
The pronoun I
Then I turned the key.
Names of races, nationalities, or regional
identifiers
African American, Californian, Caucasian,
Chinese, Midwesterner
Places & Organizations
Republicans, Democrats, Congress, the
Coca-Cola Company, Centers for Disease
Control, the St. Louis Blues
New York, Great Britain; the South, the
Names of particular places, regions, streets
Northeast; Fifth Avenue, Elm Street; the
or buildings
Sears Tower, Independence Hall
Names of stars, galaxies, and planets
Mars, Venus, the Milky Way, the planet
Exceptions: the sun and moon
Earth
Names of organizations, corporations, or
departments of the government
Names of languages
English, French, Spanish, Farsi
The New York Times, Newsweek,
Wikipedia
Yale University, Van Buren High School,
Physics 112, English 102
Names of publications and websites
Names of particular schools, colleges, or
courses
Time
Days of the week and months of the year
Monday, Tuesday, July, September
Names of particular holidays
Christmas, New Year's Day, Yom Kippur
Names of historical events, periods, or eras
World War II, the Renaissance, the Great
Depression, the Bronze Age
Religion
Words denoting a particular deity
God, Buddha, Allah
Names of religions, sacred texts, and
references to followers
Christianity, Catholicism, Islam, the Bible,
the Koran, Jews, Christians, Buddhists
Literature, Quotations, and Greetings
The first word of a sentence and the first
The actor exclaimed, "Do not touch me!"
word of a direct quotation
The first word and all words in the title of a
book, play, short story, essay, or poem
“The Fall of the House of Usher,” Catcher
(excluding a/an/the and prepositions).
in the Rye, “Acquainted with the Night”
NOTE: Capitalization rules for references pages vary depending
on the style guide used.
The first word and all nouns in the
salutation of a letter
Dear Mr. Lyons, Dear Credit Manager
The first word of the close of a letter
Sincerely yours, Best wishes
Proprietary / Trademarked Names
Brand names including software,
browsers, and game titles
Kleenex tissues, Ford Mustang, Microsoft
Office, Firefox, Scrabble, Grand Theft Auto
DO NOT CAPITALIZE:
□ Seasons, academic years or terms, or general subject areas (such as biology).
□ Geographical or compass directions unless they refer to specific regions.
Examples:
 To get to Six Flags from St. Louis, drive west on I-44.
 “Go West, young man,” wrote Horace Greeley.
 Please name three differences between Eastern and Western philosophy.
□ Names for relationships when they are preceded by an article or a pronoun. (Do
capitalize these words when they are used in place of or in front of a proper noun.)
Examples:
 My dad, my mom, and my uncle are going shopping.
 I'm going shopping with Mom; would Dad like to go too? Your Uncle Harry
is staying home with Grandma.
This document was developed by the
College Writing Center
STLCC-Meramec
Revised 2014/FH