CAPITALIZATION RULES – USE A CAPITAL LETTER
1. for the first word of a complete sentence, a quoted sentence, and a line of poetry.
(Some modern poets do not follow this rule.)
My reply is short.
Kim answered , “On Monday I will not be here.”
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
2. for proper nouns and adjectives derived from proper nouns
Christopher Columbus
the Jones family
the Canadian people
3. for the titles of organizations and institutions
Girl Guides
Centennial Hospital
4. for the names of political parties
New Democratic Party
5. for the names of religions and sects
Anglicans, Moslems
6. for nationalities and people
Japanese
Europeans
7. for geographical names
St. Lawrence
8. for names of buildings
Rideau Hall
9. for the names of publications
The Toronto Star
10. for the names of government bodies and agencies
National Research Council
the Senate
11. for the days of the week, months of the year, and holidays
Sunday
July
Thanksgiving
12. for the words North, South, East, West, etc. when they refer to regions and not
directions
Mandy traveled to the Far East.
but
Turn east at the next set of lights
13. for titles before proper names and titles of high government officials without proper
names
General Smith
Aunt Helen
the Lieutenant Governor
14. for historical events, documents, and periods.
the War of 1812
the British North American Act
the Ice Age
15. for trade names
Ivory soap
16. for the first word and all names in the salutation of a letter, and for the first word only
of the complimentary closing
Dear Enzo and Maria
17. for words indicating an important division in parts of a book
Vol. V
Chapter X
18. for academic degrees
BA, MA, Ph. D
CAPITALIZATION EXERCISE
Key the following sentences, capitalizing words as necessary. Single space each
sentence; double space between sentences.
1. nancy earned her ph.d lastyear.
2. itoured the maritime provincesof new brunswick and nova scotia
3. matthew called out, “i thinkyou are right.”
4. i enjoyed reading a tale of twocities
5. the british people are proud oftheir history.
6. jean and jim went to visit a friend on river street.
7. on monday dorothy willcelebrate thanksgiving with her family.
8. the audience will hearcandidates from the liberal party and the progressive
conservative party.
9. the building of the cn towerwas a mammoth undertaking.
10. the presbyterians held their annualbazaar in knox church.
11. i enjoyed hearing dr. quinn givethe lecture on general paton.
12. vanessa compared the carhart jeanswith the levi’s jeans.
13. the ice age occurred millions ofyears ago.
14. several people from the departmentof external affairs visited the united nations in new
york last christmas.
15. ellen joined the girl guides whenshe graduated from brownies.