Grammar Mini-Lesson:

Capitalization
By Basha Greer
Los Angeles Pacific University

Grammar Mini-Lesson: Capitalization

By Basha Greer
Los Angeles Pacific University
Rule #1
❖ Capitalize the first word in a
sentence. (Open Oregon, n.d)
➢ Ex: The donkey’s are in the field again. Batman memes google images
(2020)
➢ Ex: How about those Dodgers?
Pulp Fiction memes google
images (2020)

Grammar lesson capitalization (2020)

Rule number one for capitalization,

When we start a new sentence we always capitalize the first word. For example The T
in The donkey’s are in the field again is capitalized. Or the H in How about those
Dodgers would also be capitalized. Whenever there is a period or other type of ending
punctuation there needs to be a capital to start the next sentence.
 Memes google
images (2020)
The floral letter ‘I’

Rule #2 google images

(2020)

❖ Capitalize the word ‘I’ always

(Open Oregon, n.d)
➢ Ex: My best friend and I are going to
the soccer game together.
➢ Ex: I want what I want. Sauske’s eyes google (2020)

Rule number two

Always capitalize the word ‘I’ in every sentence. When the letter ‘I’ stands alone it
changes to the word ‘I’ and requires capitalization. The examples used are My best
friend and I are going to the soccer game together. And I want what I want.
 Corgi
meme
google
images
Rule #3 (2020)
Gordon
Ramsey
❖ Capitalize proper nouns (specific): meme
google
➢ People images
(2020)

➢ Places
➢ Things
■ Ex: Kobe Bryant, Barack Obama
■ Ex: Japan, Eiffel Tower
■ Ex: Google, Microsoft.
❖ Common nouns do not get capitalized
➢ Ex: the president, a country, a business
(open oregon, n.d)

Rule number three

Capitalize proper nouns for specific people places and things. The main function of
capitals is to focus attention on particular elements within any group of people, places,
or things. We can speak of a lake in the middle of the country, or we can be more
specific and say Lake Michigan, which distinguishes it from every other lake on earth.
(Straus, 2020) More examples of this concept would be the capitalization of first and
last names of people, as in Kobe Bryant. The names of a specific country like Japan, or
another place as in the Eiffel Tower. And other things like company names as in
Google or Microsoft. Common nouns do not get capitalized, for example the president,
a country or a business.
 Rule #4
❖ Composition titles of books, plays, films,
songs, poems, etc. (Straus, 2020)
❖ Examples:
➢ Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix
➢ Phantom of the Opera
➢ The Shawshank Redemption
➢ The Less I Know the Better
➢ The Raven

Harry Potter book Images google images (2020)

Tame Impala cover art google images (2020)
The Phantom of the Opera image google
images (2020)
The Shawshank Redemption movie cover
google images (2020)
The Raven google images (2020)

Rule number four

Composition titles deserve capitalization as well, as in books like Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling, plays like Phantom of the Opera by Andrew
Lloyd Webber, movies, as in The Shawshank Redemption by Frank Darabont, the
name of songs like The Less I Know the Better by Tame Impala and The Raven by
Edgar Allen Poe. This is a complicated matter, and policies vary according to the artist,
director, author, etc. The usual advice is to capitalize only the "important" words. But
this isn't really very helpful. Aren't all words in a title important? There are universal
rules that usually everyone follows they are stated as follows according to Straus
(2020)
● Capitalize the title's first and last word.
● Capitalize all adjectives, adverbs, and nouns.
● Capitalize all pronouns (including it).
● Capitalize all verbs, including the verb to be in all forms (is, are, was, has
been, etc.).
● Capitalize no, not, and the interjection O (e.g., How Long Must I Wait, O
Lord?).
● Do not capitalize an article (a, an, the) unless it is first or last in the title.
● Do not capitalize a coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor, but, for, yet, so)
unless it is first or last in the title.
● Do not capitalize the word to, with or without an infinitive, unless it is first or
last in the title

Rule #5
❖ Capitalize specific geographical
regions. Do not capitalize points
of the compass. (Straus, 2020)
Examples:
● We had two of our cousins visit from
the East.
● Go south a couple blocks then turn
right.
● Mom left North Carolina and
travelled west.
● Jenny lives in the Northwest.
● Adam lives in the northwest section
of the city.

Ancient World Map google

images (2020)
Compass google images
(2020)

Rule number five

This rule always gets me, and I always have to question if I am capitalizing the right
words, and when to. Capitalize specific geographical regions. But do not capitalize
points of the compass. (Straus, 2020) Some examples of this concept of capitalization
are we had two of our cousins visit from the East. East would be capitalized because it
is a specific region and does not further explain where in the East our cousin was
visiting from. In the sentence Go south a couples blocks then turn right, the south is
not capitalized because it is referring to a point on a compass. A better comparison of
this concept would be Jenny lives in the Northwest, where northwest would be
capitalized because it is a specific place, and the sentence Adam lives in the northwest
section of the city. Adam lives in a section of the city which is northwest. A little
confusing but aafter some practice it becomes easy to recognize.
 ❖ Examples:
Rule #6 ➢ We found out that Dad is over
there.
❖ Capitalize relatives' family names ➢ Looking good, Nana.
(kinship names) when they immediately ➢ Drew and Elia love Aunt Katy’s
precede a personal name, or when they cheesecake.
are used alone in place of a personal ❖ Examples:
name. (Straus, 2020) ➢ My dad is here.
❖ However, they are not capitalized when ➢ Kyle's grandma doesn’t look good.
they are used with possessive nouns or ➢ The Gallo brothers were notorious
pronouns, or when they follow the smugglers.
personal name, or when they do not refer
to a specific person. (Straus, 2020)

Relatives family tree google

images (2020)

Rule number six

Capitalize relatives' family names (kinship names) when they immediately precede a
personal name, or when they are used alone in place of a personal name. (Straus,
2020) However, they are not capitalized when they are used with possessive nouns or
pronouns, or when they follow the personal name, or when they do not refer to a
specific person.

When we refer to our Dad as his name we would capitalize it as in the sentence We
found out that Dad is over there. But when we use possessive words before relative
names like the word My in the sentence My dad is here, the dad is lowercase. Some
other examples of capitalization of family members include the sentence Looking
good, Nana. where the N in Nana would be capitalized due to Nana being her name.
Names in general are always capitalized like the names Drew, Elia, and Katy in the
sentence Drew and Elia love Aunt Katy’s cheesecake. The Aunt in this sentence is
capitalized because it is Katy’s title. On the contrary when we look at the sentence
Kyle’s grandma doesn’t look good. The grandma will be lowercase because she is
Kyles and Kyle in the sentence is a possessive noun. The Gallo is capital in the
sentence The Gallo brothers were notorious smugglers, but brothers is not because it
follows a personal name.
References
Jane Straus. (2020). Capitalization Rules. Grammarbook.com. Retrieved from

https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp

Open Oregon Editors. (n.d). Grammar lesson one. Capitalization. Retrieved from

https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/ctetechwriting/chapter/chapter-4/

I hope you all enjoyed my project, and learned a little bit more about the use of
capitalization. Here are some of the people who I referenced during my presentation
that helped me gain some knowledge. Have a wonderful week, Peace, Hope, and Love
to you all Thank you.