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CAPITALIZATION
RULES
Reference:
Jeff South, VCU School of Mass Communications
Robin L Simmons, Grammar Bytes

Proper vs. common nouns

Proper nouns =

specific people, places, things

Common nouns =

general people, places, things

Proper vs. common nouns

Proper

Common

Tim Kaine

a man

Kenya

country

Pepsi

soft drink

Richmond

a city

University

university,

of Virginia

school

Checkpoint
The (nations/Nations) formed an alliance.
She once lived in (deltaville/Deltaville).
One of the (johns/Johns) arrested in the
prostitution sting said his name was
(john/John) Smith.

Trademarks
Theyre specific, so capitalize them:

Students will get free Cokes at class.

A Realtor sold the house in two days.
The concert is being sponsored by Sprite.
She wore an Armani suit.

Checkpoint
Clenching a (kleenex/Kleenex), she tearfully
recalled what happened on the beach.

They had (jello/Jell-O) for dessert.

Trademarks
Unless the trademark name is essential to the story, use

the generic word:

cola instead of Coke
real estate agent instead of Realtor
gelatin instead of Jell-O

Compass points
Capitalize if its a specific region:

He is from the West.

They live in Southside Virginia.
Lowercase if its a direction:

She drove south on I-95.

Five miles east of the city, the officers found the
abandoned car.

Checkpoint
Clinton was popular in the east but not in the
south.
The wind shifted suddenly to the north.
After leaving Nashville, they headed West.

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Awards, honors and prizes

Capitalize specific awards:
Nobel Prize
Emmy
Oscar
Medal of Honor
Pulitzer Prize
Heisman Trophy

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Multiword proper nouns

Capitalize all the words if theyre part of the formal name:

Hermitage High School

Pasig River
Brgy. Holy Spirit
Main Street

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Multiword proper nouns

Be careful with plurals:

Hermitage and Armstrong high schools

James and York rivers
Chesterfield and Powhatan counties
Main and Harrison streets
Dont capitalized the pluralized word, such as schools or
streets.

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Multiword proper nouns

Capitalize:
Grant and Lee fought in the Civil War.
He is taking History 102.
Spain is part of the European Union.
But lowercase:
Theres a civil war in Sri Lanka.
She is studying American history.
Morocco is seeking a union with Algeria.

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Checkpoint
He fell from the top of the Empire State
building.
The accident occurred at Main and Laurel
Streets.
They flew missions in the Korean and Vietnam
wars.

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Government
Capitalize specific governmental bodies:
Congress
Senate
House
Virginia General Assembly
the General Assembly
the Legislature

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Checkpoint
By October, Congress is expected to pass the
long-delayed bill.
No Legislature has passed the amendment.
The new cabinet met with the president

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Race & ethnicity

Capitalize the formal names of races and ethnic

groups:
African American, Caucasian,

Asian, Hispanic, Indian

Lowercase skin colors:
black community, white residents,
the whites, the blacks

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Titles
Capitalize formal titles directly before a name

(fused to a name), not separated by a comma:

The speaker is Mayor Tim Kaine.
Today, President Bush signed the bill.

Lowercase descriptive titles:

The concert featured singer Sheryl Crow.
The city bought the land from farmer Jerry
Crawford.

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Titles
Formal titles denote authority or professional or academic

achievement:
Pope Paul, President Bush, King Henry
Descriptive titles include:
sophomore Bill Sims, reporter Jean Williams, first

baseman Mark Grace

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Titles
If a comma separates the title and name, the title is no

longer a proper noun:

The new dean, Steve Gottfredson, will meet with

the students.
The U.S. president, George W. Bush, held a state
dinner for Mexican President Vicente Fox.

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Titles
Likewise, lowercase titles that

come after a name:

Eugene Trani, president of Virginia Commonwealth

University, ...
Jeff South, a VCU professor, taught Newswriting
last year.
Juan Carlos, the king of Spain, is visiting South
America.

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Titles
Always lowercase titles standing alone, without a name.
They met the president in the White House.
The pope gave his blessing.

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Titles
Dont capitalize words that modify or describe a formal

title:
At VCU, former President Jimmy Carter
will speak at a symposium on poverty.
The group invited retired Gen. Art Hall.

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Checkpoint
A popular Soul Singer, Mary J. Blige, will
perform in Richmond.
The pressure is building on president Bush.

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Organizations
Capitalize an organizations name because its a proper

noun.
But dont capitalize:
a, an, the
and
prepositions of fewer than 5 letters

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Organizations
Boy Scouts
Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce
the Delta Chi Fraternity (because Fraternity is part of the
name)
the Phi Mu sorority (because sorority isnt officially part of
the name)
VCU Board of Visitors
Federal Communication Commission

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Checkpoint
Money in the bank is usually insured by the
Philippine Deposit Insurance corporation.
The bureau of Local Government and Finance
conducted an audit on the funds given to
regional heads.

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Game!

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The case is now being

processed by the National
Bureau Of Investigation, as
suggested by the Senate.

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Police Officer Jessica Jean

Cheney died Saturday night in
a traffic accident.

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A police officer, Jessica Jean

Cheney, died Saturday night in
a traffic accident.

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Byron likes spicy food, so he

chose the Asian chicken wrap,
while Martha chose french fries.

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Janelle will take Fundamentals

of Biology next semester even if
she hates Science classes.

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My family prefers to cook a ham

on holidays, but uncle Bart is a
vegetarian, so my mother
prepares something else for
him.

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We need to go west on Highway

50; otherwise, we will be
heading toward Laiya beach.

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Katelyn used her last money to

buy M&M candies; she would
have enjoyed a Pepsi to wash
them down but the Cafeteria
prices were too expensive.

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Patrick visited the police station

to see if someone had found
Squeeze, his 9-foot albino
python, but officer Rodriguez
said that no reptiles had been
recently caught.