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 Capitalization

Do I need a Or should that

capital letter remain
letter? lower case?
 This presentation
covers capitalizing
the first letter of
the first word of a
sentence, the
pronoun I , and
proper nouns.
A capitalization item on
an objective test might
look like this ...
 Sample Item

Wanda wouldn’t offer her little brother

brotheraa
A
Christmas cookie
cookiebecause
becausehe heate
ateall
allof
ofher
her
B
Halloween candy last October.
october.
october.
C
October
Is brother,
A. Brother needs a capital
cookie, or
letter, which
B. Cookie october a
option C
problem?
C. October
October provides.
D. No change is necessary.
Ca pitalize the fir st letter
of the fir st wor d of a
sentence .

The rottenpear
the rotten pearsat
satininaapuddle
puddleofofgoo
goo
on the kitchen counter.

Dude, formal
writing is not the
same as texting
your friend!
Ca pitalize the pr onoun I.

If that liar Darlene claims that she spent

the night studying, Ii will
will say that iIsaw
say that sawher
her
kissing Thomas at the movies.

Don’t be lazy!
Capitalize those I ’s.
You deserve a
capital letter!
 Ca pitalize pr oper nouns .

On Tuesday, September18,
tuesday, september Elizabeth
18,elizabeth
cooked her first pot of squid eyeball stew.

Proper nouns include

the days of the week,
the months of the
year, and names.
 Other Proper Nouns

 Titles before  Nationalities

Names  Holidays
 Specific  Departments
Places  Historical
 Organizations Eras
 Companies  Regions of the
 Product Country
Names  Course
 Religions Names
 Languages  Titles of Works
 Titles Before Names

 Professor  the nursing

Stone professor
 Uncle Jerry  my uncle
 President  the president of
Obama our stamp
collecting club

Capitalize But use lower

these! case for these!
 Specific Places

 Tito’s Taco  the taco stand

Palace outside
 New York City  a city
 Gatorland  a theme park

Capitalize
these!
But use lower
case for these!
 Organizations

 World Wildlife  an environmental

Fund group
 American Red  an emergency
Cross response agency
 Doctors  a medical
Without humanitarian
Borders organization
But use lower
Capitalize
case for these!
these!
 Companies

 Starbucks  a coffee house

Corporation  a soda supplier
 The Coca-  a computer
Cola Company manufacturer
 Apple Inc.

But use lower

Capitalize case for these!
these!
 Product Names

 Frappuccino  a frozen coffee

 Oreo  a cookie
 Power Mac  a computer

Capitalize But use lower

these! case for these!
 Religions

 Buddhism  meditation
 Seventh Day practice
Adventists  vegetarians
 Druids  nature
worshippers

Capitalize But use lower

these! case for these!
 Languages

 French fries  fried potatoes

 Russian boar  wild pigs
 Spanish moss  air plants

Capitalize
But use lower
these!
case for these!
 Nationalities

 Brazilians  summer tourists

 the French  wine
 ancient connoisseurs
Egyptians  pyramid builders

Capitalize But use lower

these! case for these!
 Holidays

 Thanksgiving  family dinner

 Halloween  costume party
 Fourth of July  fireworks show

Capitalize
But use lower
these!
case for these!
 Depar tments

 Division of Motor  driver’s license

Vehicles  firefighters
 Orlando Fire  tax collectors
Department
 Internal Revenue
Service

Capitalize But use lower

these! case for these!
 Historical Eras

 Late  when dinosaurs

Cretaceous lived
 Old Kingdom  proliferation of
 the Great pyramids
Depression  poor economic
times

Capitalize But use lower

these! case for these!
 Regions of the Countr y

 the South  the south exit

 the Northeast  blowing from the
 the West northeast
 west of the mall

Capitalize But use lower

these! case for these!
 Course Names

 Fundamentals  biology
of Biology  algebra
 Intermediate  literature
Algebra
 Contemporary
Literature

Capitalize But use lower

these! case for these!
 Titles of Wor ks

 Moby-Dick  a thick novel

 Aliens  the best movie
 Thriller ever made
 a dance album

Capitalize
But use lower
these!
case for these!
 Quick Test

Directions: In the items that follow, choose

the option that corrects an error in the
underlined portion(s). If no error exists, choose
“No change is necessary.”

Show me
what you
know.
 Item 1

Byron likes spicy foods, so he chose the Asian

Asian
A
chicken wrap. Martha prefers bland dishes and

ordered a large
large basket
basket of
of french
frenchfries.
French fries.
fries.
B C

A. asian
B. Large
C. French
French
D. No change is necessary.
 Item 2

Janelle will take Fundamentals

FundamentalsofofBiology
Biologynext
next
A
semester; she hates Science
Science classes
science classes
classes but
but
but needs
needs
needs the
the
the
B
credits to transfer to a university.
university.
C

A. fundamentals of biology
B. science
science
C. University
D. No change is necessary.
 Item 3

My family prefers to cook a ham on holidays,

holidays,but
but
A
uncle Bart
uncle
Uncle Bart
Bartisis
isaaavegetarian,
vegetarian,
vegetarian,soso
somy
my
mymother
mother
motherprepares
prepares
prepares
B C
“tofurkey” for him.

A. Holidays
B. Uncle
Uncle
C. Vegetarian
D. No change is necessary.
 Item 4
Dai is Vietnamese,
vietnamese, but
vietnamese, butshe
shegrew
grewup
upininPuerto
Puerto
A
Rico, where she attended cooking
cookingschool;
school;now
now
B
she is the head chef at the Cuban
Cuban restaurant
restaurant on
on
C
Orange Avenue.

A. Vietnamese
Vietnamese
B. Cooking School
C. cuban
D. No change is necessary.
 Item 5

Turn left! We need to go west

west on
on Highway
Highway50;
50;
A B
otherwise, we will be heading toward

Daytona beach.
Daytona beach.
Beach.
C

A. West
B. highway 50
C. Daytona Beach
Daytona Beach
D. No change is necessary.
 Item 6

Katelyn used her last dollar to buy M&M

m&m candies;
m&m candies;
A
she would have enjoyed a Pepsi
Pepsi toto wash
wash them
them
B
down but the cafeteria
cafeteriaprices
priceswere
weretoo
tooexpensive.
expensive.
C

A. M&M
B. pepsi
C. Cafeteria
D. No change is necessary.
 Item 7
Juan is taking a religion
religionclass
classthis
thissemester;
semester;hehe
A
likes the professor
professorandandthe
thereadings,
readings,butbuthe
hemost
most
B
enjoys the intoxicating perfume
perfumethatthatIsabella,
Isabella,his
his
C
tablemate, wears.

A. Religion
B. Professor
C. Perfume
D. No change
changeisisnecessary.
necessary.
 Item 8
Patrick visited the police
policestation
stationtotosee
seeif ifsomeone
someone
A
had found Squeeze, his 9-foot albino python,
python,but but
B
officer Rodriguez
officer
Officer Rodriguez
Rodriguezsaid
said
saidthat
that
thatno
no
noreptiles
reptiles
reptileshad
had
hadbeenbeen
been
C
recently caught.

A. Police Station
B. Python
C. Officer
Officer
D. No change is necessary.
 Item 9
Jeffrey thought he would hate humanities,
humanities,but but
A
once Professor
ProfessorKimble
Kimblereached
reachedthetheItalian
Italian
B
renaissance, the
renaissance,
Renaissance, the
thebeautiful
beautiful
beautifulmarble
marble
marblenudes
nudes
nudesgot
got
got
C
Jeffrey’s attention.

A. Humanities
B. professor
C. Renaissance
Renaissance
D. No change is necessary.
 Item 10

Niki is a practicing Hindu,

hindu, so
hindu, so
soshe
she
shewas
was
wasoffended
offended
offended
A
when Sean pulled into a McDonald’s
McDonald’sdrive-thru
drive-thru
B
to order a Big
Big Mac.
Mac.
C

A. Hindu
Hindu
B. mcdonald’s
C. big mac
D. No change is necessary.
the
T he end.
E
end.
nd.

Better.