Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CAPITALIZATION RULES
Capitalize . . .
1. the first word of a sentence
EXAMPLE
2. proper nouns
names of relatives (to indicate family relationship) when used with name
EXAMPLE
titles
A. preceding a name
EXAMPLE
If no specific individual is referred to, do not capitalize titles of even very high ranking
government officials.
EXAMPLE
Capitalize important words in compound titles used with names, but do not capitalize prefixes or
suffixes added to the titles.
EXAMPLES
5. directions that are names, such as North, South, East, and West when used as sections of the
country
EXAMPLE
EXCEPTION - Do not capitalize the names of seasons if they are used generally.
10. names of national, political, racial, social, civic, and athletic groups
EXAMPLES
11. trademarks
EXAMPLES
12. the first word in a sentence that is a direct quote, even if the direct quote comes in the middle
of a sentence
EXAMPLE
EXCEPTION - Do not capitalize the first word of a list following a colon if the list is not a
complete sentence.
16. salutations and closings in letters - first word only unless proper name is used
EXAMPLES
NOTE - Experts disagree about whether to capitalize earth, sun, and moon. For consistency, this
author suggests capitalizing them when they are used to designate celestial bodies.