Did the sentence end after the question mark?
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Yes. Then you need a capital letter to start the new sentence, just as usual.
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No. Then the question mark shouldn’t have been there, since it ends a sentence.
Right, I should expand on that rather than just be a grumpy old man.
The capitalization rule that we care about here is that the first word of a sentence starts with a capital letter, so the question is really about what ends a sentence. The answer to that is easy: terminal punctuation, i.e. a full stop (or period if you’re American), question mark or exclamation mark. There’s a visual clue in that ‘?’ and ‘!’ are decorated full stops; you just have to remember that a colon (‘:’) isn’t really a decorated full stop, not that you’d ever know by looking at it. Colons, semicolons and commas aren’t terminal punctuation, so they don’t end a sentence and so don’t force the next letter to be a capital. It may be a capital letter for some other reason such as being the start of a proper name, but not because it is starting a sentence.
There are exceptions to this rule, occasions when ‘?’ and ‘!’ become non-terminal punctuation. The most obvious is in quoted speech: if the speaker asks a question or makes an exclamation, the ‘?’ or ‘!’ doesn’t have to be terminal if the sentence carries on after the quote.
«Should I write it like this?» he asked. «Or perhaps like this?»
The other class of exception is for what are probably really parenthetical comments. If you have a short phrase that you could have put aside in parentheses or dashes, then a question mark or exclamation mark can be used at the end of that phrase without ending the sentence. Be sparing with this. It looks wrong at a first read, and engenders the sort of argument I had with Jason in the comments below!
Should I write it like this, or abracadabra! like this?
Going back to the examples, and adding a few more for fun:
Should I write it like this? Or perhaps like this?
Should I write it like this? or perhaps like this?
Should I write it like this, or perhaps like that?
«Should I write it like this?» he asked, «or perhaps like that?»
Example 2 with the lowercase «or» is just plain wrong.
Crusty old grammarians who disapprove of starting sentences with conjunctions may frown at example 1 all they like, but it’s a perfectly acceptable fragmentary sentence. Whether it’s the right answer or not is another question entirely. Example 1 makes the point that the questions are distinct, though they are strongly linked otherwise the whole structure wouldn’t work.
Example 3 on the other hand emphasizes that the two questions are options in a common situation, as well as reflecting a different way of saying them. That is obvious in this case because the two questions really are tightly coupled alternatives. However, consider the following:
Are the lights green? Or is the switch up?
Are the lights green, or is the switch up?
Both of these examples imply that the state of the lights and the state of the switch are related somehow. Version 2 couples them more tightly; I would usually assume (without more context) that either this is the same question being asked in two different ways (i.e. that the switch being up should cause the lights to be green), or that they are an exhaustive list of possibilities (either the switch is up or the lights are green, but not both or neither). This isn’t an absolute rule, but it is quite strongly implied.
Example 4 is also wrong, though it has a better disguise. If you unwrap the quotes, what you get is:
Should I write it like this? or perhaps like this?
which is our duff example 2 back again. What you actually want is one of:
«Should I write it like this?» he asked. «Or perhaps like this?» (i.e. example 1)
«Should I write it like this,» he asked, «or perhaps like that? (i.e. example 3)
depending this time on how much of a break there is supposed to be in the middle of what was said. But speech-marking is a topic for another question 
Exclamation marks work just like question marks for this purpose! Semicolons don’t; they end a clause, not a sentence.
Question Mark, Capital Letters, and Full stop for Class 2 English
The students will learn about question marks, capital letters and full stops that are used while writing sentences. They will learn the usage of various punctuation marks in the English language.
In this learning concept, the students will learn to:
- Identify the correct sentence with appropriate punctuation and capital letters.
- Avoid common mistakes while using punctuation and capital letters.
Each concept is explained to class 2 English students using examples, illustrations, and concept maps. After you go through a concept, assess your learning by solving the two printable worksheets given at the end of the page.
Download the worksheets and check your answers with the punctuation and capital letter worksheet solutions for the concept punctuation provided in PDF format.
Definition:
Punctuation refers to marks such as a full stop, comma, question mark etc. These marks are used to make the meaning of the sentence clear. They also help in separating the sentence into different parts.
Examples:
What are Capital Letters?
Capitalization means to write the first letter of a word in the capital letter and the remaining letters in lower case.
Examples:
Seema is a smart girl.
The first letter of the word ‘Seema’ is written in the capital letter ‘S’.
Correct and Incorrect Usage:
Question Mark
A question mark is a punctuation mark used in a sentence to refer to a question.
Examples:
Where do you stay?
In the above example, the sentence ‘Where do you stay?’ is a question, so it ends with a question mark.
Correct and Incorrect Usage:
Full Stop
A full stop is a punctuation mark used to end a sentence.
Examples:
I love to play with my cat.
In the below sentence, ‘I love to play with my cat’ is a complete sentence, so it ends with a full stop.
Correct and Incorrect Usage:
Common Mistake:
- Never begin a proper noun with small letters. It should always start with a capital letter. Notice in the sentence below that the word ‘Ram’ is a proper noun. Hence it is written in capital letters no matter where it is placed in the sentence.
- Do not use a full stop in headings and titles.
- Use a question mark after a direct question. Do not use a question mark after an indirect question.
Examples:
Examples:
Chapter 1: The Lion and the Cubs 
Chapter 1: The Lion and the Cubs. 
Examples:
When To Use Capital Letters
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Some English capitalization rules are rigid, but others are a matter of style. We’ll go over the most common “capitalization” guidelines.
- Capitalization is when certain letters are written in uppercase instead of lowercase.
- There are several rules to keep in mind when deciding when to use capital letters.
- ○ Mrs. Johnson states that our homework assignments are due every week on Friday.
The rules of capitalization in English may seem pretty direct. For example, most people know to capitalize the first letter of every sentence and the personal pronoun “I.” There are some gray areas, though. Should sentences after colons begin with a capital letter, too? How about titles and headlines? We’ll answer these questions and go over some basic guidelines for capitalization.
1. “Capitalizing” the First Word of a Sentence
This one is first because it’s the most common and straightforward rule: The first letter of a sentence must always be capitalized. A capital letter shows the reader that a new sentence has begun, the same way a period shows that a sentence has ended.
Yesterday I visited my grandma. We went to the mall, the movies, and then dinner. Afterwards, I dropped her back off at home. It was truly a great time.
Direct quotes within a sentence should also be capitalized:
She was so excited, I remember her saying, “This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”
However, if the quote is a phrase or sentence fragment, then it does not need to be capitalized.
I told her “not to worry,” because I’d be coming to visit more often now that we live in the same state.
2. “Capitalizing” Proper Nouns
Proper nouns are always capitalized. These are words that identify individual or unique nouns, unlike common nouns (which identify general or nonspecific nouns). Proper nouns include names of people, places, events, companies, and organizations.
Josiah and I visited Disney World. We took pictures with Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Donald Duck. On the last day, when we met with Samuel and Jason and went to Animal Kingdom, Josiah accidentally spilled a Pepsi drink all over me.
How about titles like uncle, mom, and grandpa? When they immediately precede a proper name, then the first letters of those words should be capitalized. When they’re used in place of a personal name, they should also start with a capital letter.
I was surprised to see Uncle John at my graduation.
Uh-oh! Wait until Mom sees this.
However, if these titles are preceded by a possessive pronoun, noun, or article, if they follow a personal name, or if they don’t refer to a specific person, then they do not need to be capitalized.
My dad will not be happy that no other fathers helped with the fundraising event.
Because specific days, months, and holidays are proper nouns, they also have to be capitalized.
Every Friday during the month of November, my mom goes shopping for Christmas gifts.
Keep in mind that proper adjectives should be capitalized, too.
Bonus Tip
LanguageTool is a multilingual text editor that can correct any mistakes in capitalization, even in proper nouns. Additionally, this writing assistant can also fix grammar and spelling errors and easily provide synonyms that’ll strengthen your writing. Try it out.
3. “Capitalizing” Titles in Names
An additional, identifying name or title, like Dr. Strange or Mr. Bean, are always capitalized.
Professor Acosta had a guest speaker for today’s lecture.
President Joe Biden was nominated by the Democratic Party.
Mrs. Davis is a favorite among the students.
4. “Capitalizing” Titles and Headlines
Capitalizing titles differs depending on the style guide. However, the most common rule is this: Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs should be capitalized. Prepositions, articles, and conjunctions should be left in lowercase (unless they are the first word).
The Chronicles of Narnia
5. What About “Capitalizing” After Colons?
Should sentences after colons be capitalized as well? This is another rule that depends on style. Most of the time, words after colons are not capitalized. Some exceptions are if (one or more) complete sentences or a proper noun is found right after the colon.
Johanna said there are two reasons she prefers to work from home: One, she can concentrate more. And two, she can be with her pets.
All of these guidelines are important. But the two capitalization rules you must always adhere to is capitalizing the first word in a sentence and proper nouns. Capitalization rules of titles and after colons vary, so always make sure to ask for a style guide if you’re unsure what to do.
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Convert text to make each word start with an initial uppercase or capital letter. For example “See me run” becomes “See Me Run” instead. One rule of standard English is to capitalize a proper noun that is a specific person (such as John Smith), place (such as Paris), or thing (such as the Eiffel Tower).
Another rule is to capitalize the first word of a sentence or quote such as he said, “Yes, I will.” The names of days and months such as Tuesday and January are also capitalized as are holidays such as Halloween and Memorial Day. Capitalize a person’s title when used with their name such as President Smith will speak, and when a president speaks we always attend.
Capitalize a direction when it refers to an area such as when you come from the West, but do not capitalize if you refer to a direction such as I go north on Main Street every day. Capitalize words such as Main Street when they refer to a specific location not just a street in the city. Concerning capital letters in other languages, these vary greatly from language to language with German a particular example of rules that depart from English standard usage.
Some writing systems make no distinction between uppercase and lowercase.
You can change the capitalization, or case, of selected text in a document by clicking a single button on the Home tab called Change Case.
Change case
To change the case of selected text in a document, do the following:
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Select the text for which you want to change the case.
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Go to Home > Change case
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Do one of the following:
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To capitalize the first letter of a sentence and leave all other letters as lowercase, click Sentence case.
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To exclude capital letters from your text, click lowercase.
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To capitalize all of the letters, click UPPERCASE.
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To capitalize the first letter of each word and leave the other letters lowercase, click Capitalize Each Word.
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To shift between two case views (for example, to shift between Capitalize Each Word and the opposite, cAPITALIZE eACH wORD), click tOGGLE cASE.
Tips:
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To apply small capital (Small Caps) to your text, select the text, and then on the Home tab, in the Font group, click the arrow in the lower-right corner. In the Font dialog box, under Effects, select the Small Caps check box.
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To undo the case change, press CTRL+ Z.
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To use a keyboard shortcut to change between lowercase, UPPERCASE, and Capitalize Each Word, select the text and press SHIFT + F3 until the case you want is applied.
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.See also
Insert a drop cap
Choose AutoCorrect options for capitalization
Change case
To change the case of selected text in a document, do the following:
-
Select the text for which you want to change the case.
-
Go to Home > Change case
. -
Do one of the following:
-
To capitalize the first letter of a sentence and leave all other letters as lowercase, click Sentence case.
-
To exclude capital letters from your text, click lowercase.
-
To capitalize all of the letters, click UPPERCASE.
-
To capitalize the first letter of each word and leave the other letters lowercase, click Capitalize Each Word.
-
To shift between two case views (for example, to shift between Capitalize Each Word and the opposite, cAPITALIZE eACH wORD), click tOGGLE cASE.
Tips:
-
To apply small capital (Small Caps) to your text, select the text, and then on the Format menu, select Font, and in the Font dialog box, under Effects, select the Small Caps box.
Small Caps shortcut key: ⌘ + SHIFT + K
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To undo the case change, press ⌘ + Z .
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To use a keyboard shortcut to change between lowercase, UPPERCASE, and Capitalize Each Word, select the text and then press fn+ SHIFT + F3 until the style you want is applied.
-
See also
Insert a drop cap
Choose AutoCorrect options for capitalization
PowerPoint for the web supports changing case. See the procedure below.
Word for the web doesn’t support changing case. Use the desktop application to open the document and change text case there, or else you can manually change the casing of text in Word for the web.
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Select the text you want to change.
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Go to Home > More Font Options > Change case.
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Choose the case you want to use.
