Word always in capitals

How to disable first letter capitalization in Word

Microsoft Word defaults to automatically capitalizing the first letter of a word in a sentence when it is typed. This can be convenient, or very annoying, depending on how you type, and thus first letter auto-capitalization is one of those Word features that is either loved or hated. If you fall into the latter camp and want to stop Word from automatically capitalizing the first letter of a word in a sentence, then you’re in the right place.

This article will show you how to disable first letter capitalization in the Word app of the Microsoft Office suite.

How to Disable Automatic Letter Capitalization in Word

This tutorial demonstrates turning off automatic first letter capitalization on Word for Mac, but the steps should be the same for Microsoft Word on a Windows PC or Mac:

  1. Open Word if you have not done so already and create a new document or open any Word doc
  2. Pull down the “Tools” menu and choose “Autocorrect”
  3. How to disable Word automatically capitalizing first letter of a sentence

  4. Locate the setting for “Capitalize first letter of sentences” and uncheck the box next to it
  5. How to disable capitalizing first letter automatically in Word

  6. Close out of Autocorrect settings and use Word as usual, the first letter of a new sentence will no longer automatically capitalize

Now you can type a new sentence or any word after a period and it will no longer automatically capitalize the first letter of a word after a period. Instead you’ll be using the Shift key to capitalize words yourself, as is the case with most other apps and typing experiences.

Some people really enjoy this feature because they feel it makes their typing a bit quicker or less prone to typographical errors, whereas some other people absolutely hate it because it’s not always appropriate to capitalize the first letter of a word at the start of a new sentence or after a period. Auto-capitalization can be particularly annoying if you’re comparing versions of Word documents side-by-side and you’re editing or rewording sentences and the auto-capitalization feature can kick in during that editing process, leaving you with more corrections necessary. Another situation where some people really don’t like the feature is if you frequently switch between multiple word processing apps (Word, Pages, LibreOffice, etc) and want the same general behavior to exist across all apps, particularly in regards to capitalizing words and using the Shift key.

Note this is an Office and Word specific setting, so changing this here will have no impact on other apps or the computer in general.

You’ll find that Office apps and Word have many other autocorrect options and settings available, each of which is separate from the universal Mac OS autocorrect setting that can be disabled systemwide but will not apply to app-specific autocorrect settings like those found in Word or even Pages and TextEdit, and the Mail app, which also have unique app-specific autocorrect options.

Did you find this helpful? Do you know any other particularly great Word tips or tricks? Share them in the comments! And you can find more helpful Microsoft Word tips here too.

names of people, names of countries, rivers, seas, oceans, brands, cities, animal nicknames) are always written with a capital letter:

  • That’s Alice, my cousin.
  • I studied in Kiev.
  • My friend drives a Porsche.
  • He sailed in the Pacific Ocean.
  • We always wanted to see the Alps.

What adjectives will always capitalize in English?

The names of nationalities and languages ​​begin with a capital letter. Most often it is the same adjective: Russian — the adjective «Russian» and the noun «Russian person» French — «French» and «French»

The general rule is that you should always capitalize the first word and often nouns, pronouns, verbs (including is and other forms of the verb to be), adjectives (including this and that) and adverbs (including then and when ) in the titles of books, films, productions, paintings, magazines, songs.

How do you spell a capital letter in English?

English alphabet (English Alphabet). English alphabet letters

capital letter Lowercase letter Pronunciation
I i [ai]
J j [ʤei]
K k [kei]
L l [el]

What does the English letter I look like?

The British version is [zɛd] “zed”, the American version is [zi:] “zi”. The most common letters are E and T, and the rarest letters are Z and Q.

English alphabet. English Alphabet.

Letter Transcription Pronunciation
D d [diː] ди
E e [iː] и
F f [ɛf] eff
G g [dʒiː] Ji

How do you spell the capital A in English?

Modern English alphabet letters

number Uppercase letter Pronunciation of the name of the letter (IPA)
1 A [eɪ]
2 B [biː]
3 C [siː]
4 D [diː]

Why do the English write I with a capital letter?

Many people believe that the English I — I is written with a capital letter because of the arrogance and selfishness of the British. However, the real reason for this spelling is different. Until the XNUMXth century, «I» in English was ic, and in German ich. … That is why they began to distinguish it with a capital letter, which has survived to this day.

When is you capitalized?

In Russian, we separate «you» in the plural and respectful «you» in the singular by capitalizing the latter. In English, the same semantic difference remains, but you do not need to write with a capital letter in business letters. Thus, only God is addressed in religious texts.

What words are capitalized?

With a capital (capital) letters are written:

  • The first word in a sentence.
  • Names, patronymics and surnames.
  • Animal nicknames.
  • The names of cities and rivers, countries and seas, villages, villages, streets.

When should I capitalize in English?

The capital letter in English is used in words that begin a sentence, regardless of the part of speech to which this word belongs. There is my house.

When is Russian written with a capital letter?

Actually, the names of all languages ​​in our country are written with a lowercase letter. I started to write about Russian, but all the same I can’t do without comparison with other languages. In many languages ​​of the world, their own names, and the names of other languages, are written with a capital letter.

What is small letter in English?

small letter in English translates as minuscule (total translations: 1).

How do you spell the capital letter G?

English alphabet, approximate auditory correspondence of English and Russian sounds

Letter Letter name Sound
E e and [i:] [i :, e]
F f eff [ef] [f]
G g ji [Gi:] [G, g]
H h hi [eiC] [H]
  • EM

  • Articles

  • Style

  • Capitalization

Summary

Capitalize the first, last, and all major words in a book title, headline, or first-level heading. Major words are all words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (on, in, of, etc.), coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, etc.), and the word to. This capitalization style is called title case.

Examples

  • Title case: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
  • Title case: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Capitalize lower-level headings using sentence case, in which only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized (the words that you would normally capitalize in a sentence).

Examples

  • Sentence case: The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
  • Sentence case: The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Style guides like the AP Stylebook, Chicago Manual of Style, APA Publication Manual, and MLA Handbook prescribe additional rules, discussed in this article.

Capitalization styles

Headings and titles of books, movies, TV shows, articles, and other works can be capitalized using either title case (also called headline style or up style) or sentence case (sentence style or down style).

Examples

  • Title case: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
    Sentence case: How the Grinch stole Christmas
  • Title case: The Idea of Perfection
    Sentence case: The idea of perfection
  • Title case: How to Be a Better Writer
    Sentence case: How to be a better writer

Titles of books, movies, and other works; names of periodicals and magazines; chapter headings; and titles of articles and blog posts are usually capitalized using title case. Sentence-case capitalization is used for second-level headings and lower.

News headlines have traditionally been capitalized using title case, although these days, sentence case is often used, especially online.

In this article, we discuss the general rules of title-case capitalization and then review any additional rules and exceptions prescribed by the major style manuals.

Title case: General rules

Here are the general rules for capitalizing headlines and titles of books, movies, reports, articles, and other works:

  1. Capitalize the first word and last word of a title.
  2. Capitalize all major words, which are all words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (e.g., on, in, of, at), and coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, and nor; also for, yet, and so when used as conjunctions).
  3. Always lowercase the word to.
  4. Capitalize the first element of a hyphenated term. Capitalize any subsequent elements only if they are major words.
  5. Capitalize the first word of a subheading following a colon.
  6. Break a rule if you need to—for example, if a preposition is emphasized in a title, capitalize it.

Title case rules explained

Capitalize all major words—all words except articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions.

Examples

  • Love in the Time of Cholera
  • Three Men in a Boat
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  • Requiem for a Dream
  • Catch Me If You Can
  • The Portrait of a Lady
  • The Way We Live Now
  • The Girl Who Played with Fire
  • Men without Women
  • The Ground beneath Her Feet
  • Everything Is Illuminated

Capitalize the first and last words of a title, no matter what they are.

Examples

  • A Clockwork Orange
  • The Mill on the Floss
  • In Search of Lost Time
  • Through a Glass Darkly
  • From Blood and Ash
  • But What If There’s No Chimney?
  • And Then There Were None
  • Something to Answer For
  • Something to Believe In
  • All We Dream Of
  • Where We Come From

Caution

It may not always be clear at first glance whether a word should be capitalized. Check what function it serves in the title.

Examples

  • Capitalize over as an adverb, but lowercase it as a preposition.

    Adverb: The Soup Boiled

    O

    ver

    Preposition: The Light

    o

    ver London

  • Capitalize yet
    as an adverb, but lowercase it as a conjunction.

    Adverb: Are We There

    Y

    et?

    Conjunction: Broke

    y

    et Happy

Always lowercase the word to.

Examples

  • Train to Busan
  • Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
  • A Good Man Is Hard to Find

In a hyphenated term, capitalize the first element, but capitalize the following elements only if they are major words.

Examples

  • The Man-Eater of Malgudi

    Eater is a noun and should be capitalized.

  • The Academy’s Out-of-Uniform Procedure

    Lowercase of, which is a preposition, but capitalize uniform, a noun.

  • The Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Fairies
  • The Thirty-Nine Steps
  • The Anti-Inflammatory Diet Cookbook
  • Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World
  • The Fire-Breathing Dragon

Capitalize the first word of a subtitle or subheading following a colon.

Examples

  • Computer: A History of the Information Machine
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
  • The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction
  • A Memoir: Of Mermaids and Waterfalls

Break a rule if you must. If a word is emphasized in a title, capitalize it, even if it is not a major word.

Examples

  • How to Be the Go-To Person in Your Organization
  • A Run-In with Religion and Other True Stories
  • Is It OK to Use And at the Start of a Sentence?

Tip

Capitalize all the words that make up a phrasal verb. (A phrasal verb comprises a verb and a preposition, which together form a single verb with its own meaning.)

Examples

  • What to Do When You Run Into Someone You Don’t Like
  • How to Set Up Your Spaceship’s AI
  • Don’t Put Off Being Happy

Be and is in a title

Capitalize verbs, including the be verb in all its forms: be, is, are, was, were.

Examples

  • There Will Be Blood
  • Tender Is the Night
  • Where the Wild Things Are
  • Then She Was Gone
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God

Also capitalize the have and do verbs in all their forms: have, has, had, do, does, did.

Examples

  • The Heart Has Its Reasons
  • Owls Do Cry
  • What Katy Did
  • Inequality: What Can Be Done?

That in a title

The word that is always a major word and should be capitalized. (In most titles, it is used as a relative pronoun.)

Examples

  • Companies That Fleece Their Customers
  • The House That Jack Built

It and me in a title

Capitalize all pronouns, including it, my, me, we, our, you, he, his, she, her, they, them, and who.

Examples

  • How It All Began
  • Some of My Favorite Things
  • The Best We Can Do
  • The General in His Labyrinth
  • The Woman Who Did

No and not in a title

Capitalize the words no and not (a determiner and an adverb) whenever these words appear in titles.

Examples

  • Beasts of No Nation
  • Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

AP and APA style

The APA Publication Manual (used in academic editing, especially the social sciences) and the AP Stylebook (preferred in journalism, media, and corporate communication) both specify one major exception to the general rules:

Capitalize all words of four letters or more, even if they are prepositions.

Examples

  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
  • The Girl Who Played With Fire
  • Men Without Women
  • The Ground Beneath Her Feet
  • So Far From God
  • Once Upon a Time in the West
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • The Light Between Oceans
  • The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
  • A Woman Under the Influence
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
  • The World Until Yesterday
  • but

  • The Man in the Brown Suit
  • The Wizard of Oz
  • A Home for Lunatics
  • The Woman on the Beach

Thus, in APA and AP style, words four letters or longer are always capitalized, regardless of function. Note that the other general rules apply as usual. Capitalize any major words, even if they are three letters or shorter: be, has, had, do, did, me, who, my, etc.

Examples

  • We Should All Be Feminists
  • If I Had Your Face
  • Marley and Me
  • The Man Who Sold His Ferrari

Another exception is that all conjunctions three letters or shorter are lowercased. Thus, in APA and AP style, lowercase not only the seven coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, nor, for, yet, so) but also subordinating conjunctions up to three letters long (which pretty much boils down to the word if).

Examples

  • Pride and Prejudice
  • I’d Tell You I Love You, but Then I’d Have to Kill You
  • Catch Me if You Can

Also, do lowercase articles and any prepositions up to three letters long: a, an, the, for, in, of, to, etc.

Examples

  • The Bridge on the River Kwai
  • Stranger in a Strange Land
  • The Catcher in the Rye
  • A House for Mr. Biswas

Finally, in AP Style, the first and last words are capitalized as usual, regardless of length.

Examples

  • An American Tragedy
  • The Invisible Man
  • As I Lay Dying
  • Of Human Bondage
  • On the Waterfront
  • For the Green Planet
  • Something to Answer For
  • These Times We Live In

However, in APA style, the last word is capitalized only if it is a major word or longer than three letters.

Examples

  • Something to Answer for
  • These Times We Live in

    In APA style, lowercase prepositions, unless they are four letters or longer.

Chicago style

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, the conjunctions to be lowercased are and, or, nor, but, and for. All others are capitalized. Thus, the words yet and so are capitalized regardless of function. The word if is also always capitalized.

Examples

  • Sense and Sensibility
  • The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
  • but

  • Though We Be Dead, Yet Our Day Will Come
  • Even If We Break

In a hyphenated phrase, if the first element is merely a prefix that could not stand by itself (e.g., anti-, pre-, non-), don’t capitalize the second part.

Examples

  • The Anti-inflammatory Diet Cookbook
  • Since the prefix anti- can’t stand by itself, don’t capitalize the second part of the hyphenated term.

    but

  • The Thirty-Nine Steps

    The word thirty can stand by itself, so capitalize nine as well.

Remember to capitalize not just the first but also the last word of a title or heading, even if it is not a major word.

Examples

  • The Things We Believe In

    Capitalize the last word, even a preposition.

  • Only One Way Through
  • It’s You I’m Dreaming Of

MLA style

The MLA Handbook (used in academic writing for the humanities) specifies no exceptions to the general rules.

Examples

  • These Times We Live In
  • A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
  • The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Sentence case

In sentence case, a title is written as a sentence would be: the first word and all proper nouns are capitalized. This capitalization style is generally used for headings that are second level or lower. These days, it is also increasingly being used for online news headlines.

Examples

  • Clear light of day
  • We need to talk about Kevin
  • The quiet American

The first word of a subtitle or subheading that follows a colon is also capitalized.

Examples

  • Traveling with ghosts: A memoir
  • Understanding comics: The invisible art

If a title begins with a numeral, lowercase the next word.

Examples

  • 27 books to read before you die
  • Practice guidelines for the pickling of pineapples: 2019 update

Professional and social titles that precede a name are capitalized as well.

Example

  • The island of Doctor Moreau
  • The strange life of President Farley
  • The story of Father Femy and his music

For more on which words to capitalize in a sentence, see this article on capitalization.

Differences in AP, APA, Chicago, MLA rules

In title case, the first word, proper nouns, and major words of a title or heading are capitalized. Style manuals differ in their guidelines on what qualifies as a “major” word. Here’s a quick summary of the key differences between the popular styles.

In both AP and APA styles, capitalize prepositions four letters or longer. In Chicago and MLA, lowercase all prepositions, regardless of length.

Examples

  • APA, AP: The Girl From Mars
    Chicago, MLA: The Girl from Mars
  • but

  • APA, AP, Chicago, MLA: The Woman in Red

Lowercase not just coordinating but also subordinating conjunctions shorter than four letters in AP and APA styles; capitalize all subordinating conjunctions in Chicago and MLA.

Example

  • APA, AP: Isolate if You Are Sick
    Chicago, MLA: Isolate If You Are Sick

Capitalize the words yet and so in Chicago style. In the other styles, lowercase them when they are used as conjunctions, but capitalize when they are adverbs.

Examples

  • Chicago: Broke Yet Happy
    APA, AP, MLA: Broke yet Happy
  • but

  • Chicago, APA, AP, MLA: Am I Normal Yet?

Capitalize the last word of the title in AP, Chicago, and MLA styles even if it is not a major word; in APA, capitalize the last word only if it is a major word. (But remember that the APA Publication Manual considers all words four letters or longer major words.)

Examples

  • Chicago, MLA, AP: Something to Answer For
    APA: Something to Answer for
  • but

  • Chicago, MLA, APA, AP: The Places We Come From

In all four styles, capitalize the first word (whatever it may be), and lowercase articles.

Example

  • APA, AP, Chicago, MLA: The Girl Who Found a Dragon Egg

English Capitalization Rules:

  1. Capitalize the First Word of a Sentence.
  2. Capitalize Names and Other Proper Nouns.
  3. Don’t Capitalize After a Colon (Usually)
  4. Capitalize the First Word of a Quote (Sometimes)
  5. Capitalize Days, Months, and Holidays, But Not Seasons.
  6. Capitalize Most Words in Titles.

Contents

  • 1 What are the 10 rules of capitalization?
  • 2 How do you write capital correctly?
  • 3 How do I use capital letters in Word?
  • 4 What are the 4 reasons to use capital letters?
  • 5 What are 5 rules of capitalization?
  • 6 How do you write capital letters on a computer?
  • 7 What are the seven main uses of capital letters?
  • 8 How do you capital letters in Excel?
  • 9 Why is shift F3 not working?
  • 10 Why do we write capital letters?
  • 11 Do capital letters matter in email address?
  • 12 Should I be written in capital letters?
  • 13 Do you capitalize president of a club?
  • 14 Do you put capital letter after comma?
  • 15 Does a capital come after?
  • 16 Do you capitalize job titles in a sentence?
  • 17 What capital letter means?
  • 18 How do you capitalize the first letter on a laptop?
  • 19 What is it called when you capitalize every word?
  • 20 Why is Grandpa Joe capitalized?

What are the 10 rules of capitalization?

What are the 10 rules of capitalization?

  • Capitalize the first word of a sentence.
  • Capitalize proper nouns and names.
  • Capitalize the majority of titles.
  • Capitalize events and periods.
  • Capitalize “I” as a pronoun.
  • Capitalize any locations and direct addresses.
  • Capitalize family relationships.

How do you write capital correctly?

We always write the first person pronoun as a capital I.
Use a capital letter for days of the week, months of the year, holidays:

  1. Monday, Tuesday.
  2. January, February.
  3. Christmas.
  4. Armistice Day.

How do I use capital letters in Word?

How to change uppercase and lowercase text in Microsoft Word

  1. Highlight all the text you want to change.
  2. Hold down the Shift and press F3 .
  3. When you hold Shift and press F3, the text toggles from sentence case (first letter uppercase and the rest lowercase), to all uppercase (all capital letters), and then all lowercase.

What are the 4 reasons to use capital letters?

Capital letters are useful signals for a reader.
Capital Letters

  • Capitals signal the start of a new sentence.
  • Capitals show important words in a title.
  • Capitals signal proper names and titles.

What are 5 rules of capitalization?

English Capitalization Rules:

  • Capitalize the First Word of a Sentence.
  • Capitalize Names and Other Proper Nouns.
  • Don’t Capitalize After a Colon (Usually)
  • Capitalize the First Word of a Quote (Sometimes)
  • Capitalize Days, Months, and Holidays, But Not Seasons.
  • Capitalize Most Words in Titles.

How do you write capital letters on a computer?

For capital letters, hold down the ‘shift’ key and hold and type the letter. For symbols at the top of a number key, press down the symbol key and then type the symbol. You can use the ‘shift’ key to type any symbol at the top of a key. The ‘caps lock’ key allows you to write in capital letters.

What are the seven main uses of capital letters?

  • CAPITALIZATION.
  • Capitalize the first word in a sentence or a direct quote.
  • Capitalize the names of commercial products.
  • Capitalize names that show family relationships or titles when they can be replaced with a proper noun.
  • Original Sentence: Cannot Be Replaced with:

How do you capital letters in Excel?

In cell B2, type =PROPER(A2), then press Enter. This formula converts the name in cell A2 from uppercase to proper case. To convert the text to lowercase, type =LOWER(A2) instead. Use =UPPER(A2) in cases where you need to convert text to uppercase, replacing A2 with the appropriate cell reference.

Why is shift F3 not working?

Shift F3 Not Working When The “Fn” Key Is Locked
2.Fn + Caps Lock. Fn + Lock Key (A keyboard key with only a lock icon on it) Press and Hold the Fn key to enable/disable.

Why do we write capital letters?

As capitalization rules evolved after the invention of the printing press in the 1700s, the letter I retained its capitalization, but none of the personal pronouns received the same special treatment. The letter I continues to be capitalized because it is the only single-letter pronoun.

Do capital letters matter in email address?

No. Email addresses are not case sensitive. Having letters in all lowercase makes the email address easier to read, but the oversight won’t stop your messages from being delivered.

Should I be written in capital letters?

The word ‘I’ is not a proper noun, it’s a pronoun. In English ‘I’ is always capitalised. In many other languages the equivalent word is not capitalised.

Do you capitalize president of a club?

According to English capitalization rules, proper nouns are always capitalized. Therefore, when referring to a person with the title President, always capitalize the word.

Do you put capital letter after comma?

No. You don’t have to capitalize words after commas everytime. Only when there is a proper noun (a name of an individual person, place, organization, etc) after a comma, you have to capitalize it.

Does a capital come after?

If the word that comes after a colon or semi-colon is a proper name, you definitely would capitalize it.To put it slightly differently, you aren’t starting a new sentence when you use a colon or semi-colon, so you would only use capitals in the places you ordinarily would.

Do you capitalize job titles in a sentence?

Titles should be capitalized, but references to the job are not. For instance, if you are using a job title as a direct address, it should be capitalized.Title references that immediately precede the person’s name should also be capitalized.

What capital letter means?

Capital letters, also called upper-case letters, are larger than, and often formed differently from, lower-case letters. Capital letters are used at the beginning of a sentence or a proper name and may be used to show respect.

How do you capitalize the first letter on a laptop?

Change case

  1. Select the text for which you want to change the case.
  2. Go to Home > Change case .
  3. 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.

What is it called when you capitalize every word?

CamelCase Words are written without spaces, and the first letter of each word is capitalized. Also called Upper Camel Case or Pascal Casing.

Why is Grandpa Joe capitalized?

Why is “Grandpa Joe” capitalized? It’s a general version of a word. It’s a proper noun. It’s not a specific person’s name.

In English, most of the time, we write with lower case letters:

List of small letters / lower case letters:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

We use capital letters for specific situations.

List of capital letters / upper case letters:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In this lesson, you will learn the main rules for when to use capital letters.

The first letter of a sentence or speech

The fist letter of the first word of a sentence or speech is always a capital letter.

Examples:
The man was hungry. He said “Do you have any sandwiches?”

The personal subject pronoun “I” (first person singular) is always a capital letter.

Examples:

Jane thinks that I drink too much coffee. correct
Jane thinks that i drink too much coffee. wrong

She also thinks that I’m a good teacher. correct
She also thinks that i’m a good teacher. wrong

Days of the week

The first letter of the days of the week is always a capital letter.

The days of the week in English:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Example:
They watched a football match last Saturday.

Months of the year

The first letter of the months of the year is also a capital letter.

The 12 months of the year in English:
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December

Example:
London is very cold in December.

Countries, nationalities and languages

The first letter of all countries, nationalities and languages is a capital letter.

Examples:

David is going to Brazil to learn Portuguese.
David likes Brazilian food.

Towns, states, continents and other geographical divisions

Examples:
Here is London.
One of the biggest states in America is Texas.

The names of the continents are:
Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Australia.

Names of rivers, lakes, canals, mountains

Names of rivers, lakes, canals, mountains always start with a capital letter.

Examples:
This river is called the River Thames
This lake is called Lake Michigan
This mountain is called Mount Fuji

Names of streets, buildings, monuments and parks

Tower Bridge

The name of this bridge is Tower Bridge.
This park is called Central Park.
There are lots of shops on Oxford Street in London.

People’s names and titles

Examples:
My doctor is called Doctor Jones.

Sergeant
This is Sergeant Smith.

We often write people’s titles as an abbreviation.

Mrs = married woman
Miss = single woman
Mr = man

The first letter of the abbreviation starts with a capital letter.

Example:
My teacher is called Mr Gibson.

Holidays / festivals

We write the names of holidays and festivals with the first letter as a capital letter.

Some common holidays and festivals are:
Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, New Year, Ramadan, Yom Kippur.

Example:
They are very excited about Christmas.

Names of religions

We write the names of religions with a capital letter as the first letter of the word.

Some common religions are:
Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism

Example:
One of the main religions in England is Christianity.

Names of companies, organisations and trademarks

Examples:
Ford, Microsoft, Coca Cola, British Airways and many others.
This car was made by Volkswagen.

Abbreviations and acronyms

Examples:
This is the flag of the USA.
USA = United States of America

The UN headquarters is in New York.
UN = United Nations

Titles of articles, books, films, poems, songs and plays

There are no real grammar rules for the capitalisation of titles. We use style guides. For example, journalists who write articles for the BBC website follow a style guide given to them by the BBC. It is important to be consistent.

Here is a style guide used by many English-speaking journalists for writing titles:

Use capitals for the first letter of:
– the first word
– nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs

Use lower case for the first letter of the following words:
a, and, at, for, from, in, of, on, the, to (except if it is the first word of the title)

Example title following the above style guide:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”

Other lessons

How to use DO and MAKE in English
Prepositions of place IN, ON and AT
Types of English abbreviations
IELTS tips from Carol

Video lesson

Here is the lesson on the Crown Academy of English Youtube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe!

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