Word writing in capitals

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Capitalization or capitalisation in English grammar is the use of a capital letter at the head of a word. English usage varies from capitalization in other languages.

History of English capitalization[edit]

Old English did not have a distinction between uppercase and lowercase, and at best had embossed or decorated letters indicating sections. Middle English capitalization in manuscripts remained haphazard, and was often done for visual aesthetics more than grammar; in poetry, the first letter of each line of verse is often capitalized. With the development of the printing press in Europe and England capitalization of initial letters and proper nouns became more regularized,^[1] perhaps partly to distinguish new sentences in a time where punctuation remained sparse and irregularly used. The plays of Shakespeare show capitalization both of new lines and sentences, proper nouns, and some significant common nouns and verbs.^[2]

By the era of Early Modern English, with the influence of continental printing practices after the English Restoration in 1660, printing began to favor more and more capitalization of nouns following German typography. The first lines of the U.S. Constitution of 1787 show major capitalization of most nouns:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.^[3]

But by the end of the 18th century with the growth of prescriptive dictionaries and style manuals for English usage, the practice faded in Britain so that by the beginning of the 19th century common nouns were only occasionally capitalized, such as in advertisements. Yet the style lasted as late as the Civil War era in the United States, as some of Emily Dickinson’s poems still capitalize many common nouns.^[4]

When to capitalize[edit]

Capital letters are used:

1. at the beginning of a sentence. This in printing is known as sentence case, where the first letter of the sentence is capitalized, and all others are lower case with the exception of proper nouns. In printing normal sentence case may be substituted by UPPER CASE or «all caps» (all letters are capitalized), and Title Case (where the first letter of each word is capitalized). Capitals are sometimes used and sometimes not used after a colon,^[5] although they are used in some citation systems such as APA style when beginning an independent clause.
2. with some nouns, pronouns and adjectives, usually if a noun indicates a proper noun.^[6][7]
   • pronoun «I». One theory for this unusual usage is that in early printing lowercase i was confused with words using i as a past participle marker or first letter.
   • personal and place names: «John», «Mr. Smith», «Amsterdam», «Europe», «Mount Everest», «the Ganges».
   • compass directions when referring to geographical regions: «Western Canada», «I was raised in the South», but not for points on a compass: «London is west of Berlin».^[8]
   • nouns and adjectives referring to races, tribes, nationalities, and languages: «Arabic», «Inuit», «French».^[9]
   • national and regional adjectives: «an American» (noun), «an American man» (adjective).
   • school subjects and courses: «He passed History this term», «She is taking Chemistry 101».^[10]
   • religions: «an Anglican curate», «a Catholic church» (adjective), but not «a catholic gesture» in the sense of «universal or in sexism.»
   • the Supreme Being, deities and personifications: «God», «Providence», «Fame».^[11][12][13]
   • reverential pronouns: «His, Him» when referring to God or Christ.^[14][15]
   • days and months: «Monday», «January», but not seasons such as «autumn».
   • brand names: «Toyota», «Nike», «Coca-Cola», unless the brand itself is purposely not capitalized or unusually capitalized: «iPhone», «eBay».
   • royal titles: «King George III» but «kings and queens of England»,^[16][17] but only sometimes ‘sir’ or ‘madam’.^[18]
   • planets and other celestial bodies: «Jupiter», «the Crab Nebula»; and «the Earth», «the Sun», or «the Moon» should be capitalized according to the International Astronomical Union based on its manual of style, but style guides may suggest differently.^[19]
   • words which change their meaning between capitalized and uncapitalized usage, such as «liberal» and «Liberal», are called capitonyms: Compare «A man of liberal tastes» and «The leader of the Liberal Party» (as with «catholic» above).
   • in legal documents, where the full name of an individual or body is later referred to in short form, in order to avoid ambiguity: «John Smith (the Plaintiff)», «Exxon-Mobil Corporation (the Company)».

Title capitalization in different styles[edit]

Depending on which style guide is used for capitalization, certain rules regarding specific words, such as prepositions, nouns, and pronouns, apply. In titles, the following words need to be capitalized according to each of the following style guides:^[20]

APA[edit]

APA Style is a “down” style, meaning that words are lowercase unless there is specific guidance to capitalize them such as words beginning a sentence; proper nouns and trade names; job titles and positions; diseases, disorders, therapies, theories, and related terms; titles of works and headings within works; titles of tests and measures; nouns followed by numerals or letters; names of conditions or groups in an experiment; and names of study factors, variables, and effects.
^[21]

MLA[edit]

• Capitalize words that are four letters or longer.
• Capitalize nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns.
• Capitalize the second part of hyphenated words.

Chicago Manual of Style[edit]

• Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
• Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.^[22]

Associated Press (AP)[edit]

• Capitalize words with three or more letters.
• Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
• Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.

Capitalization of multi-word place names, institutions, and titles of works[edit]

English usage is not consistent, but generally prepositions and articles are not capitalized: «the Forest of Dean», «Gone with the Wind», «University of Southampton». With some publications «The» forms part of the title: «reading The Times».^[23] For a more detailed explanation see Capitalization § Titles.

Capitalization of acronyms and initialisms[edit]

Generally acronyms and initialisms are capitalized, e.g., «NASA» or «SOS.» Sometimes a minor word such as a preposition is not capitalized within the acronym, such as «WoW» for «World of Warcraft». In some British English style guides, only the initial letter of an acronym is capitalized if the acronym is read as a word, e.g., «Unesco.»^[24]

See also[edit]

• Capitalization
• All caps (used to shout, and on some signage)
• Alternating caps (used to express a sarcastic or mocking tone)
• Capitalization of Internet
• Letter case: Headings and publication titles

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Capitalization in English at the UnitedNations.org

We can write each letter of the English alphabet as a small letter (abc…) or as a large or capital letter (ABC…). Here is a full list of capital letters.

In English, we do NOT use capital letters very much. We use them mainly for the first letter of sentences, names, days and months as well as for some abbreviations. We always write the first person pronoun as a capital I.

It is not usual to write whole sentences in capitals. A sentence or paragraph written in capitals is very difficult to read. Did you ever see a book written in capital letters? Of course not! We cannot easily read lots of text in capital letters. Lawyers, for example, know that capitals are difficult to read and that is why they often write contracts in capital letters!

When do we Use Capital Letters?

1. Use a capital letter for the personal pronoun ‘I’:

• What can I say?

2. Use a capital letter to begin a sentence or to begin speech:

• The man arrived. He sat down.
• Suddenly Mary asked, «Do you love me?»

3. Use capital letters for many abbreviations and acronyms:

• G.M.T. or GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
• N.A.T.O. or NATO or Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

4. Use a capital letter for days of the week, months of the year, holidays:

• Monday, Tuesday
• January, February
• Christmas
• Armistice Day

5. Use a capital letter for countries, languages & nationalities, religions:

• China, France
• Japanese, English
• Christianity, Buddhism

6. Use a capital letter for people’s names and titles:

• Anthony, Ram, William Shakespeare
• Professor Jones, Dr Smith
• Captain Kirk, King Henry VIII

7. Use a capital letter for trade-marks and names of companies and other organizations:

• Pepsi Cola, Walkman
• Microsoft Corporation, Toyota
• the United Nations, the Red Cross

8. Use a capital letter for places and monuments:

• London, Paris, the Latin Quarter
• the Eiffel Tower, St Paul’s Cathedral
• Buckingham Palace, the White House
• Oxford Street, Fifth Avenue
• Jupiter, Mars, Sirius
• Asia, the Middle East, the North Pole

9. Use a capital letter for names of vehicles like ships, trains and spacecraft:

• the Titanic
• the Orient Express, the Flying Scotsman
• Challenger 2, the Enterprise

10. Use a capital letter for titles of books, poems, songs, plays, films etc:

• War And Peace
• If, Futility
• Like a Virgin
• The Taming of the Shrew
• The Lion King, Gone With The Wind

11. Use capital letters (sometimes!) for headings, titles of articles, books etc, and newspaper headlines:

• HOW TO WIN AT POKER
• Chapter 2: CLINTON’S EARLY LIFE
• LIFE FOUND ON MARS!
• MAN BITES DOG

Why is Solid Text in Capital Letters (ALL CAPS) Difficult to Read?

Why are texts written completely in capitals more difficult to read than texts in the usual mix of capital and small letters? There are several reasons, including:

• At least for native English speakers, children usually learn to read and write small letters before capital letters.
• In English, capital letters give us many visual clues, such as the start of a sentence or a proper noun.
• For the same type size, capital letters are usually wider than small letters and therefore take up more space, causing the eye to travel further.
• Words written in capital letters have no «shape». Words with small letters go up and down. Some small letters have «ascenders» (like the letter b). They go up. Some small letters have «descenders» (like the letter p). They go down. Some small letters have no ascender or descender. They stay in the middle. So small letters vary in height. But all capital letters are the same height (BP). When we read text, especially when we read fast, we do not read each individual letter. Instead, we read whole words and phrases. And we recognize these words and phrases partly by their shape.

Word Shape

A word written with small letters has a special «shape». Look at these words. They have different shapes:

But a word written all in capital letters has no special shape. Look at these words. They have the same shape:

The I Song

This fun song by Jonathan Taylor is about the importance of using a «capital I» for the personal pronoun «I», as in:

• Do you know where I live?
  (NOT «Do you know where i live?«)
• I think I‘m going to sleep.
  (NOT «I think i’m going to sleep.«)

Contributor: Jonathan Taylor

The I Song LYRICS

Hi, I am the I
And when I’m alone
I reach the sky

I said hi,
I am the I
And when I’m alone
I stand high

But baby when
I’m walking
beside you
That’s when
you need to
think

Yeah baby when
I’m walking
hand-in-hand
in your word
That’s when I
need to shrink

I said hi,
I’m the I

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.

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.

1. Select the text you want to change.

2. Go to Home > More Font Options > Change case.

   

3. Choose the case you want to use.

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.

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.