Punctuation Department · Today with The Mayor

Capitalization

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Capitalization

The Mayor teaches this column himself. Work through each capitalization job below, then take the quiz.

Begin every sentence with a capital letter

The first word of a sentence begins with a capital letter, and the pronoun I is capitalized everywhere it appears. The sentence opens with the capital and closes with an end mark (see Officer Period).

In a sentence

Yesterday I read for an hour.

Now you try

The first word always gets a capital. The word I does too, wherever it lands.

Capitalize the names of specific things

A proper noun names something specific and begins with a capital letter. Holidays (Thanksgiving), product and brand names (Honeycrisp), and geographic names (Denver) are proper nouns, so each important word is capitalized.

In a sentence

Our class visited Boston in April.

Now you try

A proper noun names a specific one. You could try Maria, Denver, Tuesday, or July.

Capitalize the important words in a title

In the title of a work, capitalize the first word, the last word, and all the important words. Short words such as articles, conjunctions, and prepositions (a, an, the, and, or, of, in) stay lowercase unless they are the first or last word.

In a sentence

She read Charlotte's Web in one night.

My favorite movie is The Lion King.

Now you try

Capitalize the first word, the last word, and every important word; small words like a, the, and of stay lowercase.

A capital marks what is special

A capital letter begins a sentence, marks a proper noun, and opens the important words in a title. In every job it marks the word as specific or important.

In a sentence

She read Matilda on Sunday.

Now you try

A sentence start, a name, or a title word. Each capital marks something special.