How to use Capital Letters

1. Capital letters are always placed at the beginning of a sentence, and they are used for all proper nouns (that is, things with names).

He entered the room, accompanied by James Bowman.

2. They are used when a particular thing is being named. For instance -

days Wednesday, Friday

places East Anglia

rivers the river Mersey

buildings the Tate Gallery

institutions the Catholic Church

firms British Aerospace

organisations the National Trust

months April, September

3. However, when such terms are used as adjectives or in a general sense, no capital is required:

He was reading the King James Bible.
The passage contained a biblical reference.

She went to Manchester University.
Thus, she received a university education.

4. Capitals are used when describing intellectual movements or well-known periods of history:

Freudian Platonism Cartesian
The Middle Ages the Reformation

5. They are also used in the titles of books, plays, films, newspapers, magazines, songs, and works of art in general.

A View from the Bridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge
North by Northwest
The Marriage of Figaro

6. The normal convention is to capitalise the first word and any nouns or important terms. Smaller words such as 'and', 'of', and 'the' are left uncapitalised.

Stylewriter is a software program which offers help with writing skills such as summarising, editing, and proof-reading your work. It also offers a selection of writing styles to choose from - academic writing, journalism, formal prose, and so on. Mistakes and suggestions for improvement are highlighted and implemented with a click of the button. Immediate download. Very popular.

7. The convention for presenting titles in French is to capitalise only the first or the first main word of a title.

A la recherche du temps perdu
La Force des choses

8. However, there are many exceptions to this convention.

Le Rouge et le Noir
Entre la Vie et la Mort

9. In German, all nouns are given capitals.

Reallexikon zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte
Also sprach Zarathustra

10. Works written in English which have foreign titles are normally capitalised according to the English convention.

Fors Clavigera Religio Medici

11. Here's an interesting case! Capitals are not used for the seasons of the year.

autumn winter spring summer

12. Geographic names are capitalized if they are part of the title of an area or a political division, but not if they are descriptions in general terms.

It is a town in South West Africa.
Later we visited southern Scotland.

13. Trade names, products, and brands are given capitals.

Jaguar Kleenex Microsoft Hoover

Improve your Writing Skills shows you how to develop the quality and effectiveness of your writing. Packed with good examples and handy hints, it features clear advice written in non-technical language, and quick solutions to common problems. Suitable for anybody writing reports, business proposals, memos, or academic documents. This will help you to clarify and sharpen your written communication skills.

Home - Books - Reviews - Tutorials - Software - Download - Orders - Newsletter