Capital Letters

English Literacy for All Using Capital letters Nigel Mitchell . Capital letters are an important part of language. They tell us something about the words in which they appear. As with many things, the use of capital letters in modern English has become less standard, but it is useful for everyone to know what the rules are, even if we will see many examples of them being broken. Capital letters are used in these ways: The first word of a sentence He is going for a ride in the car tomorrow. Once upon a time, in a land far away, a boy set out on a journey. The pronoun "I" The thing I liked best about the circus was the performing clowns. Everyone thought he was wonderful, but I knew better. Proper nouns (the names of specific people, places, and organizations) Nelson Mandela Madonna Sydney Hawaii India Toyota Greenpeace The names of countries, nationalities, and specific languages Nepal Japanese Hindi Using Capital letters This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/au/or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA The names of God, specific deities, religious figures, and holy books God the Father the Talmud the Virgin Mary Shiva Buddha Abraham Zeus Exception: Do not capitalize the non-specific use of the word "god." The word "polytheistic" means the worship of more than one god. The prophets warned against the dangers of worshipping other gods. Titles preceding names or used by themselves (but not titles that are used to describe someone). He was the administrative assistant of Mayor Johnson. We waited for the arrival of the president. She went to visit Jane Stanley, who had recently been elected premier. The days of the week, the months of the year, and holidays (but not the seasons used generally). Christmas March Tuesday summer spring Finally – a handy hint. If you are not sure whether or not to use a capital letter, look the work up in a dictionary. If the word has a capital letter in the dictionary, then you should use it with a capital letter in your own writing.