Transcript Capitalization

Using Capital
Letters
Overview
 This presentation reviews the rules you
(should) already know as well as some of
the tricky aspects of capitalization
 It deals with the following topics:
Sentences
Lists


Titles
Names
In general, specific names require
capitals
Lake
Superior, Fred, Great Depression
General names do not require capitals
the
prairies, my uncle, a recession
Sentences
 Capitalize the first word of a sentence
 And the first word of a quoted sentence
 She
said, “You are far away from brilliant.”
 Don’t capitalize the second part of a
fragmented quotation
 “You
are stupid,” she said, “and your
mother dresses you funny.”
 Don’t capitalize partial quotes
 He
talked of the “go and get it” of the
scheme.
Lists
 Capitalize sentences that follow a colon
 Remember
this: Grammar is boring.
 Capitalize the first word of each item in
a vertical list
 These
punctuation marks are confusing:
 Colons
 Semicolons
 Dashes
 Don’t capitalize words in horizontal lists
 Language
is made up of numerous parts
of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.
Titles of books, articles, and
songs
 Capitalize the first, last, and all
important words in a title
 Don’t capitalize short articles,
prepositions, and conjunctions
 As You Like It
 The Merry Wives of Windsor
 Love’s Labours Lost
 Taming of the Shrew
 The Merchant of Venice
Names and Titles
 Capitalize the specific names of people,
places, and institutions

Stockwell Day, Alberta, Canadian Alliance
 But not general references

party leader,
communist, fascist, right wing
 Capitalize titles that precede (comes before)
names

Prime Minister Chretien,
Aunt Polly
 But not when used alone, or after names
The minister was demoted to the back benches
 Bill, my uncle, sat beside Gary Doer, premier of
Manitoba

Names of Groups
 Capitalize races, religions, and languages
 Bosnian,
Buddhism, French, Cree
 Do not capitalize general references
 aboriginal,
white, black, fundamentalist
 Some words vary according to usage
A
native speaker of English
 A Native from the Yukon (used as a
substitute for “Indian”
 Australian Aborigines have certain
aboriginal rights
Product Names
 Capitalize brand names and trademarks

Coke, Kleenix, Rolex, Popsicle
 Do not capitalize generic product names

cola, tissues, inline skates, flavoured ice
 Capitalize words derived from proper nouns
 Freudian slip, Swiss cheese, English muffin
 Eventually such words lose their capitals

pasteurize, french fry, panama hat, scotch
Dates and Directions
 Capitalize days of the week, months,
holidays
 Monday,
June, Thanksgiving
 summer,
fall, winter
 But not seasons
 Don’t capitalize directions
I
drove north for two blocks
 Unless it refers to a specific location
 Fighting broke out in the Middle
 Winter roads are common in the
East
North
Course Names
 Capitalize specific names of courses
 History
101, Intermediate Basketweaving, a Bachelor of Arts degree
 But not general references to courses
 geography,
communication, accounting
 He is studying engineering