What type of words should be capitalized

It depends on the style guide you're using, but generally, you capitalize the following words in a title:. The first letter of a work of art is always capitalized, even if it's an article, preposition or conjunction. The last word of these titles always receives a capital too. If the sentence is a quotation within a larger sentence, capitalize it, but only if it's a complete sentence. If it's merely a phrase that fits neatly into the larger sentence, it doesn't require capitalization.

Here are some examples:. Not only do you capitalize the first letter of a person's first, middle and last names John Quincy Adams , but you also capitalize suffixes like Jr.

Titles can be as simple as Mr. Capitalize people's titles if they come before the person's name or are used instead of the person's real name. The same goes for family titles, such as "Uncle Joe" or "Grandma Janet. Acronyms , where the first letter of each word comes together in a new word, are always capitalized.

Examples include:. They're often pronounced as a single word, but you wouldn't spell them "Nasa" or "Fifa. Finally, you always capitalize initials when a person goes by the first letter of each of their names. Famous examples include:. When you look at a calendar, almost every word is capitalized.

Additionally, holidays are also capitalized whenever you write them. When we sign off on letters, we generally close with a valediction like "Sincerely" or "Yours truly. For example:. The signature is only one important component in a letter. For the full picture, here's how to write a letter. There are a few specific instances that tend to confuse people when it comes to capitalization.

Take a look at these general rules for when you should skip that capital letter. She also likes the way it looks. Capitalize the first word of a quote when the quote is a complete sentence.

I hate Mondays! Oh no! I hate winter! Having a summer birthday is the best. The capitalization rules for titles of books, movies, and other works vary a little between style guides.

In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs even short ones, like is , all adjectives, and all proper nouns. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions, and prepositions—however, some style guides say to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions that are longer than five letters. Sense and Sensibility is better than Pride and Prejudice. The names of cities, countries, nationalities, and languages are proper nouns, so you should capitalize them.

Read more of her work at impertinentremarks. November 10, Capitalize the first word in a sentence. This is the most basic rule of capitalization. Capitalize family relationships when used as proper nouns. Days of the week e.

Wednesday , months of the year e. August , and holidays and festivals e. Christmas , Ramadan are capitalized. However, the four seasons are common nouns and therefore not capitalized unless they appear as part of a proper noun. North, east, south, and west are not capitalized when they refer to a direction or general area. This also applies to derivative adjectives and adverbs:. However, capitalization is required for these words when they are part of a proper name or when they refer to a distinct region.

Scribbr Plagiarism Checker. In academic writing, some types of nouns are often incorrectly capitalized. The table below shows academic terms that should not be capitalized. Note, though, that proper nouns within these terms are still capitalized as usual. However, note that the names of existing tests, inventories and questionnaires should be capitalized. When the quote forms a complete sentence, capitalize the first word.

When the quote is a fragment incorporated into your own sentence, the first word is not capitalized. When a colon introduces a list or any phrase that is not a complete sentence, do not capitalize the first word unless it is a proper noun.