Capitalization and Punctuation Rules

Capital Letters
Always use a capital letter for…
the first word of a sentence Thank you for the letter.
the first word in a quotation She said, “Today is beautiful.”
the greeting and closing in Dear John Sincerely, Sherry
a letter

the names of days, months, Thursday November Thanksgiving

and holidays

people’s first and last Mrs. Smith and Phil were seen by Dr. Lee
names, their initials, and
their titles

the word that names yourself - I My friend and I love horses.

the names of streets, cities, Palm Avenue Mesa, Arizona
and states

the names of specific Statue of Liberty Empire State Building

buildings and monuments

the titles of stories, movies, Night at the Museum Star Wars

TV shows, video games, etc.

Quotation Marks
Use quotation marks…
before and after words that “I love to read chapter books,” said Sharon.
are spoken by someone

around words that are A man-made lake is called a “reservoir.”

being discussed or
emphasized

newspaper articles, titles of “Hot and Cold” by Katie Perry

poems, songs, short stories,
etc
End Punctuation
Use a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point…
period – when you end a I like cookies.
statement

question mark – when you ask Do you like cookies?

a question

exclamation point – when I absolutely love cookies!

you have an excited or
emotionally charged
statement

Commas
Always use a comma to separate…
a city and a state Miami, Florida Mesa, Arizona
the date from the year December 25, 2009 April 15, 2010
the greeting and closing of Dear Jane, Sincerely,
a letter

two adjectives that tell about Shawn is a clever, smart boy.

the same noun

Use a comma to show a pause…

between three or more items in Jim likes pizza, spaghetti, and lasagna.
a series

between the words spoken “I know,” answered Mary.

by someone and the rest of
the sentence

after a short introductory phrase After all that candy, nobody was hungry
for cake.

Apostrophes
Add an apostrophe…
when there is one owner, add The cat’s dish is empty.
an apostrophe first, and then
add an S
when there is more than one All of the cats’ dishes were empty.
owner, add an S first and then
an apostrophe

when you put two words Now he’s on the table.

together to make a contraction

Colons
Add a colon…
after the salutation of a Dear Ms. Matthews:
business letter

between numerals Meet me at the park at 12:35.

indicating time

to introduce a list Please bring the following items to

class: pencil, paper, eraser, and folder.

NAME: ________________________ DATE: ________________________

WORKSHEET
CA
PITALIZATION
Below are six important rules for using capitalization in your writing.
● I saw Dr. Jones last week.
● She saw Mr.
Rule #1: Capitalize the first word and Mrs. Smith yesterday.
of every sentence.
Examples: ● There are two cups on the

table. Rule #5: Capitalize the first word in

● Do you have a pen?
a quoted sentence.
Examples: ● Our teacher said, “Good

morning.”
Rule #3: Capitalize a person’s ● He asked, “What time is it?”
title when it comes before his
or her name.
Examples:
 Rule #2: Capitalize proper nouns
(names of people, places and things). Rule #6: Capitalize compass
Examples: directions in reference to specific
● My best friend is Sarah. regions.
● I think Spain is located in Europe. Examples:
● Europe was divided into East and West.
● The Civil War was fought between the
North and the South.
Rule #4: Capitalize any person’s title
when it is used to directly talk/write
to that person.
Examples:
● Thank you, Teacher, for helping me.
● Will the needle hurt, Doctor?

● Find the 20 capitalization mistakes below. (The first one is done for you.) many

● Find the 20 capitalization mistakes below. (The first one is done for you.)

many of john’s friends think he has a boring daily routine, but john likes

it. he always gets up at six o’clock every morning and says, “good

morning” to his wife and kids, and after breakfast he arrives at work

around seven-thirty. he works at a small store called supersave

supermarket. it's located in new york. after work, he says, “good-bye” to

his boss, mr. smith, and then goes home. on weekends, he likes to play

with his son, thomas, and his daughter, barbara. maybe john’s routine

really is a little boring, but he enjoys it!

Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use. © [Link]

Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use. © [Link]

Capitalization Worksheet Name _________________________

Capitalization
When you are writing, many words need to be capitalized.
Some examples are days of the week, names of states, the word I, and names of special
places and other proper nouns.

Read each sentence below and underline the words that should be capitalized.

1. sacramento is the capital of California.

2. We went to see the Lincoln memorial when we visited Washington, d.c. 3.

The university of notre Dame is home to the “Fighting irish”.

4. It was lots of fun to visit the Rock and Roll hall of fame in Cleveland, ohio. 5.

Some people have to work on saturday and Sunday.

6. Salt lake city is the capital of utah.

7. The u.s. air force academy is in Colorado.

8. George Washington was born on february 22, 1732.

9. The liberty bell is in Philadelphia.

10. Did you know that Topeka is the capital of kansas?

11. The henry Ford museum is located in michigan.

12. Have you seen the sears tower in Chicago?

13. The alamo is in San Antonio, texas.

14. He does not have classes in June, july, and August.

15. We crossed the Golden gate Bridge going into San Francisco.

16. It does not rain very much in phoenix.

17. the Air and space museum is open every day except december 25th. 18.

Mississippi is called the “magnolia state”.

19. Baton rouge is the capital of louisiana.

20. I like to sleep late on saturday.

©2009 T. Smith Publishing. [Link]
Name: ____________________
Capitalization Practice

Part One: circle the capitalization errors and add end marks to the sentences.
6. My Friend Chris likes Pizza
1. i wonder if there is a Reading test.
7. can we go to kfc on wednesday.
2. Some people call it english class.
8. have You ever seen “the simpsons ”?
9. let’s Order mexican food.
3. when is history class.
4. do You have a Nickname? 10. someone took mikia’s pencil.

5. Aunt sally said, “get up for school”.

Part Two: Circle the word if it is a proper noun and needs to be capitalized.
16. chicago bears
11. furniture store
17. air force ones
12. science
18. lake michigan
13. spanish
19. x-box 360
14. allstate arena
20. library
15. football team

Part Three: Rewrite the following sentences, correct capitalization errors and add end marks.

21. Bekka read Someone to Love Me for her book report

22. Keisha invited her friends to a pool party for her Birthday

23. Did she name the kitten Sunshine because of its golden fur?

24. I wonder if he read The Book in Social Studies Class.

25. On Monday, Ms. Smith gave us a science project

26. The Amazon River is the longest river in South America

27. Get me a Big Mac, would you?

28. Janet said wearily, “could you help me up”.