WHEN TO USE CAPITAL LETTERS
Rule 1:
To Start a Sentence
There are no exceptions to this rule.
This means that, after a full stop, you always use a capital letter.
Example:
✓ Our class starts early in the morning.
X our class starts early in the morning.
Rule 2:
The Pronoun “I”
The Pronoun I should always be capitalized.
Example:
✓ I was late yesterday because I woke up late.
X i was late yesterday because i woke up late.
Rule 3:
Titles
In titles, capitalise only the important words, not minor words such as ‘and’ and ‘but’.
‘Title Case’, with all the important words capitalized, is rather out of fashion at the moment. Most
academic journals and standard referencing systems, for instance, prefer what is known as ‘sentence
case’, with a single initial capital.
However, it’s good to understand the rules, in case you are required to use title case at any point.
Using the title of this article as an example:
✓Sentence case: “When to use capital letters”
✓Title case: “When to Use Capital Letters”
In title case, in this example, ‘Use’, although small, is an important word in the title, and should
therefore be capitalized. ‘To’, however, is not important and therefore not capitalized.
Rule 4:
For Proper Nouns
Proper nouns name something specific. Proper nouns (nearly) always start with a capital letter.
Examples:
✓ Jane, John, Butuan City, Samsung, Robinson’s
X jane, john, butuan city, Samsung, robinson’s
There are exceptions to this rule and in marketing sometimes lower-case characters are purposefully
used for some proper nouns.
Examples include iPhone and eBay . However, in most cases, proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Rule 5:
Contractions
For contractions, capitalize the initial letters of words, but not subsequent letters within the same word.
Contractions are like acronyms, but also include one or more letters from within the same word.
Examples:
✓WiFi (which is short for Wireless Fidelity)
X wifi
✓SciFi (short for Science Fiction)
X scifi
Rule 6:
Acronyms
Acronyms generally work like title case: you capitalize the important words, and not ‘and’, ‘of’, ‘for’ and
so on.
The easiest way to work this out is to write out the full title, and then you can see which words don’t need
to be capitalized.
Examples:
✓ SM (Shoe Mart)
X sm
✓ANHS (Agusan National High School)
X anhs (agusan national high school)
Activity 1: Copy Me!
Directions: Copy the diary entry below as it is. Then, underline errors in capitalization and write the
correct form above. There are 15 errors in capitalization. NO ERASURES ARE ALLOWED.
september 6, 2023
thursday
Dear diary,
when I woke up This morning, I felt very excited. i jumped out of my bed and
immediately went downstairs to eat my breakfast. I had tocino which My mom bought from
robinson’s and coffee from starbucks. It was A sumptuous start to my day. knowing i will see
my friends always makes me feel giddy and excited to attend Classes in my beloved Agusan
national High school. I always look forward to learning and as well as Chitchatting with my
friends.
Love,
anna
