This presentation is
brought to you by
Grammar Bytes!,
©2018 by Robin L.
Simmons.
Capitalization
Do I need a Or should that
capital letter remain
letter? lower case?
This presentation
covers capitalizing
the first letter of
the first word of a
sentence, the
pronoun I , and
proper nouns.
A capitalization item on
an objective test might
look like this ...
Sample Item
Wanda wouldn’t offer her little brother
brotheraa
A
Christmas cookie
cookiebecause
becausehe heate
ateall
allof
ofher
her
B
Halloween candy last October.
october.
october.
C
October
Is brother,
A. Brother needs a capital
cookie, or
letter, which
B. Cookie october a
option C
problem?
C. October
October provides.
D. No change is necessary.
Ca pitalize the fir st letter
of the fir st wor d of a
sentence .
The rottenpear
the rotten pearsat
satininaapuddle
puddleofofgoo
goo
on the kitchen counter.
Dude, formal
writing is not the
same as texting
your friend!
Ca pitalize the pr onoun I.
If that liar Darlene claims that she spent
the night studying, Ii will
will say that iIsaw
say that sawher
her
kissing Thomas at the movies.
Don’t be lazy!
Capitalize those I ’s.
You deserve a
capital letter!
Ca pitalize pr oper nouns .
On Tuesday, September18,
tuesday, september Elizabeth
18,elizabeth
cooked her first pot of squid eyeball stew.
Proper nouns include
the days of the week,
the months of the
year, and names.
Other Proper Nouns
Titles before Nationalities
Names Holidays
Specific Departments
Places Historical
Organizations Eras
Companies Regions of the
Product Country
Names Course
Religions Names
Languages Titles of Works
Titles Before Names
Professor the nursing
Stone professor
Uncle Jerry my uncle
President the president of
Obama our stamp
collecting club
Capitalize But use lower
these! case for these!
Specific Places
Tito’s Taco the taco stand
Palace outside
New York City a city
Gatorland a theme park
Capitalize
these!
But use lower
case for these!
Organizations
World Wildlife an environmental
Fund group
American Red an emergency
Cross response agency
Doctors a medical
Without humanitarian
Borders organization
But use lower
Capitalize
case for these!
these!
Companies
Starbucks a coffee house
Corporation a soda supplier
The Coca- a computer
Cola Company manufacturer
Apple Inc.
But use lower
Capitalize case for these!
these!
Product Names
Frappuccino a frozen coffee
Oreo a cookie
Power Mac a computer
Capitalize But use lower
these! case for these!
Religions
Buddhism meditation
Seventh Day practice
Adventists vegetarians
Druids nature
worshippers
Capitalize But use lower
these! case for these!
Languages
French fries fried potatoes
Russian boar wild pigs
Spanish moss air plants
Capitalize
But use lower
these!
case for these!
Nationalities
Brazilians summer tourists
the French wine
ancient connoisseurs
Egyptians pyramid builders
Capitalize But use lower
these! case for these!
Holidays
Thanksgiving family dinner
Halloween costume party
Fourth of July fireworks show
Capitalize
But use lower
these!
case for these!
Depar tments
Division of Motor driver’s license
Vehicles firefighters
Orlando Fire tax collectors
Department
Internal Revenue
Service
Capitalize But use lower
these! case for these!
Historical Eras
Late when dinosaurs
Cretaceous lived
Old Kingdom proliferation of
the Great pyramids
Depression poor economic
times
Capitalize But use lower
these! case for these!
Regions of the Countr y
the South the south exit
the Northeast blowing from the
the West northeast
west of the mall
Capitalize But use lower
these! case for these!
Course Names
Fundamentals biology
of Biology algebra
Intermediate literature
Algebra
Contemporary
Literature
Capitalize But use lower
these! case for these!
Titles of Wor ks
Moby-Dick a thick novel
Aliens the best movie
Thriller ever made
a dance album
Capitalize
But use lower
these!
case for these!
Quick Test
Directions: In the items that follow, choose
the option that corrects an error in the
underlined portion(s). If no error exists, choose
“No change is necessary.”
Show me
what you
know.
Item 1
Byron likes spicy foods, so he chose the Asian
Asian
A
chicken wrap. Martha prefers bland dishes and
ordered a large
large basket
basket of
of french
frenchfries.
French fries.
fries.
B C
A. asian
B. Large
C. French
French
D. No change is necessary.
Item 2
Janelle will take Fundamentals
FundamentalsofofBiology
Biologynext
next
A
semester; she hates Science
Science classes
science classes
classes but
but
but needs
needs
needs the
the
the
B
credits to transfer to a university.
university.
C
A. fundamentals of biology
B. science
science
C. University
D. No change is necessary.
Item 3
My family prefers to cook a ham on holidays,
holidays,but
but
A
uncle Bart
uncle
Uncle Bart
Bartisis
isaaavegetarian,
vegetarian,
vegetarian,soso
somy
my
mymother
mother
motherprepares
prepares
prepares
B C
“tofurkey” for him.
A. Holidays
B. Uncle
Uncle
C. Vegetarian
D. No change is necessary.
Item 4
Dai is Vietnamese,
vietnamese, but
vietnamese, butshe
shegrew
grewup
upininPuerto
Puerto
A
Rico, where she attended cooking
cookingschool;
school;now
now
B
she is the head chef at the Cuban
Cuban restaurant
restaurant on
on
C
Orange Avenue.
A. Vietnamese
Vietnamese
B. Cooking School
C. cuban
D. No change is necessary.
Item 5
Turn left! We need to go west
west on
on Highway
Highway50;
50;
A B
otherwise, we will be heading toward
Daytona beach.
Daytona beach.
Beach.
C
A. West
B. highway 50
C. Daytona Beach
Daytona Beach
D. No change is necessary.
Item 6
Katelyn used her last dollar to buy M&M
m&m candies;
m&m candies;
A
she would have enjoyed a Pepsi
Pepsi toto wash
wash them
them
B
down but the cafeteria
cafeteriaprices
priceswere
weretoo
tooexpensive.
expensive.
C
A. M&M
B. pepsi
C. Cafeteria
D. No change is necessary.
Item 7
Juan is taking a religion
religionclass
classthis
thissemester;
semester;hehe
A
likes the professor
professorandandthe
thereadings,
readings,butbuthe
hemost
most
B
enjoys the intoxicating perfume
perfumethatthatIsabella,
Isabella,his
his
C
tablemate, wears.
A. Religion
B. Professor
C. Perfume
D. No change
changeisisnecessary.
necessary.
Item 8
Patrick visited the police
policestation
stationtotosee
seeif ifsomeone
someone
A
had found Squeeze, his 9-foot albino python,
python,but but
B
officer Rodriguez
officer
Officer Rodriguez
Rodriguezsaid
said
saidthat
that
thatno
no
noreptiles
reptiles
reptileshad
had
hadbeenbeen
been
C
recently caught.
A. Police Station
B. Python
C. Officer
Officer
D. No change is necessary.
Item 9
Jeffrey thought he would hate humanities,
humanities,but but
A
once Professor
ProfessorKimble
Kimblereached
reachedthetheItalian
Italian
B
renaissance, the
renaissance,
Renaissance, the
thebeautiful
beautiful
beautifulmarble
marble
marblenudes
nudes
nudesgot
got
got
C
Jeffrey’s attention.
A. Humanities
B. professor
C. Renaissance
Renaissance
D. No change is necessary.
Item 10
Niki is a practicing Hindu,
hindu, so
hindu, so
soshe
she
shewas
was
wasoffended
offended
offended
A
when Sean pulled into a McDonald’s
McDonald’sdrive-thru
drive-thru
B
to order a Big
Big Mac.
Mac.
C
A. Hindu
Hindu
B. mcdonald’s
C. big mac
D. No change is necessary.
the
T he end.
E
end.
nd.
Better.
