…or perhaps a capital offensive! When to use capital letters and when not.
There are 2 main things to hold on to here. Use a capital letter:-
- to start a sentence
- names
Names of people including titles when used as part of the name
Andrew SmithMr BrownDoctor WilsonPrince AlbertPresident ObamaUncle George
but Albert is a prince, George is my uncle, Obama is the president of the USA.
Names of places
Names of places
Brown StreetGlasgow
Stirling CastleNorthern Irelandthe Republic of Ireland (no capitals for the, of)
Names of events
Other uses
the Crimean Warthe State Opening of Parliament
Nationalities, languages and races
French, Polish, Scotsman, the Sioux
Days of the week, months and holidays
Monday, May, Easter
Celestial bodies
Titles of books, plays, films, songs etc. Wee unimportant words only have a capital if it is the first word
Mars, the Milky Way
the Sun, the Earth and the Moon (only as celestial bodies)
cf the Sun's magnetic field but the sun is shining
Titles of books, plays, films, songs etc. Wee unimportant words only have a capital if it is the first word
A Tale of Two CitiesThe Life of PiShe Loves You
Brand names
Apple, Coca-Cola, Sanyo, Dairylea unless styled otherwise eg iPod, facebook
Reported direct speech starts with a capital.
He asked, "What time is it?"
The word I is always a capital.
Acronyms (words made up of the initial letters of a phrase)
The first letter of each line of verse or lyrics of a song conventionally is a capital, but many modern writers ignore this convention.
Test yourself
Put capitals where they should be.
we invited uncle george for christmas dinner. he was my favourite uncle. he had fought in the battle of britain. he was in a german prisoner of war camp in poland. his favourite film was "gone with the wind".
Answers:
We invited Uncle George for Christmas dinner. He was my favourite uncle. He had fought in the Battle of Britain. He was in a German prisoner of war camp in Poland. His favourite film was "Gone With the Wind".
I like, I'm, I'll
Acronyms (words made up of the initial letters of a phrase)
NATO, DVD, TUC
some acronyms are now regular words scuba, laser
The first letter of each line of verse or lyrics of a song conventionally is a capital, but many modern writers ignore this convention.
Three blind mice
See how they run
Test yourself
Put capitals where they should be.
we invited uncle george for christmas dinner. he was my favourite uncle. he had fought in the battle of britain. he was in a german prisoner of war camp in poland. his favourite film was "gone with the wind".
Answers:
We invited Uncle George for Christmas dinner. He was my favourite uncle. He had fought in the Battle of Britain. He was in a German prisoner of war camp in Poland. His favourite film was "Gone With the Wind".
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