Capitalization Rules

Guidelines
Capitalize the first word in a sentence.
Example: My dog is white.

Capitalize the pronoun I.
Example: My father and I like to ride our bikes.

Capitalize dates.
Example: January 1, 2012

Capitalize the names of people.
Example: George Washington, Mrs. Smith

Capitalize the first word of both the salutation and close of a letter.
Example: Dear Connor,
Your friend, Emma

Capitalize specific dates, e.g., events & holidays.
Example: Fourth of July, Thanksgiving & Wimbledon
Do not capitalize seasons, e.g. spring, winter & fall.

Capitalize trade names (products) and organizations.
Example: Crest toothpaste, Dove soap, & Dell

Capitalize geographic names.
Example: United States, Asia, Maryland, New York City

Capitalize abbreviation and acronyms.
Example: US, St., Mrs. & SCUBA
Capitalization Rules

Capitalize the first word & important words in titles of books, magazines, newspapers etc.
Example: Wall Street Journal, War Games
Do not capitalize insignificant words, e.g., a, an, the, and & if.

Capitalize the first word in a direct quotation.
Example: She said, I do not like peas.

Capitalize the names of races, languages, religions and deity.
Example: Caucasian, Spanish, Catholic & God

Rules of Punctuation
Period .
Rule 1: Use a period at the end of a statement sentence.
Example: Dogs bark.
Rule 2: Use a period at the end of a command sentence.
Example: Go to school.
Rule 3: Use a period at the end of most abbreviations.
Example: Mrs., Ave. and St.
Rule 4: Use a period for decimals and money.
Example: $10.05 and 2.75
Question Mark ?
Rule 1: Use a question mark at the end of a question sentence.
Example: What is your name?
Rule 2: Use a question mark to express doubt.
Capitalization Rules
Example: You combed your hair?
Exclamation Point !
Rule 1: Use an exclamation point to show strong emotion with a word.
Example: Wow!
Rule 2: Use an exclamation point to show strong emotion with a sentence. Example: I
love you!
Quotation Marks
Rule 1: Use quotation marks to show a direct quote.
Example: He said, The water is cold!
Rule 2: Use quotation marks to set off a title of a short poem.
Example: She read, O Captain My Captain.
Rule 3: Use quotation marks to imply sarcasm or someone elses use of a term. Example:
My little sister is in charge tonight.
Single Quotation
Rule 1: Single quotation marks are used inside quotation marks.
Example: He said, You think she is nice to you?
Apostrophe
Rule 1: Use an apostrophe to form a possessive.
Example: Connors tennis racket
Rule 2: Use an apostrophe to show missing letters when forming a contraction. Example:
dont, cant & isnt
Rule 3: Use an apostrophe to form the plurals of a symbol.
Example: Three As and two Bs
Comma ,
Capitalization Rules
Rule 1: Use a comma to separate items in a series.
Example: One, two, three
Rule 2: Use a comma to separate things in a list.
Example: Milk, eggs, cheese
Rule 3: Use a comma to separate parts of a date.
Example: April 24, 1999
Rule 4: Use a comma after the greeting in a friendly letter.
Example: Dear Bob,
Rule 5: Use a comma after the closing of a letter.
Example: Sincerely,
Rule 6: Use a comma to separate the city and state in an address.
Example: Philadelphia, PA
Rule 7: Use a comma to separate a name and a degree title.
Example: Bob Smarts, M.D.
Rule 8: Use a comma between inverted names.
Example: Smith, John refers to John Smith
Rule 9: Use a comma in written dialogue between the quotation and the rest of the
sentence.
Example: He said, Knock it off. Ok, she replied.
Rule 10: Use a comma between more than one adjective.
Example: The little, white mouse
Rule 11: Use a comma to denote a descriptive or parenthetical word or phrase. Example:
Sue, the teacher, is very nice.
Rule 12: Use a comma between a dependent and independent clause.
Capitalization Rules
Example: After the baseball game, we got ice cream.
Rule 13: Use a comma to separate independent clauses.
Example: I like her, and she likes me.
Rule 14: Use a comma to denote incidental words.
Example: Of course, I will go with you.
Parentheses ( )
Rule 1: Use parentheses to show supplementary material.
Example: The table (see below) contains important information.
Rule 2: Use parentheses to set off a word or phrase more strongly than with commas.
Example: Emma (the singer) was ready.
Rule 3: Use parentheses to provide sequence.
Example: Directions: (1) Get ingredients. (2) Mix them.
Colon :
Rule 1: Use a colon to introduce a series.
Example: It has three characteristics: smart, loveable and hairy.
Rule 2: Use a colon to show a subtitle.
Example: The book: How to succeed.
Rule 3: Use a colon to separate clauses.
Example: The game rules are this: keep it clean.
Rule 4: Use a colon after a business letter greeting.
Example: Dear Mr. Black:
Rule 5: Use a colon to separate hours and minutes or to show a ratio.
Example: 12:00 a.m. 4:1 ratio (4 to 1)

Capitalization Rules
Semicolon ;
Rule 1: Use a semicolon to separate sentence parts more strongly than a comma.
Example: July was hot; August was scorching.
Rule 2: Use a semicolon to separate sentence parts that contain commas. Example: She
was tired; therefore, she went to bed.
Hyphen (Dash)
Rule 1: Use a hyphen for compounds words that are adjectives.
Example: the brick-face brownstone
Rule 2: Use a hyphen to show a period of time or space between.
Example: 1999 2010, Philadelphia New York City
This is commonly referred to as the en dash.
Rule 3: Use a hyphen to show the insertion of a word or phrase.
Example: Denise a smart student gave the teacher an apple.
Note: This is commonly referred to as the em dash. This is also called parenthetical material; it
can be designated using a hyphen, commas or parentheses at the writers choice.
Ellipsis . . .
Rule 1: Use an ellipsis to show that words have been left out.
Example: The girl until dark.
Rule 2: Use an ellipsis to show a pause for suspense or to heighten mood.
Example: And the winner is . Kelly.
Bullets
Rule 1: Use bullets to show the items in a list.
Example: Things to do tomorrow
Eat,
Capitalization Rules
Sleep and
Exercise.
Slash, Virgule, Stroke, Diagonal /
Rule 1: Use a slash to show lines of poetry. Example: Twinkle, twinkle, little star/ how I
wonder what you are
Rule 2: Use a slash to set off numbers or symbols.
Example: /a/ first idea, /b/ second idea
Rule 3: Use a slash to indicate phonemes.
Example: /c/ is the first phoneme in the word, cat.
Rule 4: Use a slash to show a fraction.
Example: and
Underlining or Italics
Rule 1: Use underlining or italics for titles of long written works, e.g., book, play,
magazine. Example: Dolchs book Problems in Reading lists 220 sight words.
Rule 2: Use underlining or italics for foreign words which are not regularly used in English.
Example: He did pro bono work to help out a friend.
Brackets (Crotchets) [ ]
Rule 1: Use brackets or crotches to denote additional words inserted into a quotation.
Example: They [children] must get 60 minutes of exercise a day.