Use capital letters in the following ways:
The first words of a sentence
When he tells a joke, he sometimes forgets the ending.
The pronoun "I"
The last time I visited Atlanta was several years ago.
Proper nouns (the names of specific people, places, organizations)
Evalueserve - Golden Gate Bridge - Supreme Court Livingston - Missouri - Atlantic Ocean
Family relationships (when used as proper names)
I sent a thank-you note to Aunt Abigail, but not to my other aunts.
The names of God, specific deities, religious figures, and holy books
God - Allah- Virgin Mary - the Quran - the Greek gods - Moses - Buddha
Exception: Do not capitalize the non-specific use of the word "god."
The word "polytheistic" means the worship of more than one god.
Titles preceding names, but not titles that follow names
She worked as the assistant to Mayor Hanolovi.
I was able to interview Miriam Moss, mayor of Littonville.
Directions that are names (North, South, East, and West when used as sections of the country, but not as compass directions)
The Patels have moved to the Southwest.
Jim's house is two miles north of Otterbein.
The days of the week, the months of the year, and holidays (but not the seasons used generally)
Halloween October Friday winter
Exception: Seasons are capitalized when used in a title.
The Fall 1999
The names of countries, nationalities, and specific languages
Costa Rica
Spanish
French
English
The first word in a sentence that is a direct quote
The teacher asked, “Can you answer this question?”
The major words in the titles of books, articles, and songs (but not short prepositions or the articles
"the," "a," or "an," if they are not the first word of the title)
One of Jerry's favorite books is The Catcher in the Rye.
Members of national, political, racial, social, civic, and athletic groups
African-Americans
Anti-Semitic
Democrats
Friends of the Wilderness
Chinese
Periods and events (but not century numbers)
Victorian Era
Great Depression
Constitutional Convention
sixteenth century
Trademarks
Pepsi
Honda
IBM
Words and abbreviations of specific names
NBC
UN
EXERCISE
Re-write these sentences on the lines and put capital letters where they belong.
1. the mayor of san juan, mayor ortega, decided to retire sunday, july 16.
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2. my friend, tom wilson, bought a new honda accord last week in san francisco.
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3. yesterday, i finished reading lord of the rings.
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4. the president of general motors was interviewed in the july issue of newsweek.
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5. david johnson drove his chevy blazer off the delaware memorial bridge last friday.
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6. when i opened the new york times, i read that lieutenant martin bailey had accused his commanding
officer, colonel dunlap, of selling secret information to a north korean agent.
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7. alan attended a lecture by professor c. r. klein on his treatise, "chemical properties of popular diet foods."
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8. mary yelled to her little brother, "shut the door! it's freezing in here."
