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Capitalization

Capitalize the first word of the following:

  • a complete sentence after a colon, e.g. The crowd all realized the same fact: The band was not sober.
  • a quotation, if it is a complete sentence, e.g. The teacher said, "Today we will review Chapter 11."
  • a sentence, e.g. I am confused.
  • an independent question within a sentence, e.g. The question is, Am I doing the right thing?
  • each item in an outline or list, e.g. Buy groceries, Go to the post office, Pick up dry cleaning
  • each line of a poem, e.g. Walking the shore that day, each reaches down
  • the complimentary close of a letter, e.g. Yours truly
  • the salutation/greeting of a letter, e.g. Dear Bob

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Abbreviations

  • Capitalize abbreviations after a person's name, e.g. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Capitalize abbreviations for time, e.g. 6:00 AM.

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Academic Degrees

Capitalize when before or after a person's name and set off a degree from a name with a comma. Capitalize abbreviations for academic degrees. Academic degrees are usually punctuated. The initial letter of each part of an abbreviation is capitalized, the rest lowercased, e.g. Ph.D. When referred to generally, e.g. bachelor's degree, doctor's degree, master's degree, doctorate, the terms are not capitalized. Professional ratings may be unpunctuated, especially if there is three or more letters, e.g. CPA.

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Academic Titles

Capitalize if part of formal title. Lowercase a modifier, e.g. linguistics Professor Nancy Ann Holly, department Chairman Stuart Little.

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Aircraft Names

Capitalize names of airplanes, e.g. Air Force One, Boeing 767, and hyphenate between letters and numbers, e.g. DC-10. Plurals are formed by adding an "s" to those that end with a number; by adding "'s" to those that end with a letter.

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Arts and Entertainment

  • names of motion pictures, television and radio programs, e.g. Chicago, Gilmore Girls, Sesame Street, All Things Considered
  • names of musical compositions, e.g. The Star-Spangled Banner
  • names of works of art, e.g. American Gothic, Mona Lisa
  • play titles, e.g. The Producers
  • the names of languages and dialects

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Automobiles

Capitalize brand names, e.g. Volkswagen New Beetle; lowercase generic references, e.g. a Ford pickup.

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Companies

The names of companies and other institutions are capitalized and spelled out as proper nouns. Abbreviations are sometimes used for Company, Corporation, Incorporated, Limited, etc.

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Courtesy Titles

Courtesy titles include: Miss, Ms., Mrs., and Mr. Use Ms. when uncertain of marital status, and in general for unmarried women. Miss is fine for unmarried women, but Ms. is becoming more common. A courtesy title is dropped if another title, such as Jr., or a degree like LL.D., is used.

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Document Titles

  • Musical compositions are capitalized and songs are enclosed in quotation marks. Long musical compositions, as whole operas or other performances, are capitalized and italicized or underlined.
  • The names of legal cases are italicized and the abbreviation v. used for versus. Legal writings/documents may not use italicization.
  • The titles of published and publicly available books, magazines, newspapers, poems, movies, plays, and works of art are capitalized (except for articles, conjunctions, prepositions, and "to" as infinitive -- unless they are at beginning or end of title). An initial article (e.g. "the") is capitalized when included. An initial article is not capitalized when used with an abbreviation. The first word following a colon in a title is capitalized.
  • The titles of stories, chapters and sections of books, essays, lectures, articles, dissertations (unpublished), and radio and television shows are enclosed in quotation marks and capitalized as published documents are.
  • Titles of legal and government agreements, documents, programs and acts/pacts/plans/policies/treaties are capitalized when used as proper nouns.

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Fraternal and Labor Organizations

Capitalize the proper nouns referring to fraternal organizations, labor organizations, service clubs, and their members, e.g. Gamma Phi, Gamma Phis, American Legion, Legionnaire, Knights of Columbus.

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Geographic Terms

  • Buildings, public places (as monuments, parks, landmarks), and names of streets are capitalized when used as proper nouns or in an address.
  • Capitalize words/phrases that identify distinct areas, regions, places, divisions, or districts of continents and countries are capitalized when used as proper nouns or in an address. Derivatives are also capitalized.
  • Compass points and directions are capitalized when they refer to a specific region or are part of an address. A descriptive term used to denote direction or position is not a proper noun and is not capitalized, e.g. western Idaho.
  • Country names are usually abbreviated only in tables. United States is often abbreviated especially when used as an adjective, e.g. U.S. (or US) military action. Countries whose abbreviations are formed by the initial letters of the constituent words may be unpunctuated, e.g. USA, USSR.
  • Derivative nouns and adjectives of compass points that refer to a particular region are usually capitalized.
  • Names of mountains, rivers, oceans, islands, etc. are capitalized, including generic terms when used as part of a proper noun, e.g. Atlantic Ocean, the Connecticut River. Generic terms are also capitalized when preceding a proper noun, as Lake Michigan, unless the word "the" is used. Generic terms used in the plural following the names of more than one geographical place and generic terms used alone are lowercased.
  • Popular and legendary names of places are capitalized, e.g. Big Apple for New York City and "the Street" for Wall Street.
  • Saint is often abbreviated in geographic names, e.g. St. Louis.
  • Words/phrases that designate political divisions are capitalized when used as proper nouns or in an address, e.g. Second Congressional District.

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Government Organizations

Capitalize the proper nouns referring to government agencies, departments, offices for nations, states, counties, cities, etc. Capitalize the proper nouns which refer to foreign governmental/legislative bodies and departments. Capitalize a U.S. cabinet title if referring to either the group serving a head of state or when used in a formal title.

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Historical Events and Periods

Proper nouns for names of specific cultural and historical events are capitalized, as Great Depression, World War I. Historical and cultural periods and movements that are widely recognized in archaeology, anthropology, geology, or other technical fields are capitalized, e.g. Middle Ages, Iron Age. Popular terms as nuclear age are lowercased. Proper nouns which numerically describe a historical period are capitalized, e.g. Roaring Twenties, Third Reich. Proper nouns for names of wars are capitalized, e.g. the American Revolution, the Gulf War.

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Military Titles and Organizations

The proper nouns for the armed forces (and their branches and units) are capitalized, as are short forms referring to specific organizations. The terms army, navy, etc. are lowercased when standing alone or used collectively and not part of a proper noun. Military titles of rank are capitalized when they are part of a formal title or are used in reference to a specific person. Military titles of rank may be abbreviated when given with the full name of a person and are punctuated and written with initial letters capitalized. Abbreviations for military branches and units are capitalized and unpunctuated. Military medals and awards are capitalized, e.g. Purple Heart. Titles of wars are capitalized.

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Miscellaneous Items to Capitalize

  • awards and medals
  • mottoes, e.g. "Out of Many, One"
  • names of languages, e.g. Latin, Russian
  • names of specific educational courses, e.g. English Literature 101
  • names of specific historical events and ages/eras, e.g. World War II, Pleistocene Era, Magna Carta; also the imaginative names given to historical periods, e.g. the Great Depression
  • nouns followed by a number or letter indicating sequence, e.g. Channel 30, Appendix A
  • proper nouns, proper adjectives, and other derivatives of proper nouns, e.g. Shakespearean, Greek, French-speaking Canadians; however, lowercase words that no longer depend on the proper noun for meaning (e.g. french fries, pasteurize, venetian blind)
  • Roman numerals use the letters I (1), II (2), III (3), IV (4), V (5), VI (6), VII (7), VIII (8), IX (9), X (10), L (50), C (100), D (500), M (1000). They are used to number wars, sequence in family, rulers, vehicles, and for major headings in documents and outlines.
  • satirical or humorous observations called "laws", e.g. Murphy's Law, Parkinson's Law
  • scientific laws - but only proper nouns and adjectives, e.g. Mendel's law, Newton's first law of motion
  • sign wording and advertising copy, e.g. Hot Steamed Jazz Festival
  • sporting events, e.g. the Super Bowl, the World Series or the Series
  • "the" when it is part of the legal name of an organization or place, particularly in legal or formal contexts, e.g. The Hague, The New York Times
  • trademarks, proprietary names, service marks, names of commercial products, market grades, and brand names, e.g. Band-Aid, Coca-Cola, Jell-O, Kleenex, Xerox, Krazy Glue. Some have become clearly established as common nouns - so check a dictionary or the International Trademark Association www.inta.org.
  • use of intercaps: The names of many organizations and products are written with a style called intercaps (or BiCaps). Follow the organization or product's style in each case, e.g. AltaVista, AstroTurf, NutraSweet, PlaySkool toys.

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Organizations and Organizational Titles

  • Abbreviations and nicknames of organizations are capitalized, as Big Brother for the U.S. government, and Brown for UPS.
  • Administration is capitalized when referring to a specific body serving a U.S. president.
  • Administrative, legislative, judicial, educational, political, and special interest groups' names (including departments, bureaus, and offices) and abbreviations are capitalized when they are used as proper nouns. Generic terms such as agency, bureau, or department are capitalized when they stand alone in the organization's own literature. Derivative adjectives and shortened or incomplete designations are lowercased.
  • Derivatives referring to organizations' members are capitalized, e.g. Kiwanian.
  • Governmental titles which refer to a specific person may be capitalized. The word President is capitalized when referring to the highest elected officer of the U.S. government. Honorific titles and forms of address are capitalized, e.g. Your Honor.
  • Internet search engines, service providers, commercial online services, Web sites, online communities, online databases are - though some my have a special style called intercaps or may be acronyms, e.g. Google, Earthlink.
  • Names of associations, societies, meetings, and conferences are capitalized when used as proper nouns, as Valparaiso Historical Society. A meeting or conference with a theme is enclosed in quotations, e.g. "Historical Archaeology," the 14th Annual New England Archaeology Conference.
  • names of organizations and institutions, e.g. General Electric, American Medical Association
  • names of religions, their members, their buildings, sacred works, and references to a supreme being, including pronouns referring to a supreme being, e.g. Buddhism, God, Him, Heaven, Temple Beth Shalom, Methodists, Kaddish, the Old Testament
  • Political parties' (and other national and international organizations) names and designations of members are capitalized, though the word party, movement, etc. need not be. Political factions are usually lowercased, e.g. conservative, left-winger, but "the Right" and "the Left" are capitalized. Philosophies are capitalized if derived from a proper noun, e.g. Confucianism.
  • Short forms of names of national and international bodies and their major divisions, e.g. the House (House of Representatives), the Bureau (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the Court (United States Supreme Court) are capitalized.
  • The names of higher courts are capitalized in all but very general writing. Any reference to the Supreme Court is capitalized. References to lower courts, even when specific, are lowercased e.g. traffic court. When the word "court" is used in reference to a specific judge, it is capitalized.
  • Words/phrases used as proper nouns to describe formal professional, corporate, or governmental titles are capitalized. When such a title is used as a descriptive phrase to describe or identify a person (set in commas after their name), it is lowercased.

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People and Personal Names

  • each part of a person's name, e.g. William Jefferson Clinton
  • family titles unless preceded by a modifier, e.g. "Our Mother was born in 1921," "His mother is sweet."
  • names of races and racial adjectives, e.g. Caucasian, African-American
  • nicknames and imaginative names of people, organizations, and places, e.g. the First Lady, Mother Nature, Big Blue, Ma Bell, the Big Apple, the Constitution State, Silicon Valley
  • nicknames, epithets, and fictitious names; if a nickname or epithet is used between the first and last names, it is often enclosed in quotation marks and/or parentheses
  • proper nouns, nicknames, or epithets for specific people are capitalized and usually not abbreviated; if the first and middle names are abbreviated, they are spaced and punctuated
  • the pronoun "I"
  • title before a person's name, e.g. Dr. Kuchela, Mayor Andrew Young, Ms. Darvill
  • title of a parent or relative not preceded by a possessive word, e.g. We saw Mother kissing Santa Claus.
  • title or degree after a person's name, e.g. Frank Hole, Ph.D.
  • words referring to people from a region, e.g. Northerner, Western civilization
  • words/phrases designating people of a country, race/tribe, religious belief, e.g. Italian, Mashantucket, Methodist; words/phrases describing a person by skin color, size, or peculiarity are lowercased, e.g. black, dwarf, redneck.

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Places

  • geographical places and regions, e.g. Europe, Mars, the South, Lake Michigan, Wisconsin, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Middle East
  • names of buildings, e.g. Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building names of countries and nationalities, e.g. United States of America, American
  • short forms of geographic places which are clearly associated with the specific place, e.g. the Continent (Europe), the Channel (English Channel), the Hill (Capitol Hill), the Street (Wall Street)

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Proper Nouns

  • Military, nobility, organizational, religious, and other formal titles (i.e. formal title) are capitalized before a person's name. But when used in apposition, e.g. the archbishop of Canterbury, the title is lowercased. In formal usage, as an acknowledgment or introduction, a title following a name and set off by commas is capitalized, e.g. "I wish to thank Tim Hostetler, Professor of Physical Education, Dickinson College." Titles used in direct address are also capitalized, e.g. "Your table is ready, Professor."
  • Proper nouns are always capitalized, including common nouns or adjectives which are essential parts. A common noun used alone as a substitute for the proper noun is not capitalized unless it is a very well-known form, e.g. the Capitol (Washington, DC), the Channel (English Channel). The plural of a common noun which is an essential part of a proper noun is also capitalized, as 10th and Canal Streets. The article "the" is capitalized if it is part of a formal title, address, document title or part, or other proper noun. When the proper noun is used as an adjective, e.g. the New York area, or is used to refer to a proper noun, e.g. the Vidette-Messenger, "the" is not capitalized.
  • Words/phrases which are derivatives of a proper noun are capitalized when their meaning is directly referring to the proper noun, e.g. Victorian house, Roman architecture. If the word/phrase has taken on its own meaning or a specialized meaning, it is not capitalized, e.g. frankfurter, graham cracker, manila envelope.

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Publications

  • book series and editions, e.g. Modern Library
  • book titles and parts of a book, e.g. A Thesaurus of British Archaeology, the chapter on "How to Look Things Up"
  • computer software titles, programming languages, and operating systems, unless an acronym (which is full capitals), e.g. Microsoft Word, Yahoo!
  • literary and artistic works - capitalize all words with four or more letters, all those with fewer than four letters except articles (a, an, the), short conjunctions (and, as, but, if, nor, or), or short prepositions (at, by, for, in, of, off, on, out, to, up). Articles, short conjunctions, and short prepositions are capitalized if they are first or last word of a title, first word after a dash or colon, when words like in, off, out, up are adverbs rather than prepositions, and when words like in, up are used together with prepositions with four or more letters. Also capitalize short verb forms like Is and Be, unless part of an infinitive.
  • names of historical and legal documents, e.g. Magna Carta, the First Amendment
  • periodical titles, e.g. The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, National Geographic

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Religious Entities

  • References to the Eucharistic rite are capitalized: Mass, Holy Communion, the Sacrament, etc. Other services are lowercased, e.g. confirmation, high mass.
  • Religious concepts and events are often capitalized, e.g. Crucifixion, Creation.
  • Religious objects, e.g. rosary, are not capitalized.
  • Religious organizations, churches, and their members, as well as adjective derivatives, are capitalized. Religious denominations, sects, and movements are capitalized. The word church standing alone is capitalized when referring to a specific body or place.
  • The books of the Bible and its parts, including well-known passages and prayers, are capitalized. Books of the Bible may be abbreviated in references to specific passages. Titles of religious texts and other sacred documents are capitalized.
  • Titles of people serving in positions of religious organizations and churches are capitalized when used as proper nouns. Words referring to God and other deities are capitalized, e.g. the Holy Spirit, He, but not "who," "whom," and "whose." Proper nouns for saints, apostles, and prophets are capitalized.

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Royalty and Nobility Titles

Titles of royalty are capitalized when used as a formal title, e.g. Prince Charles of England. Some British titles are also capitalized when standing alone, e.g. Prince of Wales, because nobility are frequently known by their titles rather than their given or family names. Honorific titles and forms of address are capitalized, e.g. Your Majesty, His Eminence, Your Grace. The royalty of Britain are, in order of rank: king, queen, prince, princess, duke, marquess/marquis, earl, viscount, and baron. Honorary titles are baronet and knight.

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Time

Days of the week, months, holidays and religious days are capitalized, e.g. Good Friday, Tuesday, February as well as the names of seasons if personified, e.g. it was the Autumn of his life.