CAPITALISATION RULES

Capital letters are used with particular types of nouns, in certain positions in sentences, and with some adjectives. You must always use capital letters for:

The beginning of a sentence

EXAMPLES

• Dogs are noisy.
• Children are noisy too.

The first person personal pronoun, I

EXAMPLES

• Yesterday, I went to the park.
• He isn't like I am.

Names and titles of people

EXAMPLES

• Winston Churchill
• Marilyn Monroe
• the Queen of England
• the President of the United States
• the Headmaster of Eton
• Doctor Mathews
• Professor Samuels

Titles of works, books, movies

EXAMPLES

• War and Peace
• The Merchant of Venice
• Crime and Punishment
• Spider Man II

Months of the year

EXAMPLES

• January
• July
• February
• August

Days of the week

EXAMPLES

• Monday
• Friday
• Tuesday
• Saturday

Seasons

EXAMPLES

• Spring
• Summer
• Autumn
• Winter

Holidays

EXAMPLES

• Christmas
• Easter
• New Year's Day
• Thanksgiving Day

Names of countries and continents

EXAMPLES

• America
• England
• Scotland
• China

Names of regions, states, districts

EXAMPLES

• Sussex
• California
• Provence
• Tuscany

Names of cities, towns, villages

EXAMPLES

• London
• Cape Town
• Florence
• Vancouver

Names of rivers, oceans, seas, lakes

EXAMPLES

• the Atlantic
• the Pacific
• Lake Victoria
• the Rhine
• the Thames

Names of geographical formations

EXAMPLES

• the Himalayas
• the Alps
• the Sahara

Adjectives relating to nationality

EXAMPLES

• French music
• Australian animals
• German literature
• Arabic writing

Collective nouns for nationalities

EXAMPLES

• the French
• the Germans
• the Americans
• the Chinese

Language names

EXAMPLES

• I speak Chinese.
• He understands English.

Names of streets, buildings, parks

EXAMPLES

• Park Lane
• Sydney Opera House
• Central Park
• the Empire State Building
• Wall Street