Grammar rules for capitalization.
Proper capitalization is one of the cornerstones of good grammar, yet many people fling capital letters around carelessly.
Not every word deserves to be capitalized. It’s an honor that must be warranted, and in writing, capitalization is reserved only for special words.
Most of the grammar rules are explicit about which words should be capitalized. However, there are some cases (like title case) in which the rules are vague.
Capitalization of Titles
There are several contexts in which we can examine capitalization. When writing a title (of a blog post, for example), almost all the words in the title are capitalized. This is called title case.
Title case is used for titles of books, articles, songs, albums, television shows, magazines, movies…you get the idea.
Capitalization isn’t normally applied to every word in a title. Smaller words, such as a, an, and the are not capitalized. Some writers only capitalize words that are longer than three letters. Others stretch it to four.
There is an exception to the rule of using lowercase for short words in a title: Words that are important should remain capitalized, even if they are shorter than three or four letters. For example, the word run is only three letters, but if it appeared in a title, it would be capitalized, because it would be the verb (or action) within the title: “Would You Run for Office?” Similarly, important nouns (subjects of objects of a title), such as me, would retain capitalization: Marley and Me.
There’s no fixed grammar rule for which words aren’t capitalized in a title, although they tend to be smaller and less significant words; you should check your style guide for specific guidelines to ensure that your capitalization in consistent.
Capitalization of Acronyms
Every letter in an acronym should be capitalized, regardless of whether the words those letters represent start with capital letters:
- The acronym for Writing Forward would be WF.
- WYSIWYG is an acronym that stands for what you see is what you get. Although the words in the original phrase aren’t capitalized, every letter in the acronym is capitalized.
- Most people use acronyms heavily in text messaging and online messaging. In common usage, these acronyms are rarely capitalized: omg, btw, nsfw. However, if you were using these acronyms in a more formal capacity, they would be entirely capitalized: OMG, BTW, NSFW.
First Word of a Sentence
As I’m sure you know, grammar rules state that the first word in a sentence is always capitalized.
Capitalization of Proper Nouns
To keep things simple here today, we’ll refer to a noun as a person, place, or thing. You need not worry about the other parts of speech because only nouns are eligible for perennial capitalization.
There are two types of nouns that matter in terms of capitalization: proper nouns and common nouns. Proper nouns are the names of specific people, places, and things. Common nouns are all the other, nonspecific people, places, and things.
When considering whether to capitalize, ask whether the noun in question is specific. This will tell you if it’s a proper noun, which should be capitalized, or a common noun, which remains in all lowercase letters.
Proper Noun Capitalization Example
The word country is not specific. It could be any country. Even if you’re talking about the country in which you live, which is a specific country, the word itself could indicate any number of nations. So keep it lowercase because it’s a common noun.
Conversely, Chile is a specific country. You can tell because Chile is the name of a particular land in which people reside. When you discuss the people of that land, you won’t capitalize the word people. However, if you’re talking about Chileans, you definitely capitalize because Chileans are a very specific people, from a very specific country, Chile.
Hopefully that makes sense. If not, keep reading because I’m about to confuse you even more.
Common Capitalization Errors
Folks often think that capitalization should be applied to any word that’s deemed important. Here’s an example:
We sent the Product to the local Market in our last shipment. Have the Sales Force check to see if our Widgets are properly packaged.
It’s not uncommon, especially in business writing, to see nouns that are crucial to a company’s enterprise capitalized. This is technically incorrect but could be considered colloquial usage of a sort. Unless it’s mandated by a company style guide, avoid it.
Here’s correct capitalization of our example:
We sent the product to the local market in our last shipment. Have the sales force check to see if our widgets are properly packaged.
Now, in a rewrite of the example, some of the words will be again capitalized, but only if they are changed to proper nouns (names or titles of things and people).
We sent the Widgetbusters (TM) to WidgetMart in our last shipment. Have Bob, Sales Manager, check to see if our widgets are properly packaged.
What about Capitalization for Job Titles?
Ah, this one’s tricky. Job titles are only capitalized when used as part of a specific person’s title:
- Have you ever met a president?
- Did you vote for president?
- Do you want to become the president?
- Nice to meet you, Mr. President.
- I read a book about President Lincoln.
Again, this has to do with specificity. “The president” or “a president” could be any president, even if in using the phrase, it’s obvious by context who you mean. However “Mr. President” or “President Lincoln” are specific individuals, and they call for capitalization.
Grammar Rules!
Do you have any questions about grammar rules regarding capitalization? Any additional tips to add? Leave a comment!
Hi, I’ve got a question about something I didn’t see directly addressed in your post. I guess it’s pretty much the same thing you discussed in the section on job titles, but applied to places and things.
If I mention a proper noun (e.g. Mount Sinai Hospital, or Economic Stimulus Project), and then refer to it later in the form of a common noun (the hospital, the project), should that be capitalised or not?
Thanks in advance for your guidance on this.
Hi Dan. When you refer to anything as a common noun, you will not capitalize it. This is similar to referring to “the president” versus “President Lincoln” – you only capitalize when it’s used as part of a proper noun.
Hi
I have a title Action Learning System, which obviously whenever referred to in the document is all capitalised, however when only part of it is referred to in a sentence do I still capitalise that one word? I.e. Learning or System?
Thanks for your help.
Jane
Jane, I think it’s okay to capitalize shortened versions of the name of your product, i.e. Learning or System. however, for the purpose of building brand-name recognition, I think it’s best to use the full name, capitalized. Also, once you name it as a system, it would be correct to refer to “the system” or “this system” using lowercase. In many cases, however, particularly in sales and marketing copy, key words are always capitalized. This is usually more a matter of style (choice) than grammar. I would either use the full name or an abbreviation (ALS).
Hi Melissa
Thanks so much for your speedy reply. It’s such a difficult one, and I don’t think I’ve come across it before, so thanks so much for your help.
Definitely a website I’m adding to my Favourites (correct capital???)
Jane
Looks like you’re using British spelling (favourites) rather than American (favorites). I think the same rules apply here – you can refer to “favorites” in a general sense or you can refer specifically to the “Favorites” menu on your browser. Personally, I’d go with lowercase, but it’s a style issue, so you get to choose.
Sometimes I have problems with whether to capitalize “the” when it’s ambiguous whether it’s followed by a proper noun or the beginning of a proper noun.
For example, “I live in the United States of America” versus “Dwayne Johnson is known as The Rock”. In those two cases, it’s obvious to me whether I should capitalize “the” or not, but in some cases, I am not so sure. I guess it has more to do with whether “the” is included into the pronoun or not than with the actual grammar.
Kelvin, you’ve raised an excellent question, one I’ve wondered about more than once, so I checked The Chicago Manual of Style. It looks to me like you’ve got it right with “the United States of America.” I went through over fifty pages on capitalization and the is never capitalized when it precedes a name or title. For example, we would write: the Army, the Buddha, the Prince of Wales, etc. If you pick up a style guide, you’ll be able to look up specific terms when you run into this question again.
My grammar is terrible. Thank you so much for this post.
You’re welcome!
Hi Melissa,
If writing….
I would like to thank everyone once again for their time.
Should ‘Thank” be capitalized?
I see examples like this in a lot of business writing. The direct answer to your question is no.
Guilty of the first point. I always capitalize every word in a blog post title. Bad habits are easy to fall in to and I guess I should think a little more about it.
Actually, I don’t think it’s technically wrong to do that. From what I’ve read, title capitalization is a style issue, but the convention is definitely toward keeping short words lowercase. Personally, I sort of eye it and go partially on what looks aesthetically pleasing.
Thanks for the article, as I enjoy brushing up on grammar skills. I do have two questions though: Do you capitalize the first letter after a colon? Also, is the subject line of an e-mail considered a title? Thanks for your time.
Good question about the email subject line! In most cases, issues surrounding new media and modern technology haven’t been settled among grammarians. However, I definitely consider an email subject line a title, and I use title case in all subject lines. I also use title case for subheadings in my blog posts.
Here’s what Chicago says about capitalizing after a colon:
“When a colon is used within a sentence…the first word following the colon is lowercased unless it is a proper name. When a colon introduces two or more sentences…or when it introduces a speech in dialogue or an extract…the first word following it is capitalized.”
Basically, if the text that follows the colon is a complete sentence, it gets capitalized.
Hope that helps. You guys are asking some excellent questions about capitalization!
Beautiful walkthrough and examples.
I especially like how you juxtaposed common scenarios and their corresponding traps.
Thanks, J.D.
Wasn’t sure if I had a question, but turns out I do. Although I think you may have somewhat possibly answered it, but I had been curious about certain words in titles, like “the”, “of”, and, well, “and”. I thought in some occasions I saw these words capitalized in their titles (of course not when they are the beginning or end of said title). Some examples I thought would be movie titles such as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” or “Men in Black”. I would think the “the” in “the Sundance Kid” would be capitalized… just because. And for a long time I debated with myself whether or not “in” in “Men in Black” should be capitalized, since they are also know as MIB. I think within the movie, my question is answered since Kay has business cards that clearly read “MiB” on them. (Men in Black is one of my all-time favorite movies, I know it by heart.) Anyway, I said all that to ask if titling in such a way is proper or is it more of a style?
I managed to escape this on titling my blog posts since I choose to keep the entire title in lowercase. Sometimes I do this because a post might be a line from a song or quote from a movie.
And regarding when to capitalize “president” …I’ve always been confused by that. So thanks for that, I think some of the newspapers I’ve read must have it wrong since I’ve frequently seen “the President did such and things and blah”.
What would it be like to be grammarian? What do their offices look like? How much do they get paid? I’m not really looking for answers to those questions… just some thoughts typed out loud.
For the most part, it’s a style issue (in other words, it will depend on which style guide you use). However, if you’re talking about a title, you capitalize the first word if it’s the or a. For Butch and MIB, I don’t think the and in are capitalized (even with MIB; when you write out the full title, in is lowercase:
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Men in Black (MIB)
While IMDB is not a grammar resource, it’s a good place to go to see how the industry is treating capitalization. Or just look at the movie poster or DVD cover. I would use that as the official way to capitalize.
Back in the day, many moons ago, I was taught that all the words in a title were capitalised, and then I was taught that only the more ‘important’ ones were but I’m not going to get too hung up on that. My pet peeve is headings not titles. EVERYBODY these days seems to treat headings like titles by capitalising(?) every word, or the main words or, if in doubt, every letter of every word. The question at the end of the rant is; is this trend correct or is it another example of the ignorant perpetuating the mistakes of the ignorant? Or is it an American thing that people elsewhere have just adopted without even being aware of it, the way they do with pronunciation?
I believe this is more of a style than grammar issue. I use the Chicago Manual of Style and within it, the headings are indeed capitalized (some are in all caps). It seems to me that titles and headings are close cousins, so it makes sense to capitalize them.
“As I’m sure you know, the first word in a sentence is always capitalized.”
Suppose some one’s username is “rickety” in lower-case, and you don’t know their real name. Do I write a sentence like this:
“Melissa Donovan is a fine writer. rickety is not so hot.”
Sounds like a silly question but I come across similar examples occasionally.
That’s a good question, Rick. I would say that if one adheres to the rules of proper grammar, a proper noun would be capitalized, whether it’s at the beginning of a sentence or not. Since the name of any person is a proper noun, it should simply be capitalized.
But that’s not much fun, is it? Creative writers have been bending the rules for many years, and that includes how capitalization and proper nouns are treated. Take e.e. cummings, for example. He often depicted his entire name in lowercase letters. I’ve seen some examples in which a publication opted to capitalize Mr. Cummings’ name and others where they leave it lowercase (I’m guessing out of respect). So, my second answer is that it’s up to the publication or editor.
I have a question. Suppose you are writing about sectors that a business is involved in. Such as xyz Investments is involved in diverse sectors such as food and beverages, leisure, transportation and tourism. Would it be capitalised, as technically this is the name of an industry?
Also say a bank provides services such as commercial and private banking, asset management, islamic finance, brokerage, financial market services, leasing and property managemenent. Would this be capitalised? I have seen it written both ways on the web. Technically these are names of services so my gut feeling is to capitalise but am just not sure!
Thanks
Mel, this deals with business writing, not creative writing. Businesses should use a style guide, either an established one or one that has been created for their industry or company. Generally, the lists you’ve asked about would not be capitalized, but in business writing, the styles are slightly different.
I have the same question regarding business specific services and processes (specifically for the insurance industry). I really appreciate your information that this is a business style issue and not a grammatical one. Where would I be able to find a business style guide? When searching for this I have only come across references such as the MLA handbook.
If the company or industry in question doesn’t have its own style guide, I would suggest using the Chicago Manual of Style. Many other style guides are based on that one. Another option would be the AP style guide, which is widely used in journalism.
Additional Tip: When preceded by “my,” the words “mom” and “dad” are not capitalized. They’re usually only capitalized when used as a substitute for the person’s name; for example, “Hey, Mom.”
Yes, that’s a good point. The words mom and dad can either be used as common nouns (lowercase: my mom, my dad) or as proper nouns and titles (Hi Mom, Hi Dad).
Hello, I’d also like to add that it’s not just all smaller words that aren’t capitalized. It’s the smaller prepositions, the articles (the, an, a), and the conjunctions. But “is” and “be” and “are,” which are quite small, are supposed to be capitalized (though often incorrectly left lowercase) because these words are verbs.
Sorry, I’m an editor; I’m passionate about grammar. :3
Ah, good point. Words that are considered important (like verbs) should be capitalized even if they are short. Thanks for adding that Lauren!
I may have missed it, but how about after a semicolon. Capital or not.
Excellent question, Bill. It is addressed in a post about semicolons: How to Use a Semicolon.
Great article. I”m still left with a question. Do I capitalize the name of fish? Mummichog is the one at the moment. I think not, like cat. I wouldn’t capitalize cat. So pending a different answer from you, I’m not capitalizing it!
We don’t capitalize words like cat or fish (or humans or people for that matter). However, we would capitalize their personal names (Mittens and Bubbles, for example). We don’t capitalize words like tabby or salmon (which are types of cats and fish). However, if a proper noun is included (as in Siamese cat or German shepherd dog), we keep it capitalized. I don’t think you would capitalize mummichog unless it’s also a proper noun or the personal name of a fish (like your name is Catherine).
Do you capitalize the first word after a quote i.g., “I wouldn’t like that very much.” Replied the lovely young lady. And is this the correct use of “i.g.,.
Hi Ian,
This is actually not a quote; it’s dialogue. When the dialogue tag (he said / she said) comes after the dialogue, we put a comma at the end of the dialogue (not a period) and we do not capitalize the dialogue tag: “That’s interesting,” she said. Here is how your example should look:
“I wouldn’t like that very much,” replied the lovely young lady.
There is no i.g. that I’m aware of but perhaps you mean e.g. It’s a latin abbreviation meaning “for example”.
Questions like yours are always welcome here; I’m more than happy to help if I can. But I also recommend getting a few writing resources so that you can look up questions like these when they arise. I first learned how to format dialogue by simply reading a lot of fiction. Good luck to you!
hi! I was wondering, if I were referring to a large estate that is NOT the White House, and I wanted to say ‘north wing’, would that be capatalized? For example:
While on the tour of the large estate, Gary opened the wooden door and ushered me in. “This is the north wing,” he said.
Thank you.
The rule to remember is that we only capitalize proper nouns, which you can also think of as official names for something. Here, “north wing” is not the official name; rather, it’s a description of a location (within a building). In this context, it would not be capitalized.
If the name of a restaurant is “melvin’s,” and it is not capitalized on it’s sign and menu, etc. Would you capitalize it when you are writing about it?
I think that’s a judgement call and you can go either way. I would probably capitalize it, depending on what I’m writing. With proper nouns like iPad, most people are familiar with the spelling and the construct makes it obvious that’s how it’s spelled. With a word like “melvin’s,” you risk your audience thinking the error is yours. You might also do some research to see if they capitalize their name on other official documents. They may have used lowercase on the sign and menu for style but they may capitalize it on letterhead, business cards, etc. Check the phone book!
That was a great read. My question is about Murphy’s Law. Since it isn’t public law, which are capitalized, should the word law in Murphy’s Law be capitalized?
It doesn’t matter how official or public a proper noun is, we would still capitalize it. If nothing else, Murphy’s Law would probably qualify as a title. Yes, it should definitely be capitalized.
How about capitlaization of coined nicknames? Now, going by your guideline, I’d say yes, because they are standing in for a SPECIFIC person’s proper name.
A husband addresses his wife, “When does the movie start, Sweetheart?”
She replies, “Nine-thirty, Honey.”
But what if it’s off-beat, or even derisive?
“Hey, Big Nose, where are you going?”
“You look wonderful tonight, Baby Lamb Cheeks.”
My wife is a technical writer and editor, and she claims she sees referrals such as “honey” and “sweetheart” BOTH WAYS (capped and not), even when directly addressing the person. I say any directly addressed coined nickname is capped.
“What do you say there, Grammar Sage?”
I have to go with your wife on this one. I have seen it done both ways, and I say it’s the author’s call. I think it depends on your personal style and what you think looks good on the page. Personally, I would use lowercase in most of these instances since they are terms of endearment. However, if one character uses a term of endearment as a nickname for another character, I would capitalize it.
Pass the carrots, honey. <-- a general term of endearment applied to many people. You just keep getting cuter and cuter, Freckles. <-- a special nickname for someone. Hope that helps.
Seems like any time you’re addressing an individual, you would capitalize it because it’s a substitute for their name. Only in instances where you don’t know their name does the more generic lowercase treatment feel appropriate (such as a waitress saying, “Here you go, hon.”) Since endearments like “love”, “honey” and “sugar” are also common words, it’s safest not to compromise clarity. (“Would you pass me that, sugar?”)
Thanks for a great site, Melissa!
Thanks, Gary!
Hi Melissa
Some really useful things in this blog. I was wondering about the use of capitals to refer to an industry. Would it be mining or Mining? Oil and Gas or oil and gas?
Also, would specific duties or actions in that industry be capitalised? Would it be Payroll or payroll? Would it be Management Accounting or management accounting? Commercial Contracts or commercial contracts? Would they have Commercial focus or commercial focus?
Likewise, if you are talking about a significant project should this be ‘multi billion dollar infrastructure project’ or ‘multi billion dollar Infrastructure Project?’
I assume titles would be in capitals: Accountant and Contracts Specialist. Is this right?
Thank you so much for your help!
The rule is that only proper nouns get capitalized. It gets tricky when we ask whether the name of an industry is considered a proper noun (it’s not). Words like mining and phrases like oil and gas are not capitalized. They are not names but words to label items, just like a desk is a four-legged table that we use as a workspace — mining is an activity wherein we dig for resources and profit.
Specific duties are also not capitalized. If we capitalized words like payroll, we’d have to capitalize every activity under the sun. For example:
My assistant is doing the Payroll. (incorrect)
The kids are playing a Game. (incorrect)
However, if the word or phrase is referring to the name of a specific department within a specific company, it would be capitalized:
Send those time cards to Payroll.
Job titles are capitalized but only when used in official or specific context:
I’d like to hire an accountant. (generic)
I used to be a Contracts Specialist. (official/specific)
Hope that helps.
Thank you Melissa!
I am writing a novel, and I show my characters thoughts in italics. My question is, do I capitalize the first word of the ‘thought’.
For instance, if I write:
Sandy thought, (in italics) Was this planned or random?
MS Word corrects me if I capitalize it, but I learned somewhere that I was suppose to.
Can you clear this up for me?
Yes, I would capitalize it. In fact, I would treat the thoughts just like dialogue, except there would be italics and no quotation marks. I think you’ve got it right. Pay no attention to Word’s poor editing skills.
Sandy thought, Was this planned or random?
You may find that you don’t always need the dialogue tags, however:
Was this planned or random?
That might work in context, if it’s clear which character the focus is on. Good luck with your novel!
I am trying to edit a book written by a friend. Should he use capitals when referring to specific persons by their titles in dialog? For example, “I will help you with that in a moment, Sheriff? or “Robert called you into his office, Agent.”
Are these considered job descriptions? I think they should be capitalized since they refer to a specific person.
In the example you gave, Sheriff would be capitalized. Agent sounds odd to me. Keep in mind, some titles are used when referring directly to someone: Mr. President, Commander, General (most military ranks), etc. However, most job titles are not used in this manner. For example, we wouldn’t say, “Good morning, CEO” or “Do you have that report I requested, Admin?” I believe the title Agent is usually paired with the person’s last name: “Robert called you into his office, Agent Smith.”
Having said all that, in the context you presented, yes, Agent would be capitalized because it’s used in place of the person’s name.
Thank you. The book revolves around a FBI agent, and people refer to him as such. I am glad that I am on the right track.
Hi,
I am a little confused.When someone communicates casually with a friend and they begin with “i” rather than “I”, they are saying loud and clear they do not know the basics of grammar. This can become the message.
Where do we go from here is the question. The only place I know for sure we will not go is backward. Where do you think it all goes from here?
I love your questions because it sounds like you’re asking what the future will bring. It’s fun to imagine all the possibilities, but there’s no way to know for sure. Back in Shakespeare’s time, I doubt they could have imagined that in a few hundred years, kids would be running around saying “dude” and “wazzup.”
Above the word “folks” is reference, and it got me wondering: Should “folks” be capitalized when used in address form? Example: Which is correct below?
One emails one’s team, which is a specific group of people:
Okay, Folks, send me your time sheets by tomorrow, mid-day.
or
Okay, folks, send me your time sheets by tomorrow, mid-day.
Granted, the knowledge that I am addressing specific folks, versus folks may may stumble across my edict, may be mine alone, and/or it may also reside with the readers.
Thanks for any advice.
If you use “folks” in the salutation, it would be capitalized:
Hi Folks,
If you use it within the body, it should not be capitalized:
Okay folks, send me your sheets…
In the second example, it used the same way people or team would be used. These are not proper nouns.
Do you capitalize the word Economy?
Only if it’s a proper noun; usually, it is not. However, if it’s part of a title or name (of a business or organization, for example), then you would capitalize it.
What about club names, ie, pep club, beta club?
A club name is a name, so it is a proper noun and should be capitalized.
When a sentence begins with a word in which the first letter is not normally capitalized, do you capitalize it? I am thinking of words like mRNA, iPhone, cDNA, eBay, etc.
Hi Canton. This is a question of style, so you should check a style guide for a specific answer. One approach is to rewrite the sentence so that it doesn’t start with one of these words. Otherwise, I would say keep the first letter lowercase.
When addressing and guest on an invitation should the “G” be capiatized?
Yes, although it depends on the context. On the outside of the envelope and in the salutation, it should definitely be capitalized.
I am editing a book that discusses a system that was developed by another author. Do I capitalize the steps and the sections in the system? The author capitalized everything, so I just want to double-check.
Sarah, it depends on the style guide that’s being used. Any book that’s headed for publication should go through a professional editor, and that person should either know the proper guidelines or should have the resources at hand to find out.
Maybe I missed the answer in an above post. I am looking for a quick answer.
Why when you are writing a poem in someone’s honor, is the word “for” in lowercase?
Thank you.
Only titles are capitalized, so I assume that’s what you’re referring to. In “title case,” we don’t usually capitalize short, unimportant words such as a, an, the, to, and for, unless one of these words is the first word of the title. The rules are hazy, but most writers and editors have a cutoff of words of either three or four letters. Hope that helps!
What is the proper capitalization of the greeting “Dear, dear Laura”?
Thanks so much.
It should be as follows:
Dear, Dear Aunt Laura,
However, it would be better written as follows:
Dear Aunt Laura,
Hope that helps!
Hi Melissa,
Lovely informative post. Thanks.
In my own short story of three main characters, there are no names. But the woman always refers to her husband as ‘he’ or ‘him’ in her internal dialogue. Once she refers to her unborn son as ‘him’ making a slight confusion in one single place. Is it acceptable to use capitalization for ‘Him’ and ‘He’ for the husband? A friend suggested that might intensify the emotional connection she has with her husband. Thanks.
Writers often take such liberties, but it would not be correct to capitalize he or him. Some style guides capitalize these pronouns when referring to a deity, but there is no other situation in which that would normally be done. I think if you capitalize, the reader is likely to assume it’s referring to a deity rather than the husband or son. Thanks for your question!
Thank you for this article. I am dealing with someone who capitalises the subject of the sentence in her emails. And then she tells me that I should do the same. Ughh.
You might want to point her to a dictionary or style guide. People are certainly free to capitalize whatever they want, and we live in a world where people seem to increasingly think they can just make up their own rules for everything from grammar to word definitions. Sometimes arguing with people is a waste of time, because no amount of proof or evidence will convince them of the facts. Capitalizing the subject of a sentence is, without question, incorrect, unless the subject is also the first word of the sentence or a proper noun.
Would I capitalize nation when referring to the United States? For instance, we are the largest network of our kind in the nation? or We are the largest network of our kind in the Nation?
No, nation is not a proper noun and should not be capitalized. It would only be capitalized if it were included in an official title, like the United Nations.
Melissa, thanks for helping me win a conversation with my boss. We’re tech writers. She insists that because the letters in the acronym are capitalized, the spelled-out version must also be capitalized. I do take exception to your statement that all the letters in an acronym must be caps. Maybe this is just a tech thing, but we have a number of exceptions, such as Internet of Everything (IoE) and Collaboration as a Service (CaaS).
Hi Michael. There are always exceptions when dealing with industry-specific jargon. This would be a style issue, not a grammar matter, and companies (or industries) are free to develop their own style guidelines. Thanks!
Do the words vitamins, supplements and skincare sectors need to be capitalised in this sentence: This division focuses on cutting-edge technology and formulations to ensure optimal results across the Vitamin, Supplements and Skin Care sectors.
Hi Mo. It sounds like you’re doing commercial writing (copywriting), which isn’t the focus here at Writing Forward. You probably need to refer to a style guide, as your question doesn’t deal with the rules but rather the standards in a particular industry. Having said that, I don’t think the products in your sentence should be capitalized.
Hi dear Ms Melissa Donovan,
I am stumped with why the author didn’t capitalize both words ‘principle’ and ‘salesman’ in the following statement:
“In the showroom John McCormack is the Principal salesman with three expert salespeople working under him.”
Because they are not proper nouns. Principal should not be capitalized.
Hello dear Ms. Melissa,
Firstly, while translating ‘salesman’ on Google Translation, I found this example below in which ‘Principle’ is capitalized. That is the reason I am asking you why it is so, and ‘salesman’ is not.
“In the showroom John McCormack is the Principal salesman with three expert salespeople working under him.”
Secondly, IMHO, I think If someone is the main carpenter on a specific project (with other carpenters following his orders), he would be called “Head Carpenter”, “Lead Carpenter” or “Chief Carpenter”, “Principle Carpenter”, “Main Carpenter” or even “Senior Carpenter”.
So, if someone is the main salesman on a specific project(with other salespeople following his orders), he would be called “Head Salesman”, “lead Salesman”, “Chief Salesman”, “Principle Salesman”, “Main Salesman” or even “Senior Salesman”.
If you were describing his job, you would say “He’s a lead carpenter/lead salesman/principle carpenter/principle salesman . . .” or just “I’m a carpenter/salesman and I’m in charge of _____ project.”
So, I think ‘Principle Salesperson’ is considered here as Job title revealing both the job level(“principle’ is a modifier as a noun, in bold) and the job responsibility.
So, “Principle Salesman” should come in the job title category entitled “Job title revealing both the job level and the job responsibility” which must be capitalized.
As a result, it must be capitalized as in ““In the showroom John McCormack is the Principal salesman with three expert salespeople working under him.”
Finally: IMHO, I think “Head/Chief/Lead/Principle/Main/Senior” can modify any job titles in a trade or academia.
So, the following examples come in this category “Job title revealing both the job level and the job responsibility” and must be capitalized:
Head(Chief/Lead/Principle/Main/Senior) Builder/ Carpenter/Goldsmith/Chef/ Salesman/Prison Officer/ Engineer/Accountant/ Electrical Superintendent,Marketing Manager
a Professor
a Head Professor/The Head Professor of Computer Science Department.
a Assistant Professor
a Teaching Assistant
Job titles are only capitalized when used as part of someone’s name. The best example of this is as follows (using “president” as an example of a job title):
Have you seen the president?
I am the president.
We’ve asked President Smith for advice.
Are you listening, Madame President?
As you can see, it’s only capitalized when used as part of someone’s name. That’s why you would see Professor Jones capitalized but “I spoke to the professor” not capitalized.
Having said that, many industries and businesses have their own style guidelines, and it’s not uncommon to see job titles capitalized. Most people assume these words should be capitalized, and so they get capitalized.
In the general rules of grammar, we’d follow the “president” guidelines that I laid out above. The simple fact is that job titles are not proper nouns and only proper nouns get capitalized. However, anyone is free to develop their own style guidelines, and many businesses and industries have done just that. But be mindful that if you capitalize “John is the Principal Salesman,” you would also have to capitalize “Jane is the Salesperson” and “Joe is the Custodian.” If you cap one job title, then they should all be capped.
Hope that helps.
Hi dear Ms Melissa,
Do you think that “presiden”, “professor”, and “head”) shouldn’t be capitalized even in the following since they are not part of a person’s name(They are not preceding a person’s name to whom they are titled)
Trump is the current President of the USA.
He is the existing President of Yemen.
I am the Professor of Computer Science Department.
I am the Head of Computer Science Department.
If yes, they shouldn’t be capitalized, then could I conclude that job titles should only be capitalized if they come before a person’s name?
But, on the free The Free Dictionary(an American online dictionary) forum that, I was told by a native English speaker member the following:
Some guidelines.
A proper post title (which I would capitalise) would often (not always) be one which can be preceded by “the”. A job description would more likely have ‘a’ – but not always.
I’m a security guard. (“security guard” is just ‘what I do”)
I am (the) Security Guard at the National Museum. (“Security Guard” is my post title)
Very often, it’s just that you choose.
If you want to mention your post title, you say “I am the Professor of the Computer Sciences Department.”
If you don’t, you might just say “I am a professor”, if you consider it to be your job.
Or you might want to state your personal title – “I am a Professor” or “I am Professor Jones.”
Which means that member capitalizes the job titles if he he want to mention his post title although the job title are not part of a person’s name.
At this point, we’re going in circles. No, those words should not be capitalized. Yes, titles are only capitalized when used as proper nouns (as part of someone’s name). In some industries and companies, style guidelines are established with variants on these rules and standards. It’s not necessarily “wrong” to capitalize some of the terms you’re asking about.
“A native English speaker” is not necessarily an expert, and I would not recommend taking random grammar advice from strangers without first establishing their credibility.
I would strongly suggest picking up a book on English grammar. You should decide if you want to use American or British English, as there are some significant differences (we use American English here at Writing Forward). One of my favorite resources is Grammar Girl, which has a book, a podcast, and a website packed with good information. In fact, you can probably search there to find more answers to these questions on capitalization. She is an authority on these matters.
Also, I recommend using Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, as it is standard among professional writers and editors. Good luck to you!
Why do we not capitalize names of gases such as hydrogen, helium, etc…? Why are they not considered proper?
Common nouns are generic labels. I am a person (generic, lowercase, common noun), and my name is Melissa (capitalized, proper noun). There’s a tendency to think of “names” as proper nouns, but even though almost everything is named–not everything is a proper noun. For more information, I’d recommend starting at the Wikipedia entry for proper noun.
So, in this sentence is it correct to capitalize all of the job titles?
Director of Child Development, Coordinator of Preschool Programs, Preschool Program supervisors, and the financial Analyst.
If these are official titles, then based on the limited context, it looks almost correct, except “supervisors” and “financial” should also be capitalized.
I am a teacher in a Child Development Center. There is some debate about what is the proper way to label shelves for toys. For instance, should a shelf with puzzles be labeled with or without a capital P? Some say that only Legos or Magnatiles should be capitalized because they are brand name toys. Do labels follow the same rules of capitalization as titles?
I’m not aware of any capitalization rules for labeling, although all-lowercase on a label would strike me as odd, and I think it would *look* incorrect. I would probably go with all caps as my first choice and treating them as titles (capping the first letters) as my second choice. If you’re still not sure, check a style guide. Chicago Manual of Style might address this.
When editing a manuscript of a book, and the author capitalizes certain words relative to God, such as Love, Physical World, Absolute Reality, etc., should those always be capitalized throughout the entire manuscript as well? Logic dictates context, but this is mostly a philosophical book, so I take those referenced words to be proper nouns associated with the subject of the sentence. That said, not all references to the word “love” are capitalized. Shouldn’t they be?
It’s not correct to capitalize love, physical world, or absolute reality, as these are not proper nouns. It’s possible that the text you’re referencing used these words as names, so they were functioning as proper nouns. However, we often see capitalization handled differently in religious or spiritual texts. Ultimately, it’s a decision that authors and editors make, so it becomes a style issue rather than a grammar matter.
Thanks for this helpful post. I would like to know whether to capitalize the names of committees and policies in an official document such as an annual report. Would the specific names of the committees and policies be capitalized or not at all? The organization I work for tends to overcapitalize everything.
It’s not uncommon in a business setting for people to capitalize incorrectly or loosely. There’s a tendency to capitalize any word deemed important rather than words that are truly proper nouns. However, organizations often have their own style guidelines, which is perfectly acceptable. Whether committees and policies should be capitalized really depends on the context. For example, the word president is only capitalized when used as a title:
The president is speaking. (not capitalized because its a regular noun)
There is a recording of President Roosevelt speaking. (capitalized because it’s a title and therefore a proper noun)
I recommend finding out if your organization has a style guide and if not, consider using one.