Capitalize the first word in a sentence.
This is the most basic rule of capitalization
Capitalize the pronoun “I.”
Another basic one, but in today’s text-message driven world, it bears mentioning.
Capitalize proper nouns: the names of specific people, places, organizations, and sometimes things.
For instance: Austin, Texas, Patrick O’Brian, Ragan Communications, Supreme Court.
Capitalize family relationships when used as proper nouns.
Capitalize “Uncle John,” and “Grandma Jesse,” but leave it lower case when it’s not referring to a person’s name. For instance, “We visit my cousin every Christmas.”
Capitalize titles that appear before names, but not after names.
This is perhaps the greatest capitalization crime in corporate America. Remember, it’s “President of
Writing Advice Laura Brockway” or “Laura Brockway, president of writing advice,” not the other way around.
Writing Advice Laura Brockway” or “Laura Brockway, president of writing advice,” not the other way around.
Capitalize directions that are names: North, South, East, and West when used as sections of the country, but not as compass directions.
So capitalize “The Pacific Northwest” and “Central Texas”, but not “We drove west for two hours.”
Capitalize the days of the week, months of the year, and holidays, but not the seasons used generally.
Seasons are only capitalized when being used as a proper title.
Capitalize members of national, political, racial, social, civic, and athletic groups.
“Texas Longhorns,” “Libertarians,” “Chinese.”
Capitalize periods and events, but not century numbers.
“Victorian Era” “Medieval Era” “Colonial Era” “Renaissance Era.”
Capitalize trademarks.
“Subaru,” “Coca-Cola,” “Apple,” “Chevy.”
