12 Capitalization Rules Most People Don’t Know

Capitalization rules can be extremely difficult to master, and there are a number of common capitalization errors that our proofreaders and editors come across time and time again.

In this article, we take a look at some of the capitalizations rules that are regularly flouted and explain the do’s & don’ts of using capital letters in your writing.

Do capitalize official job titles or role names but only if they come before the name and are attached to the name. Do not capitalize the title if it comes after the name.

 

• President Barack Obama

or

• Barack Obama, president

 

• Llama Farming President Donkey Jones

or

• Donkey Jones, llama farming president

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Do capitalize specific geographical regions but do not capitalize points of the compass or general directions.

 

The hitchhiking penguin was last seen headed towards the south-west of South America. He was clearly ignoring his mother’s advice to head to colder climates in the north.

I escorted my herd of Mongolian Yak from the east to the west of Northern Tibet.

 

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Do capitalize the names of sports mascots, official names, and colors but do not capitalize names of sports teams.

 

• British Bulldogs
• basketball team
• Manchester United
• Manchester football team (Manchester is capitalized because it is a proper noun; i.e., the name of the city).

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Do not capitalize a.m. or p.m. under any circumstances.

 

• 1:25 a.m.
• 8-9 p.m.

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Do not capitalize course titles unless it is a very specific class. The only exceptions to this are classes that have the name of a language within their title.

 

• math/maths
• English
• economics
• French class
• German history

More Capitalization Rules You Probably Don’t Know >

Do not capitalize seasons of the year unless they appear within a formal title.

 

• spring
• summer
• autumn
• winter
• The 2012 Summer Ball

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Do not capitalize any prepositions, conjunctions or articles in titles of books, magazines, blog posts or newspapers unless they begin the title.

• The Secret Life of Gremlins
• Of Mice and Men

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Do not capitalize words that are derived from proper nouns but no longer depend on those nouns for their meaning.

• french toast
• english mustard
• roman blinds

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Do not capitalize occupational titles.

• teacher of art, Jock Japin
• pencil manager, Hugh Clough
• chief tool, Constantine Klunk

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 Do capitalize degree abbreviations but do not capitalize names of degrees when written in full.

• B.A. (bachelor’s of art)
• M.A. (master’s degree)
• M.B.A. (master’s of business administration)

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Do use capital letters for references to numbered items:

• Room 101
• Figure 26
• Three Mile Island

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Do use capital letters for the majority of acronyms (there are some exceptions, including ac and dc). Do not use acronyms for spelled out versions of the acronym if they are not proper nouns.

• International Business Machines (IBM)
• central processing unit (CPU)
• RAM (random access memory)

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Are there are capitalizations rules that confuse you? Drop us a line, and we’ll see if we can help.

If you think you could benefit from some help to make sure your written English is absolutely perfect, check out our proofreading services.