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Below are the most important rules for capitalising words in English.

A. Easy rules

Do not capitalise common nouns.

A common noun is the name for the people, places and things around us, such as woman, cat, tree, table, church, air, river, room, etc. Common nouns can also name non-visible 'things' such as idea, luck, happiness, memory, justice, etc.

These words are not capitalised in English (although they are in German).

Capitalise the first person pronoun.

Mary and I are no longer friends.

Capitalise the first word of a sentence

T he grammar test was very easy.

W here did you buy your iPad?

Capitalise proper nouns*

* A proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person, place or thing.

The names of days/months: I was born on 2 April 1999, a M onday.

Note: Seasons are not capitalised. E.g., My favourite season is spring.

Note: Languages and nationalities are always capitalised, both when used as nouns and when used as adjectives. ( The French are a proud people. - I love French wine.)

Capitalise the first word of direct speech.

My mother asked, " W here have you been?"

B. Harder rules

Capitalise titles that come before names:

I saw P resident Obama in Macdonalds yesterday.

Have you met D octor Spock?

.. otherwise do not capitalise them:

Barack Obama is the first black president of the USA.

Spock is a doctor at UCLA.

Capitalise compass points if they are regions:

Do you like living in the S outh?

There are many car factories in the N ortheast

.. but do not capitalise them if they are directions:

I saw a flock of birds heading south.

Capitalise family words when they are titles or substitutes for a person's name:

Just then M other called me on my iPhone.

The man at the edge of the photo is U ncle Pete.

.. but do not capitalise them if they are preceded by a possessive:

Have you met my mother?

The man at the edge of the photo is my uncle Pete.

Capitalise building words when they are part of a specific building:

I was born in St Martins H ospital.

.. otherwise do not capitalise them:

My brother's in hospital after an accident.

Capitalise brand names:

Our next car will be a M ercedes.

.. but do not capitalise the nouns that follow them:

I got an A cer notebook for my birthday.

Capitalise geographical features when they refer to a specific feature:

The Pacific O cean is the largest body of water on Earth.

.. otherwise do not capitalise them:

Which is the largest ocean?

Capitalise the first word in a piece of direct speech - if the direct speech is a new sentence:

"If you listen, you will learn," the teacher said. " A nd you will not get a detention."

.. otherwise do not capitalise it:

"If you listen," the teacher said, "you will learn."

C. More information about capitalisation

In the two sections above (Easy rules / Harder rules), it is correct to use the word rule. For example, you must capitalise the first word of a sentence, proper nouns and common nouns when they are part of names. You must not capitalise other common nouns or other internal words within the sentence.

But there are many other situations where it is not correct to speak of rules: the writer can decide for herself which words to capitalise - or needs to follow a style guide determined by the organisation for which she works. (Students need to follow the "rules" given by their teachers.)

Below are a few examples of words that may or may be capitalised, depending on personal preference (or an organisational style guide, or teacher requirement).

The words within headings and book or film titles

More information about capitalisation

More Information about Capitalisation

More Information About Capitalisation

Sections or divisions of organisations

I work in the upper school of FIS.

I work in the Upper School of FIS.

Professional titles

They have an appointment to see the prime minister.

They have an appointment to see the Prime Minister.

Concepts, ideas, philosophies

We are studying post-modernism next semester.

We are studying Post-Modernism next semester.

Places or geographical features

Times of day

Your appointment is at 8.30 a.m. next Monday.

Your appointment is at 8.30 A.M. next Monday.

After a colon

Remember: clarity is more important than spelling.

Remember: Clarity is more important than spelling.

An example of a style guide is the one used by writers for the Guardian newspaper. This link will take you to the style instructions under the letter C. (Scroll down to "Capitals".) The guide introduction notes the clear trend (in British English at least) towards using lower case.

Do a quiz on this grammar topic: Quiz 1 - Quiz 2 - Quiz 3

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English Grammar Explanations - Capitalization

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Below are the most important rules for capitalising words in English. Do not capitalise common nouns. A common noun is the name for the people, places and things around us, such as woman, cat, tree, table, church, air, river, room, etc. Common nouns can also name non-visible 'things' such as idea, luck, happiness, memory, justice, etc.

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Capital letters rules and example Paragraph

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Capitals RULES

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Do you remember when to use capital letters and apostrophes?

Capital letters and apostrophes

The rules for the use of capital letters and apostrophes are quite easy to remember.

Capital letters

We use capital letters for the days of the week but not for seasons.

We use capital letters for planets - but not the earth, sun or moon.

Mercury is closer to the sun than the earth is.

We use capital letters for countries and for 'nationality' words.

David is from Germany but Jana is Slovak.

I bought the camera in Hong Kong but it's Japanese.

And we use capital letters when we talk about languages as school subjects - but other subjects don't have a capital letter.

She's got exams in English, French, history and geography this year.

Apostrophes

We use an apostrophe ( ') to show either possession or that there is a letter missing (e.g. the apostrophe in ' she's' shows that there is a letter missing in ' she is')

We use apostrophes with people or animals to show possession.

For things we use ' of' ( the front of the car, NOT the car's front.)

The position of the apostrophe depends on whether the noun is singular or plural. look at these two examples.

My friend's house. This is about one friend.

My friends' house. This is about two or more friends who share a house.

If a plural noun does not end in ' s' ( e.g. men, people, children) we use 's to show possession.

We also use an apostrophe in some time expressions.

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Do you remember when to use capital letters and apostrophes? Capital letters and apostrophes The rules for the use of capital letters and apostrophes are quite easy to remember. Capital letters We use capital letters for the days of the week but not for seasons.