Watch your language! Part 1 Capitalization

Question

English speaking members, I have been asked to post a thread about English rules for capitalization and punctuation. I will concentrate here on capitalization. It is part of the seventh rule in 10 simple rules of the SpanishDict forum:

10 Simple Rules click here to access all forum rules.

This is part 1 of 3 posts I will make on watching your language.

Capitalization rules:

(British usage - capitalisation)

The first word of a sentence (declarative or question) is always capitalized (British usage - capitalised). Example: The first word of a sentence is always capitalized.

The pronoun “I” is always capitalized. Example: As you can see I don’t understand. In Spanish the pronoun yo is only capitalized when it begins a sentence.

Days of the week and months of the year are capitalized. Example: Thursday, November 26, In Spanish days of the week and months of the year are not capitalized.

Proper nouns begin with capital letters. Here are examples of proper nouns:

All nationalities and languages and religions, Example: American, British, English, French, Spanish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhism, Jewish. In Spanish these are not capitalized.

The names of individual people and all prefixes and suffixes that go with the name. Examples: Mr. John Q. Public Jr., Catherine the Great, President Lincoln, Prime Minister Smith.

The given names of natural places. Examples: Mount (Mt.) Vesuvius, Lake Superior, Loch Ness, the Nile River, the Straight of Gibraltar.

Man-made structures that have a proper designation. Examples: the Tower of London, the Statue of Liberty, the Panama Canal.

Street names such as Piccadilly Circus, Broadway.

Schools and colleges such as Oxford, Harvard, Yale, South Carolina University, Central College, George Washington High School.

Political or national divisions which include continents, countries, states, counties, cities and towns. Examples: South America, Canada, West Virginia, Hamilton County, London., Sleepy Hollow.

Very nice, thank you, amigo. :) - rac1, Oct 1, 2015

Thank you, Amber for your encouragement. - Jubilado, Oct 1, 2015

Bien hecho amigo. - ian-hill, Oct 1, 2015

Great post amigo , well needed and will be appreciated by all. - ray76, Oct 2, 2015

Succinct, nice, and thanks. - jrschenk, Oct 2, 2015

Nice, thanks. - annierats, Oct 3, 2015

Thanks, this is good stuff! - sanlee, Oct 5, 2015

Papa Smurf! - Sassette, Oct 5, 2015

Thank you. My "Spanish" will never be the same. ;) - Ikigreg, Oct 26, 2015

Thankyou, looking forward to your future posts on puntuacion? - 00cc0117, Feb 1, 2016

Answer 1

Hola, Jubilado:

En español no llevan mayúscula los accidentes geográficos:

monte Vesubio, lago Ness, río Nilo, estrecho de Gibraltar.

Tampoco es necesario (aunque es común) escribir con mayúscula inicial los cargos:

presidente Lincoln, primer ministro Smith.

¡Muchas gracias, Luis! Tu aporte es invaluable. No quise dar las reglas de español en detalles porque es difícil para mí. Has aclarado bien la información. - Jubilado, Oct 1, 2015

Yes, this is for English primarily. I agree it's different in Spanish, but I know in Spanish, you capitalize a sentence and add punctuation. Perhaps we could have one of these for Spanish as well. Any thoughts? - rac1, Oct 2, 2015

Gracias, Luis. - annierats, Oct 3, 2015

Yes, that would be great! - sanlee, Oct 5, 2015

Answer 2

OK thank you for bringing this up- I was very bad at grammar spelling when I started using this program. Also thank you for explaining it very simply.

I am so happy to have helped you. You can bookmark this web page in your favorites to reference it in the future. I will be posting 2 more messages so watch for them. I am greatly encouraged by your presence here! - Jubilado, Oct 1, 2015

OK thx :) - Matjam, Oct 1, 2015

A great improvement mate , you will be fine in no time. - ray76, Oct 2, 2015

Answer 3

Thanks for doing this. An English grammar review cannot hurt and may even help. I know that I tend to over capitalize.

Thanks for your support! - Jubilado, Oct 1, 2015

And I tend to use texto typing, without capitals.. - annierats, Oct 3, 2015

Answer 4

A fabulous post that we can all learn from and go back to from time to time.

Thanks, mate! I may copy all this and the Part 2 into one of those Reference Articles for easier access. What do you think? - Jubilado, Oct 8, 2015

The trouble with that is that it is hard to access reference , but a good idea, I will keep bumping these up because they are invaluable to all of us. - ray76, Oct 8, 2015

It's not hard at all to access the references. It's under categories on the Q&A page. All you do is click on "Categories" and scroll down to the bottom and wallah, Reference Articles. - rac1, Oct 9, 2015

Thanks Amber did not know that , was hoping someone would post it . - ray76, Oct 10, 2015

Yes, plus your thread goes around with everything on it, so there is no reason for someone to say, "I can't find it". Thanks Ray. :) - rac1, Oct 18, 2015

Answer 5

Well done Jubilado!

Thanks! - Jubilado, Oct 4, 2015

Answer 6

Good stuff Jubilado. Here are a few more if want to add them (depending on how lengthy you want the list .

Historical events and periods: The Battle of Hastings / The Middle Ages.

Holidays and special events: Christmas / The Olympics.

Organisations and companies: Greenpeace / Apple.

Brand names (unless deliberately lower case): Lego (but not iPod).

Titles of works: War and Peace / The Mona Lisa.

Government departments and bills etc.: Department of Defence / Social Security Act.

And some additional examples for capitalisation you have already mentioned: planets such as Mars, Neptune, and other named celestial bodies and places such as Saturn's moon Titan, the Crab Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Hubble Space Telescope; races (these are now called ethnic identities which is similar to nationality) such as Igbo people, Amhara, and tribes such as Apache, Navajo, Yanomami; deities such as Zeus, Hera, Odin, Freyja, Thor.

Here are also a couple of notes on non-capitalisation for anyone wondering:

Prepositions, articles and conjunctions are not normally capitalised (unless they are at the start of a sentence or are deliberately capitalised): Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Titles are only capitalised when they refer to a specific person or place: She is the Queen of England / A queen is just a person. A republic is ruled by a president / He is the President of the Republic of Ireland. The Earth has one moon / The Moon orbits our planet.

Thank you, most welcome. There are some things I'd like to edit under "...you have already included:" I'll give you a chance and then do it later if you have not. "Non-capitalization part is fine! - Jubilado, Jan 23, 2016

Cheers Jubilado. I've tweaked that, but feel free to edit if I've missed something. - jellonz, Jan 23, 2016

I changed your entry by putting your example categories in such a way that the words planets, places, races, deities were not capitalised (you use British spelling which is fine). Thanks again and I hope other members give you a vote for your help. - Jubilado, Jan 23, 2016

All good Jubilado, nice edit. And yep, I'm from NZ so we use British spelling :) - jellonz, Jan 23, 2016