Capitalization Rules
1) You must always use a capital letter for the first word of
EVERY sentence.
2) You must always capitalize the pronoun I.
Also, you must capitalize according to the following rules:
3) Names of specific people:
Ex: John, Laurie, Bob, the Joneses
4) Days of the week, months, holidays, but not seasons
Ex: Monday, December, Easter
autumn, fall, spring, winter, summer (no caps)
5) Ranks and titles, but only when used with (or instead of) a particular
person’s name.
Ex: This is Doctor Smith, this is Aunt Anne
That man is my doctor, that woman is my aunt (no caps)
6) Geographic areas: cities, states, provinces, countries, rivers, oceans, streets, etc.
Ex: North Dakota, Mississippi River, Atlantic Ocean, New
Brunswick, Rocky Mountains.
The ocean is deep. The mountains are high. (no caps)
7) Historical periods
Ex: The Renaissance, World War II, the Middle Ages, the Civil War
It was a long war. We live in an age of computers. (no caps)
8) Religions, nationalities, races of people, languages, countries and adjectives related to those
countries.
Ex: Christians, Jews, Asians, Africans, Canadians, Americans, French, English, French fries
9) The various names of God and the names of sacred books
Ex: God, Jehovah, the Bible, the Koran
There are many gods and goddesses in ancient myths. (no caps)
10) Specific school courses, but no general subjects
Ex: I’m taking Algebra 101 and History of China.
I’m taking algebra and history. (no caps)
11) Names of specific schools, businesses, buildings,
organizations, etc.
Ex: Moncton High, Dieppe Printing, Wikipedia
I want a new computer. That building is a high school. I plan to attend a university. (no caps)
12) Brand names
Ex: Ford Focus, Nintendo, Cheerios, Apple, Nike
13) Names of planets, but not sun and moon and sometimes not earth
Ex: Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Earth (capitalized when you’re referring to it as one of the planets).
The moon is full tonight. More than five billion people live on the earth. (no caps)
14) Titles of movies, books, chapters, and articles
Ex: Pitch Perfect, “The Landlandy”, Animal Farm
*Little words: articles, conjunctions, and short prepositions are usually not capitalized unless:

they are the beginning word: The Life and Times of King Joshua the Great

they are part of the verb: “Thief Holds Up Bank” (Up is not a preposition; it is part of the
verb to hold up).