I suspect the increased use of SMS and chat shorthand is a major factor, but it seems that many people aren’t sure about when to use capital letters. So here is a quick summary of when to use a capital letter:
- for the word I – this word must always be written as a capital letter, to do otherwise looks out of place and attracts attention to the lack of attention to detail. As part of an SMS message, I might accept it, but I leave websites where they repeatedly use a lower case i
- to start a sentence – this helps make it clear it is a new sentence and this in turn makes it easier to understand the message and individual ideas
- for all proper nouns – that is, any word that is the name of something specific for example Tash, Melbourne, Australia, Australians and Word Constructions. It does not include generic names such as mothers, business owners, writers, city or students.* Note that the word I is actually a proper noun so my first point is covered here but it was worth a separate point!
- in acronyms – where just the first letter of each word is used to represent the name of something. For instance, the ATO represents the Australian Tax Office and ASAP represents as soon as possible. It doesn’t matter if the full title uses capitals or not, acronyms generally use capitals (sometimes a business may choose to brand themselves with a lower case acronym.)
- the start of speech, even if it is not the start of a sentence. For example, she said “We must pay attention to the use of capital letters.”
- days of the week and names of months, as well as names of specific periods of history (e.g. the Second World War, the Depression)
- titles of books, articles, movies and so on can be written in title case (e.g. Full Moon Rising) or just with a starting capital letter (e.g. Confessions of a supermom)
Capitals letters are sometimes also used within names (e.g. AvSuper, MacGregor), in scientific terminology (e.g. E. Coli, Eucalyptus, cyclone Tracy) and where two words have been abbreviated into one (e.g. eLearning.)
There are variations in some of these rules, especially if you travel to another country but using these guidelines will avoid any major errors!
* The use of a generic noun as a proper noun requires a capital letter, too. So while mothers is written in lower case, a capital letter applies in the following sentence: Mary said “Hello Mother. How are you?” Likewise, you may write about a library (generic) or the Ashburton Library (specific).
Tags: acronyms, capital, generic, letters, names, nouns, proper, scientific, sentences, start, title
[...] general rules for the use of capital letters obviously still apply, as does the annoyance of over using capitals. For the above example, I added [...]
Do you use capitals when writing the name of a subject i.e. John was a teacher of mathematics.
Yes, when mathematics is treated as the name of a subject, it becomes a proper noun. Eg: I am a Mathematics Teacher
Languages always have a capital letter (English, Indonesian, Frecnh, etc) as do abbreviations (eg IT, PE) but generally other subjects will have a lower case letter.
If you are talking generally about a subject (e.g. “I like science” or “I find maths interesting”), it is a common noun with a lower case letter.
If you are talking specifically about a named subject/course (e.g. Maths 101, Science for Vets), it is a title and needs a capital letter(s).
Some examples:
My timetable includes maths, science, English, art and Local Georgaphy. Mrs Smith is usually a maths teacher, but I have her for science next term. I have a maths test tomorrow and am doing an assignment for Applied Maths.
I hope that helps Kathryn… and thanks for reading my blog!
Thanks for your input Amy.
Do you use a capital letter with regard to a person’s role? For example, should it be “John’s Pre-School Teacher is Miss Smith” or “John’s pre-school teacher is Miss Smith”? I think it may be the first example but am unsure.
When referring to that same person later, is the following, the correct way of writing it? “I asked the pre-school teacher to note any change.” or should it be, “I asked the Pre-School Teacher to note any change.”
There are a lot of conflicting opinions at my place of work.
Many thanks for your response.
When using a term generically, it is always lower case – “All teachers undergo training.”
If using a term as part of someone’s name (e.g. “hello Professor Taylor” or “There is Mayor Silver”) then the title takes a capital letter.
When writing about a specific person’s job title, however, using lower case letters is increasingly common. So we write “Jill Taylor, professor of history, met with Sean Silver, Mayor of Anytown, to discuss the parade.”
There are some major exceptions, mainly relating to national roles (so we write about the Queen, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer for instance,) and some comapanies will include capitals as part of their corporate style (e.g. “Our Company has a Managing Director in Melbourne.”)
With the trend towards minimal capitalisation, and the greater ease of reading from that trend, I would write ‘I asked the pre-school teacher to note any change.” However, using Teacher in this context is not technically wrong.
Note that pre-school is describing the title so it really doesn’t need a capital (compare to local teacher or young teacher) unelss it deseves a capital in its own right (such as the Australian teacher or the English teacher.)
P.S. Apologies for taking so long to reply to, Tania, and I hope this answer helps!
What about Northern, Southern etc? I saw an extract from a news article that said ‘…northern Pasadena’ – my thinking is it should be a capital ‘N’ – Northern Pasadena. Correct or doesn’t it matter?
Hello there, very nice blog you have!
If it is part of a place name, then Northern (or North) should have a capital letter.
If you are describing a location (e.g. “we will be travelling in southern Tasmania”) then a small letter is used.
However, if you are talking about heading a particular direction, it does’t require a capital. Abbreviations of directions are capitalised (N, S, E and W.)
So… My house is east of the park in South Melbourne.
[...] A few months ago someone asked me (as a comment in a blog post) about capitalising the words in a job title. [...]
When using the generic “government”, when a government agency is writing about its objectives, should it use a capital letter, as it is the name of its employer? eg ‘ Advise government on property matters’ and ‘Manage properties of government agencies’
Think of it as any other noun – use a capital letter if it is part of a proper noun but not if using it as a generic or common noun.
So “the Victorian Government declared a public holiday” and “the students reviewed a government policy in class”. Even federal government doesn’t need a capital letter as it is descriptive rather than a title. ‘Commonwealth’ however, when referring to the Commonwealth of Australia, is always capitalised.
[...] use capital letters for things that need them – names and places need capitals but most toys [...]
Hi
When writing a report for a student should writing, math or spelling be capitalised? e.g In Writing, Sam is starting to … , he has made steady progress with his spelling, In Measurement, Sam was able …
As explained above, Candy, a subject as such doesn’t need a capital but te name of a specific course does.
John does well with spelling in his English Literature class.
[...] suit my brand, and it isn’t always easy to find a relevant picture when you write about capital letters or pairs of misused [...]
How about council versus the specific local Council and where we have a local manufacturing mill, is it mill or or the more specific Mill?
thanks Pam
Hi Pam,
again, the generic term has a lower case letter and a specific name ues a capital letter. So…
Attendances are recorded in council minutes. The school tour included a trip to a local mill. Our rubbish is collected by Somewhere Council every Monday afternoon. I work at the Perth Mill in Anytown.
Thanks tashword. Does that also apply to the council chambers in the town? it would be lower case usually, but the Anytown Council Chambers?
Yes, you use capitals if it is part of a name so Anytown Council Chambers is correct when all 3 words are used together.
So does the word “court” as in the place where criminals go, need a capital letter if it’s just written by itself. I would use a capital if I was to write “Parramatta Local Court” but does it really need a capital letter on its own? As in “I went to court”. Say you use the word 10 times in a letter, wouldn’t it look silly? It is the same as writing “bank” isn’t it? You’d use a capital for “National Australia Bank” but not just for the word “bank”. Or would you?
You are correct – going to court does not need a capital letter but the name of a specific place (e.g. Parramtta Court) would have a capital C.