Capitalization

Always capitalize

• Capitalize the first letter of every sentence, the names of people, localities, days of the week, and months. (Ex. Jim moved to Rexburg, Idaho, on July 28, 2019.)

• Capitalize school classes that are complete course titles or that originate from a country. (Ex. English 106, Biology 101, Accounting 275)

• Capitalize family names when they are used with a name. (Ex. Aunt Jane, Grandma Sue, Uncle Jerry)

• Capitalize titles that precede a name. (Ex. Professor Gentry, Judge Jones, Doctor Peterson)

• Capitalize titles when they are used in place of a name. (Ex. “Thank you, Doctor.”)

• Capitalize brand names and other proper nouns. (Ex. Levi’s, Walmart, McDonalds)

• Capitalize nationalities, languages, countries, and religions.

• Capitalize the first word of a quotation. (Ex. John asked, “What’s your name?”).

• Capitalize words referring to Deity or specific religions. (Ex. Jesus Christ, Buddha, Muslim)

• Capitalize dog breeds that include a proper noun. (Ex. German shepherd)

• Capitalize major words in a title. (Ex. The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

• Capitalize "Earth" when it's discussed as a specific planet. When Earth is a proper noun, "the" is usually omitted. (It takes six to eight months to travel from Earth to Mars).

Do not capitalize

• Seasons (Ex. My favorite season is fall.)

• Diseases (with the exception to diseases named after people or acronyms) (Ex. chicken pox, flu, HIV, Alzheimer’s)

• For emphasis (Ex. That was totally WICKED!)

• Titles when they are used with personal pronouns (Ex. my grandma, her mom, our aunt)

• School subjects that do not originate from a country or culture (Ex. history, math, earth science)