Grammar Basics. Part II. Capitalization and Punctuation

Introduction

With a basic review of the parts of speech completed, we can now turn our attention to other crucial grammatical issues, capitalization and punctuation. Why are these aspects of writing important? Capitalization deals with knowing which words should receive an uppercase first letter and which should not. Punctuation "…helps a reader make sense of what you write; punctuation devices include periods, question marks, exclamation points, commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, parentheses, and brackets." (Eggenschweiler and Biggs, 2001) This lesson examines both of these writing issues in further detail below.

Capitalization

Mostly everyone has a grasp of the concept of capitalization, some words begin with a capital (uppercase) letter, and others do not. The trick is to know which words should be spelled with capitals and under what circumstances. This section will provide some guidelines for capitalization, as well as numerous examples of when to use uppercase letters and when only lowercase should apply.

Titles. Briefly, if you are using the title of anything, a book, a movie, a theatrical production, and so forth, the first and last words of the title should be capitalized, as well as "…All words in-between except articles (a, an, the), short prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions." (Kane, 2000) An exception to this is any article in the title that follows a colon or comma.

Examples. Catch-22, Jordan: The Comeback, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

First Words of Quotations. The first word of any quotation, whether or not the word begins the sentence being quoted, should be capitalized. The only exception to this is whether or not the quoted material is a continuation of a previously established quotation (such as in written dialogue). (Kane, 2000)

Examples. "...He could tell them apart because one had a scar." "Very interesting," said Geoffrey, "but I do not see how it relates to anything we have discussed here."

Proper Names and Adjectives. As discussed in the previous lesson, proper nouns refer to specific people, places, or things. "A proper adjective is a modifier derived from such a name." (Kane, 2000) As such, both proper nouns and proper adjectives should be capitalized.

Examples. Joe Smith, London, Mona Lisa, Festival of Lights, Germany, Dutch, Hoover Dam, and so forth.

Exception!
Nouns, verbs, and modifiers based on proper nouns should not be capitalized when their use is generalized.
Examples. french toast (from French), macadamized roads (from John Loudon MacAdam, inventor of paved roads in 1820), and so on.

If the use is specialized (that is, the adjective directly refers to the proper noun), it is still capitalized normally.
Examples. Hobbesian, Machiavellian, Orwellian, and so forth.

Personal Titles. Titles, such as Reverend, Captain, Minister, King, and so on, should always be capitalized when used in conjunction with the specific person to whom they apply.

National, Racial Groups, Languages. Each of these should be capitalized, as well.

Examples. Japan, Japanese, Australia, Australian, America, American, Farsi, Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Latin, Portuguese, and others.

Cases Involving Personification. Occasionally, writers like to ascribe human qualities to things, which are inherently non-human, such as emotions, events, seasons of the year, and so forth. This is called personification and, when used, the personified abstraction should be capitalized.

Examples. "Jacobs knew that Old Gravity would treat him right." "This year, Spring rushed upon us like a herd of gazelles."