CHAPTER 11

Capitalization and Abbreviations

You should read this chapter if you need to review or learn about

➜The rules governing capitalization
➜The guidelines for using abbreviations
➜The “mechanics” of written English

Avoiding Capital Offenses: The Rules of Capitalization

Basically, capitalization falls into two categories:

• Capitalize all proper nouns. These include names, geographical places, specific historical events, eras, and documents, languages, nationalities, countries, and races.
• Capitalize the first word at the beginning of a sentence.

In everyday writing, the rules are clear-cut. However, if you are writing within a specific organization or company, capitalization is mostly a matter of editorial style. The important goal is always the same: Use capital letters consistently within a particular document.

Let’s look at these rules in detail. The proper nouns are divided into separate categories for ease of reference, starting with names and titles.

Capitalize Names and Titles

1. Capitalize each part of a person’s name.

   George W. Bush	Jennifer Aniston
   Soupy Sales	Hillary Clinton

   • If a name begins with d’, de, du, or von, capitalize the prefix unless it is preceded by a first name or a title.

     Without a first name	Du Pont	Von Karman
     With a first name	E. I. du Pont	Theodore von Karman

   • If a name begins with Mc, O’, or St., capitalize the next letter as well.

     McMannus

     O’Neill

     St. Claire

   • If the name begins with la or le, the capitalization varies: le Blanc and Le Blanc are both correct, for example.
   • Capitalize the names of specific animals.

     Rin Tin Tin

     Lassie

     Morris the cat

   • A personal name that is used as a common noun is no longer capitalized. These words are often used in science.

     curie

     watt

     newton

     kelvin

2. Capitalize titles used before a person’s name.

   President Bush	Chief Scientist Smithson
   Dr. Frankenstein	Ms. Brownmiller
   Mr. Williams	Professor Chin

   For a democracy, we have a surprising number of titles. Here are some of the most common ones:

   Religious titles:	Bishop	Reverend
   	Father	Sister
   	Rabbi	Monsigneur
   Military titles:	Admiral	Colonel
   	Major	Sergeant
   	Lieutenant	General
   Elected officials:	Mayor	Governor
   	President	Senator
   	Congressman	Congresswoman
   	Secretary	Ambassador
   Earned titles:	Doctor	Professor
   	Provost	Dean
   Honorary titles:	Sir	Lord
   	Lady	Madame

   • Capitalize all parts of a compound title.

     Vice President

     Lieutenant Governor

   • Capitalize titles to show respect.
     The Senator spoke to us at the ribbon cutting.
     A senator’s time is always in demand.
     
   • Capitalize titles used in direct address.
     Doctor, I have a pain in my side.
     Nurse, please bring me the bandage.
     

3. Capitalize titles that show family relationships when the title is used with a person’s name or in direct address.
   Grandmother Pirandello came from Italy in the 1950s.
   Grandfather, will you take us to the zoo?
   
4. Capitalize titles of parents and relatives not preceded by a possessive word (such as my).
   We saw Mother kissing Santa Claus.
   I saw my mother kissing my father.
   
5. Capitalize abbreviations that appear after a person’s name.
   Martin Luther King, Jr.
   Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D.
   Grace Lui, M.D.
   
6. Capitalize the major words in titles of books, plays, movies, newspapers, and magazines.
   Do not capitalize the articles: a, an, the
   Do not capitalize prepositions: at, by, for, of, in, up, on, so, on, to, etc.
   Do not capitalize conjunctions: and, as, but, if, or, nor
   In effect, any word with more than four letters in a title gets capitalized.
   

   • Capitalize book titles.
     Grammar and Usage for the Utterly Confused
     Schaum’s Quick Guide to Writing Great Research Papers
     
   • Capitalize play titles.
     She Stoops to Conquer
     Cats
     
   • Capitalize movie titles.
     The Great Escape
     From Here to Eternity
     

     • Capitalize newspaper titles.
       The New York Times
       The Washington Post
       
     • Capitalize magazine titles.
       Sports Illustrated for Kids
       Atlantic Monthly
       

7. Capitalize acronyms.

   An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the first letter of each word in the title. A few words have entered English that were first acronyms but are now formed with lowercase letters, such as laser and radar. However, most acronyms are formed with capital letters.

   Note: Since acronyms are used as words, they never take periods.
   NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
   NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
   

Capitalize Names of Places and Events

1. Capitalize names of geographical places and sections of the country.

   Europe	Asia	United States of America
   Lake Superior	Venus	Yellowstone National Park

2. Capitalize a compass point when it identifies a specific area of the country.
   We live in the South.
   The West is still wild and untamed.
   

   3. Don’t capitalize a compass point when it refers to direction.
      The storm is coming from the south.
      Drive west 4 miles and turn left at the shopping center.
      
   4. Capitalize the names of specific historical events, eras, and documents.
      the Revolutionary War Reconstruction
      the Declaration of Independence the Gettysburg Address
      

Capitalize Names of Languages and Religions

1. Capitalize the names of languages, nationalities, countries, and ethnic and racial identifications.

   Language	Nationalities	Countries	Ethnicities
   French	Japanese	Pakistan	African-American
   German	Australian	India	Native American
   Italian	Iranian	Bosnia	South African

2. Capitalize religions and references to the Supreme Being, including the pronouns referring to the Supreme Being.
   Christianity, Hindu, Catholicism, Judaism
   the Creator, Him, He, Heaven, His name
   Don’t capitalize the words god or goddess when they refer to ancient mythology.
   the goddess Athena
   the god Hermes
   

Capitalize Proper Adjectives and Product Names

1. Capitalize proper adjectives formed from proper nouns.

   Proper Nouns	Proper Adjectives
   Italy	Italian
   Rome	Roman
   Alps	Alpine
   Newton	Newtonian

   • In a hyphenated proper adjective, capitalize only the adjective.

     Spanish-speaking residents.

   • Don’t capitalize the prefix attached to a proper adjective unless the prefix refers to a nationality.
     all-American Old English

2. Capitalize brand names and trademarks.

   Jell-O pudding	Kleenex tissues
   Freon	Band-Aid
   Fresca	Xerox

Capitalize Names of Organizations, Institutions, Courses, and Famous Buildings

Since names of organizations, institutions, courses, and famous buildings are all proper nouns, they get capitalized.

1. Capitalize the names of organizations.

   The Boy Scouts of America	Rotary International
   The Red Cross	General Motors

2. Capitalize the names of institutions.
   Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
   The United Nations
   
3. Capitalize the names of courses.
   Introduction to Biology (but not biology)
   Mathematics 203 (but not mathematics)
   
4. Capitalize the names of buildings.

   The Empire State Building the Sears Tower

Capitalize Names of Days, Months, and Holidays

Again, these are all proper nouns, so they are all capitalized.

1. Capitalize names of days.

   Monday	Tuesday
   Wednesday	Sunday

2. Capitalize names of months.

   February	March
   April	July

3. Capitalize names of holidays.

   Thanksgiving	Kwanzaa
   Passover	Ramadan

Capitalize Time and Other Proper Nouns

1. Capitalize abbreviations for time.
   6:00 A.M. 7:00 P.M.
2. Capitalize names of celestial bodies, except the moon and the sun.
   the Milky Way the Big Dipper
   Capitalize the earth only when it is used as a planet.
   The Earth is not flat.
   
3. Capitalize names of awards.
   the Nobel Peace Prize the Caldecott Medal
   
4. Capitalize the words I and O.
   Quickly, I turned around.
   O! Did you see that?
   

Capitalize the First Word of . . .

1. A sentence
   The shortest presidential inaugural address was George Washington’s, at 135 words.
   The longest was by William Henry Harrison, at 8,445 words.
   
2. A complete sentence after a colon
   Only two U.S. presidents and their wives are buried at Arlington National Cemetery:
   John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and William Taft and his wife
   Helen Heron Taft are buried there.
   
3. A quotation, if it is a complete sentence.

   The teacher said, “Abraham Lincoln lost eight elections for various offices before winning the election in 1860.”

   but “Abraham Lincoln lost eight elections for various offices,” the teacher said, “before winning the election in 1860.”
4. A line of poetry
   Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
   Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
   Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
   And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
   Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
   And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
   And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
   By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
   But thy eternal summer shall not fade
   Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
   Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
   When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
   

5. The greeting of a letter
   Dear Mr. Plotnick:
   To Whom It May Concern:
   Dear Mom,
   
6. The complimentary close of a letter. Notice that only the first word is capitalized, not subsequent words in a phrase.

   Yours very truly, Sincerely yours,

7. Each item in an outline

   I. Greek architecture

   A. Greek temples

   B. Greek theaters and amphitheaters

   C. Greek colonnades

8. Each item in a list
   1. Evaluate the performance of our new meters This report is designed to:
   2. Expand the data base
   3. Evaluate data
   4. Make recommendations

Good Things Come in Small Packages: The Rules of Abbreviations

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Abbreviations start with a capital letter and end with a period. They are a handy way to save time and space when you’re writing, but only if you use commonly accepted abbreviations. Otherwise, you’ll just confuse your readers. Here is how to use abbreviations correctly.

1. Abbreviate social titles and titles of rank, both before and after a person’s name.

   Mr.

   Mrs.

   Ms.

   Dr.

2. Abbreviate names of academic degrees.
   Jonathan Hernandez, B.A. (Bachelor of Arts)
   Hi-Jing Yu, M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts)
   

   Because of their Latin roots, abbreviations for many degrees can be written in either direction: M.A. or A.M. for Masters of Arts, for instance. The following chart shows some of the most commonly abbreviated degrees:

   Degree	Abbreviation
   Bachelor of Science	B.A.
   Bachelor of Business Administration	B.B.A.
   Masters of Arts	M.A. or A.M.
   Masters of Science	M.S. or S.M.
   Masters of Business Administration	M.B.A.
   Medical Doctor	M.D.
   Doctor of Philosophy	Ph.D.
   Doctor of Divinity	D.D.
   Doctor of Dental Surgery	D.D.S.
   Registered Nurse	R.N.

3. Abbreviate time.
   A.M. (before noon; ante meridian)
   P.M. (afternoon; post meridian)
   
4. Abbreviate some historical periods. In most—but not all—cases, the abbreviation is placed after the date.
   Ancient times (2,000 years in the past)
   B.C. (before the birth of Christ)
   B.C.E. (before the common era)
   Modern times (within the last 2,000 years)
   C.E. (common era)
   A.D. (Anno Domini , “in the year of the Lord,” an abbreviation that comes before the date)
   Here’s how these abbreviations are used:
   Emperor Augustus lived from 63 B.C. (or B.C.E.) to A.D. 14 (or C.E.).
   
5. Abbreviate geographical terms.
   Sammi lives on Woodlawn Dr.
   The following chart lists the most common abbreviations for geographical terms.
   

   Place	Abbreviation
   Avenue	Ave.
   Boulevard	Blvd.
   Drive	Dr.
   Fort	Ft.
   Mountain	Mt.
   Point	Pt.
   Road	Rd.
   Route	Rte.
   Square	Sq.
   Street	St.

6. Abbreviate names of states.

   Use the official U.S. Post Office zip code abbreviations, which are not followed by periods.

   There’s a list of all 50 abbreviations in your telephone book.

   FL (Florida) PA (Pennsylvania)

7. Abbreviate some Latin expressions.
   e.g. (for example) et al. (and others)
8. Abbreviate measurements.
   inches is abbreviated in. feet is abbreviated ft.
   

   Here are some of the most common abbreviations for measurements. Note that metric abbreviations are not followed by a period.

   Item	Abbreviation
   yards	yd.
   miles	mi.
   teaspoon	tsp.
   tablespoon	tbs.
   ounce	oz.
   pound	lb.
   pint	pt.
   quart	qt.
   Fahrenheit	F.
   Celsius	C
   grams	g
   kilograms	kg
   millimeters	mm
   liters	L
   centimeters	cm
   meters	m
   kilometers	km

9. Abbreviate the titles of some organizations and things.
   These abbreviations are not followed by a period.
   UN (United Nations)
   FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
   TV (television)