Ten Capitalization Rules - Ezine Articles

1. Capitalize the first word of every sentence.

2. “I” is always capitalized, along with all its contractions.
Example: I can do it.
Example: I’ll do it tomorrow.
Example: I’m going to do it now.

3. Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence.
Example: She said, “I can do this.”

4. Capitalize a proper noun.
Example: Eiffel Tower
Example: Christopher Knight
Example: Federal Bureau of Investigation

5. Capitalize a person’s title when it precedes the name.
Example: Doctor Smith
Exception: Mr. Smith, the doctor at the hospital,
came to check up on me.

6. Capitalize any title when used as a direct address.
Example: “Will you please answer the question, Senator?”

7. Do not capitalize names of seasons.

8. Capitalize points of the compass only when they refer to specific regions.
Example: I have relatives visiting from the South.
Example: I drove south to the end of the block.


9. After a sentence ending with a colon, do not capitalize the first word if it begins a list.
Example: These are my favorite foods: chicken,
potatoes and bread.

10. Capitalize the first word and all the words in titles of books, articles, works of art, etc. excluding short prepositions and conjunctions.
Example: “EzineArticles Writing and Marketing”