TACHS: Capitalization: names get capitals, general words do not
Decide which words need capitals and which stay lowercase, including tricky pairs like north and the North or history and History 8.
How do I know whether a word should be capitalized?
Short answer
Capitalize the name of one specific person, place, day, month, holiday, language or course. Keep general words lowercase, including seasons, directions and most school subjects.
Know first: Common nouns and proper nouns
Step 1 of 5
A capital letter marks a name
Capital letters mark proper nouns, the names of specific people, places, days, months, languages, organizations and courses. Common nouns, the general words for things, stay lowercase.
Most errors in these lines go one of two ways: a name left lowercase, or a common word given a capital it does not need. The hardest cases are words that can be either, depending on how they are used.
| Topic | Capitalize | Keep lowercase |
|---|---|---|
| Places | Lake Erie, Ohio, Lincoln Park | a lake, the state, the park |
| Time | Tuesday, March, Thanksgiving | spring, winter, the weekend |
| School | Spanish, English, Algebra I, Art 2 | math, history, science class |
| Direction | the South, the Midwest (regions) | drove south, a north wind |
| Family and titles | Aunt Lucia, Dr. Chen, "Thanks, Mom" | my aunt, the doctor, my mom |
Languages are always capitalized. Other subjects are capitalized only as a course title.
Step 2 of 5
Check every capital and every name
Worked example: A winter trip
Which line contains an error in standard written English? Choose No error if all three lines are correct.
Line 1: Last Winter, our family visited Lake Placid.
Line 2: My uncle taught us to ice skate on the lake.
Line 3: On Saturday, we drove home through the Adirondack Mountains.
- ALine 1
- BLine 2
- CLine 3
- DNo error
- 1
Line 1
Lake Placid names a specific lake, so it is correct. Winter is a season, and seasons stay lowercase. This is the error.
- 2
Line 2
Uncle follows my, so it is a common noun and stays lowercase. The lake is a general reference. Correct.
- 3
Line 3
Saturday is a day, and Adirondack Mountains is the name of a mountain range. Correct.
- 4
See why the other choices are there
Line 2 tempts students who think family words always get capitals. Line 3 has several capitals in a row, which can look excessive, but each one belongs to a name.
Answer
Line 1. It should read Last winter.
Wrong: The bus headed East on Main Street.
Right: The bus headed east on Main Street.
East only tells which way the bus went, so it stays lowercase. Capitalize a direction only when it names a region, as in the food of the South.
Step 3 of 5
Sort names from general words
Check yourself · Question 1
Which line contains an error in standard written English? Choose No error if all three lines are correct.
Line 1: My sister is taking spanish this semester.
Line 2: Her teacher, Ms. Alvarez, grew up in Texas.
Line 3: The class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Answer: A
Spanish is the name of a language, and languages are always capitalized.
Check yourself · Question 2
Which line contains an error in standard written English? Choose No error if all three lines are correct.
Line 1: In history class, we are studying the Civil War.
Line 2: Our teacher, Mr. Banks, assigned a chapter for Monday.
Line 3: My Mom helped me find a library book about it.
Answer: C
Mom follows my, so it is a common noun here: my mom. Without my, as in Mom helped me, it would be used as a name and capitalized.
Trap answer: Line 1
A subject that seems to need a capital
- Why it looks right
- History is a school subject, and Spanish in the last question was capitalized, so history looks like it should be too.
- Why it's wrong
- Languages are always capitalized. Other subjects stay lowercase unless they name a specific course, like World History 8.
- The right answer
- Line 3, where my Mom should be my mom.
Common mistake
Capitalizing words that feel important, like Science, Summer or the Principal.
- Why it's tempting
- Important-sounding words seem to deserve a capital letter.
- Do this instead
- Importance does not matter. Only names get capitals. Ask whether the word names one specific person, place, day or course.
Step 4 of 5
What to remember
Remember
- Capitalize names of specific people, places, days, months, holidays, languages and courses.
- Keep seasons, directions, general subjects and family words after my lowercase.
- When all the capitals match these rules, choose No error.
Step 5 of 5
Practice on a real question
Use what you just learned on this question, then check the explanation.
Try another one
In your own words
In the practice question, which capitalized words were names, and how did you check that no general word had a capital it did not need?