PROOFREADING ( CAPITALIZATION )

PROOFREADING ( CAPITALIZATION )

Building Proofreading Skills in Capitalization

Remember, proper nouns, pronouns, and proper adjectives are capitalized, and the first word in every sentence is capitalized. Working through these carefully selected exercises will improve your writing skills as well as your capitalization and proofreading skills.

PROPER NOUNS

A proper noun is a name given to something to make it more specific (e.g., Johnathan, Ollie, New York, Monday). Proper nouns are written with capital letters regardless of where they appear in a sentence.

PROPER ADJECTIVES

"Proper adjectives" also describe people, places and things, but they are based on names and therefore need to be capitalized, like the names. For example, Spain is the name of a country and starts with a capital letter. The adjective based on Spain (Spanish) must also start with a capital letter.

The seasons—winter, spring, summer and fall—do not require capitalization. Some people think these words are proper nouns and capitalize them using the capitalization rule for proper nouns. But seasons are general nouns, so they follow the capitalization rules that apply to other general nouns.

Rule 1: Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives (July, Buddhist). Rule 2: Capitalize geographical names (Haiti, Atlantic Ocean).

Rule 3: Capitalize a person's title only if followed by their name (doctor, Doctor Smith).

Rule 4: Capitalize the pronoun I.

Rule 5: Capitalize the first word in a sentence, not in a phrase.

Rule 6: Capitalize the main words in the name of an important document.

Rule 7: Capitalize the names of ships, planets, monuments, awards, and any particular places, parks, things, or historical events.

Rule 8: Capitalize the names of nationalities, races, and religions. 

Multiple Choice

Read the following list of words. In each line there is one word that does not require a capital letter. Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Joseph

• Laos

• Doctor

• England

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• France

• Mister

• Melinda

• Congress

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• President

• Elizabeth

• Ed

• Donald

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Dallas

• Aunt

• America

• Halloween

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Mother

• Ontario

• Ohio

• Sunday

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Swedish

• Europe

• Queen

• Georgia

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• I'm

• Isn't

• I'd

• I'll

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Billy

• Spanish

• Asia

• Actor

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Paris

• Avenue

• Peru

• California

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Burma

• Spain

• Martha

• Island

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Liberty

• Russian

• Jonathan

• June

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Harriet

• Roger

• Desert

• Mississippi

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Patricia

• City

• Bianca

• Patrick

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• August

• Thursday

• Caesar

• Street

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that does not require any capitalization.

• Easter

• Africa

• Winter

• Beverly