Capitalization of Titles

​Capitalization and Titles

​Common nouns

​Remember: a noun is a person, place, thing or idea

a common noun is any person, place, thing, or idea that does not specifically use a formal name

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Examples: dog, cat, hat, car, tree, house, lesson, plan, feeling, emotion

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YOU DO NOT CAPITALIZE COMMON NOUNS​

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HINT: common nouns often are preceded by the words a, an, or theiscussion

​Proper Nouns

​- a SPECIFIC person, place, thing or idea.

Examples: Mrs. Jones, Wisconsin Rapids Area Middle School, Nekoosa, Mom, Dad (when I am calling them by that name), University of Wisconsin, Christmas, English, Spanish, French, Doritos, Dr. Pepper​

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ALWAYS capitalize the first letter of a proper noun: Mrs. Gibbs is my teacher.​

THINK: "Proper names are proper nouns"​ and they deserve to be capitalized.

What do you see in this picture?

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Do you think these things are common or proper?​

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​It may take a while to be able to understand this concept, but just think about formal vs informal words and it will start to make sense.

​Let's practice!

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Give a few more examples of proper nouns.

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Think...PROPER NAMES!​

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(cities, holidays, people...)​

​Some text here about the topic of discussion.

​Let's practice some more!

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Multiple Choice

Okay, time to play...

Which of the following is a common noun?

• Monday

• Mary

• Washington D.C.

• blanket

Multiple Choice

Which is a proper noun?

• Park Street

• turtle

• building

• the school

Multiple Choice

Which of the following sentences is written correctly?

• My brother, Jimmy, plays basketball for Lincoln High School.

• My Brother, Jimmy, plays Basketball for Lincoln high school.

• My brother, jimmy, plays basketball for lincoln High School.

• My Brother, Jimmy, plays basketball for Lincoln High school.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence has a capitalization error?

• Please tell Mom I'll be right back.

• When my Dad gets home, we'll have dinner.

• I went to Appleton West High School.

• He works on Wednesdays at the YMCA.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence has an error?

• My cousin lives in Chicago, Illinois.

• My Cousin lives in Chicago, Illinois.

• My cousin loves the Chicago Bears.

• My cousin went to a Cubs game.

Multiple Choice

Which of these is NOT a proper noun?

(Note: I did not capitalize any of the words, so I don't give you any clues this time!)

• milwaukee

• hamster

• halloween

• friday

Multiple Choice

Which of these are true?

• You should ALWAYS capitalize mom and dad.

• You should NEVER capitalize words that follow a, an, or the.

• Proper nouns are NEVER capitalized.

• Common nouns are NOT capitalized.

​Title Format Rules Reminder

Longer works, like books, should be typed in italics. (Capitalize all main words; do NOT capitalize "a", "an", "or," or "the" unless they are the FIRST word of the title.) If you are writing in pen or pencil, underline the title.

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Shorter works, like poems, song lyrics, and news articles should be placed in quotation marks. ​

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Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Poll

Which is the proper capitalization of the book title?

• the hunger games

• The Hunger Games

• the Hunger Games

• The Hunger games

Multiple Select

Click on ALL the BOOK titles that are written correctly.

• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

• "The Graveyard Book"

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

• "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid"

Multiple Choice

Which of these titles of shorter works is NOT correctly typed?

• "The Flight of Icarus"

• "I Ain't Worried"

• Lift Me Up

• "The Lamb to the Slaughter"