Capitalizing proper nouns

Capitalize proper nouns: the names of specific persons, places, and things. All other nouns are common nouns. Do not capitalize common nouns.

The following types of proper nouns are usually capitalized.

• names for the deity, religions, religious followers, sacred books: Allah, Judaism, Catholics, Book of Mormon

• words of family relationship used as names: Aunt Marge, Dad

• particular places: Paris, North Pole, Mount Etna

• nationalities and their languages, races, tribes: Irish, Creole, Caucasian, Navajo

• educational institutions, departments, particular courses: University of Alabama, Department of Fine Arts, Algebra 101

• government departments, organizations, political parties: Census Bureau, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Sierra Club, Free Soil Party

• historical movements, periods, events, documents: Harlem Renaissance, Roaring Twenties, London Dock Strike, Battle of Puebla, Charter of Rights and Freedoms

• specific electronic sources: Virtual Library, World Wide Web

• trade names: Kleenex, Scrabble, Xerox

Do not capitalize common nouns to make them seem important.

Days, months, holidays

Months, holidays, and days of the week are treated as proper nouns; the seasons and numbers of the days of the month are not.

EXCEPTION:Capitalize Fourth of July (or July Fourth) when referring to the holiday.

Academic subjects

Names of school subjects are capitalized only if they are names of languages. Names of particular courses are capitalized.

Proper nouns and common nouns

Exercises:

Capitalization 1

Capitalization 2

Related topic:

Abbreviations for organizations and other common terms