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.

Do not capitalize common nouns to make them seem important.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: Our Company is currently hiring Computer Programmers. Revised sentence: Our company is currently hiring computer programmers.

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.

Example sentence: Our academic year begins on a Tuesday in early September, right after Labor Day.

Example sentence: My mother's birthday is in early summer, on the second of June.

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.

Example sentence: This semester, Austin is taking math, geography, geology, French, and English.

Example sentence: Professor Obembe offers Modern American fiction 501 to graduate students.

Proper nouns and common nouns

Exercise: Capitalization

Related topic:

Abbreviations for organizations and other common terms