Translation Blog

The rules for capitalization in English can be complicated. Use this list to help guide you when composing a text in English.

• Capitalize the first word of a sentence.
• Capitalize the first word of a direct quote.
• Capitalize the first word of each line in a piece of poetry or verse.
• Capitalize the pronoun “I” including its contractions (e.g. I’m, I’d).
• Capitalize proper nouns (used to denote a specific person, place, organization, or thing).
• Capitalize familial relationships when used as proper names (e.g. Uncle Bob).
• Capitalize acronyms except for those that have become regular words, as in the case of “radar” and “scuba.”
• Capitalize the names of countries, nationalities, and specific languages.
• Capitalize a person’s title when it precedes the name; however, do not capitalize when the title serves as a description following the name.
• Capitalize the titles of government officials when used before their names.
• Capitalize the names of national, political, racial, social, civic, and athletic organizations.
• Capitalize points of the compass (north, south, east, west) only when they refer to specific regions or sections of a country.
• Capitalize the first and last words of titles of publications regardless of their parts of speech. Capitalize other words within titles with the exception of short prepositions or the articles “the,” “a,” or “an,” unless they appear as the first word of the title.
• Capitalize the months of the year, the days of the week, periods and events (e.g. Great Depression), and holidays. Do not capitalize the names of seasons except in a title.
• When writing a letter, capitalize the first word of the salutation and the first word of the closing.
• Capitalize words and abbreviations derived from proper nouns (e.g. Daliesque).
• Capitalize the names of trademarks.
• After a phrase ending in a colon, do not capitalize the first word if it begins a list.
• Capitalize the names of God, specific deities, religious and mythological figures, and holy works. Do not capitalize the word “god” when used in a non-specific manner.