1. C apitalization in the apital C
The Capitol Building

2. Writers need to know when to capitalize.

3. Rule #1 A
lways capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence.

4. Rule #2 Capitalize Proper Nouns People Places Things Including product
names

5. Name Examples: John Quincy Adams Dwight D. Eisenhower
Capitalize the full name including first, middle and last names.
John Quincy Adams
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ronald Wilson Reagan

6. Don’t forget… Amelia Mary Earhart
Capitalize first, middle and last name too!
your
Hello
My name is:
Hello
Amelia Mary Earhart

7. Place Examples:
National Mall
White House

8. Constitution of the United States
Thing Examples:
Potomac River
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Constitution of the United States

9. Event Examples: The Civil War March on Washington
Burning of Washington

10. Capitalize Initials Too!
Washington D.C.
General Robert E. Lee

11. Honestly, I always capitalize “I” in a sentence.
Rule #3
Always capitalize the pronoun “I”
Honestly, I always capitalize “I” in a sentence.

12. “I” Examples:
Also capitalize contractions with “I”
I’m
I’d
I’ll
I’ve

13. Rule #4
Always capitalize dates.
July 4

14. Date Examples: Wednesday Monday Tuesday December October November
Days of the week
Months of the year
Holidays
Wednesday
Monday
Tuesday
December
October
November
Independence Day
Thanksgiving

15. Capitalize Abbreviations Too!
Days of the week
Months of the year
Weds.
Mon.
Tues.
Dec.
Oct.
Nov.

16. President of the United States of America
Rule #5
Capitalize important words in a title
President of the United States of America

17. Title Examples: Book Titles Movie Titles Song Article Titles Titles
U.S.
History
Song
Titles
Article
Titles

18. he ournal of ajor eorge ashington
Don’t forget…
Always capitalize the first and last words of a title. w W
r. mith oes to ashington g s m M A a
merica the eautiful B b
he ournal of ajor eorge ashington T t m g j W w

19. Capitalize all of the words except:
Articles: a an the
Conjuctions: and but or so nor
Prepostitions: at by for in of on to up

20. he ournal ajor eorge ashington
Don’t forget…
Capitalize everything else except for articles, conjunctions and prepositions. to to W
r. mith oes ashington G g s S M A
merica eautiful
the
the B
he ournal ajor eorge ashington T J of of m M G g j W

21. Capitalization in the Capital - Rules
#1 Capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence.
#2 Capitalize the first letter of proper nouns.
Capitalize the first letter of first, middle and last names of people. Also capitalize initials.
Capitalize places, events and things using rule #5 for titles.
#3 Capitalize the pronoun “I”.
Also capitalize the “I” in I’d, I’ve, I’m or I’ll.
#4 Capitalize months, days of the week and holidays.
#5 Capitalize important words in titles.
Always capitalize the first letter of the first and last words in a title.
Then capitalize all of the words except for the following:
Articles: a an the
Conjuctions: and but or so nor
Prepostitions: at by for in of on to up