Capitalize the names of major portions of your paper and all references to figures and tables. Capital letters with north, east, south, and west the directions north, east, south, and west should not be given capital letters unless they form part of a name like west ham, west sussex, and south africa. The four primary points on a compasseast, north, south, and westare known as the cardinal directions. Books, reports, treatises bluebook legal citation tarlton. When to capitalize directional words esl library blog. Should the cardinal directions be capitalized when used as.
Whether you capitalize directions like south and southwest depends. You should write he lives to the west of the church, for example, and she lives in the western part of canada. Mar 12, 2012 rules for capitalization vary by country, language and word usage. Capitalize regions when they are definite versus merely a compass point. A descriptive term used to denote mere direction or position is not. English only forum capitalization of the english only forum capitalization of a noun in address. There is a general rule on when to capitalize directions and regions, but it can get a little confusing when you actually put it into practice. You should also not capitalize the cardinal direction part of a name when a suffix is attached to it, because that involves a comparison rather.
Note that a is capitalized because it is the first word of the subtitle. East and west are perpendicular at right angles to north and south, with east being in the clockwise direction of rotation from north and west being directly opposite east. When to capitalize directions there is a general rule on when to capitalize directions and regions, but it can get a little confusing when you actually put it into practice. Dedicated to advancing the dialogue between faith and reason, catholic university seeks to discover and impart the truth through excellence in teaching and research. Poster, worksheets, interactive notebook and game scoot for the whole class to enjoy. Jun 29, 2017 mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. Once you understand these rules, try a capitalization rules quiz to test yourself. Points between the cardinal directions form the points of the compass. Jul 10, 2019 this guide to capitalization rules is especially for esl students. The first, last, and important words in titles of literary works. It is impossible to give rules that will cover every conceivable prob lem in capitalization, but, by considering the purpose to be served and the. Feb 12, 2014 from the very basic rules to the very commonly broken ones in corporate america. But we can offer some direction on directions specifically, whether to capitalize them.
This book series, writing skills made funis one way to help you meet these curriculum demands and make grammar and writing fun. What follows are summaries of some of the most common style rules. Cardinal directions on a compass are not capitalized. This quiz presents various grammar rules regarding capitalization in order to challenge your knowledge. We should not judge people on their religion, whether it be judaism, buddhist, or nerdfighter. The storm is moving north at 17 miles per hour, and growing up in a military family, hunter spent many years in the. This would be another great tool to get students involved and hands on to comprehend the lesson a little better. Capitalization rules and practice lane community college. The major words in the titles of books, articles, and songs.
Secondly, you can tell your students that it depends on the companysome companies choose to use a noun form thats acting as an adjective. They do not cover every instance where a capital letter should be used, but they do cover most. English only forum capitalization of cardinal directions english only forum. English only forum capitalization problem english only forum capitalization quality manual english only forum. Cardinal numbers in lower case, fractionals capitalized. The word capital means head, top, first or most important.
Didi english only forum capitalization of birthday in happy birthday. Example exception do not capitalize directions when used as compass directions. Should the cardinal directions be capitalized when used as an adjective. According to most style guides, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are the only words capitalized in titles of books, articles, and songs. Cardinal numbers are written in lower case by default. Home when to capitalize directions there is a general rule on when to capitalize directions and regions, but it can get a little confusing when you actually put it into practice. Capitalization is an important part of english grammar. Errors show up alarmingly often in writing about compass directions. The cardinal directions and intercardinal directions like southwest, northwest, etc. Always capitalize names of religions and religious groups, god and other deities, names of religious books, first, last, and important words of book, movie, and magazine titles, names of companies, titles of specific people, names of cities and states, continents, names of. Hundred years of solitude one hundred years capitalization rules cardinal directions getting up early english study in writing trust me betrayal. Grammar and mechanics guidelines for capitalization.
When proofreading or editing documents, we often find that writers are often confused about when to capitalize north, east, south, and west. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including. The associated press stylebook provides an az guide to issues such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, spelling, numerals and many other questions of language usage. Many geographical designations include north, south, east, or west, or combined forms such as northwest, as part of their names. The top, or most important, letter of an important word is the first letter. North, east, south, west the directions between those cardinal points are the four intercardinal or ordinal directions. We all know that capitalization rules, but sometimes our kids always seem to forget where and when to use a capital letter. If you were standing outside my office door, you would hear a loud banging noise. Capitalization on titles of movies, books, magazines. In english titles of books, articles, periodicals, newspapers, plays, operas and long. Ap style holds to the general rule of lowercasing compass directions and capitalizing regions.
The rules for capitalization are the guidelines for using upper case letters in the written word. However, we do not capitalize compass directions or locations that arent being used as names. Capitalize cardinal directions when they are used to refer to specific locations. Find a local domino club and stay current with upcoming events. This handout lists some guidelines for capitalization. Exception do not capitalize directions when used as compass directions. Ordinal numbers and fractions have to be capitalized if used as nouns duden, rule 80. English actually has some fairly concise rules about capitalizing compass directions. For example, you must capitalise the first word of a sentence, proper nouns and common nouns when they are part of names. You must not capitalise other common nouns or other internal words within the sentence. The cardinal directions north, south, east, and west and the intercardinal directions northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest are commonly referred to as compass points.
Following these rules will help you understand more. Grammar rules 101 will allow you to learn the basics in capitalization. The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the directions north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials n, e, s, and w. When including these, put a colon after the works title and follow the same rules of composition capitalization for the subtitle. Guidelines for using capital letters rules for capitalization in english. Prepositions, articles, capitalization is an important part of english grammar. Examples exception do not capitalize the nonspecific use of the word god. You should not, however, capitalize the names of cardinal directions when theyre just used to indicate directions rather than an areas. One hint, although its not 100% definitive, is that if you can put the word the in front of the name, its often capitalized. This packet uses the mints aconym to work on capitalization rules. Writers often refer to geographic locations, company names, temperature scales, and processes or apparatuses named after people. Capitalization packetdo your students need practice with capital letters capitalization.
For example, they sailed throughout the eastern baltic. Capitalization day 12 cardinal directions esl worksheet. Thats my head banging on my desk out of sheer frustration. This includes books, movies, poems, short stories, and songs. Todays post outlines how to write compass points in sentences. Use initial caps when using the directions to designate a geographic area but not when referring to the cardinal directions. Simple rules for capitalizing proper nouns and writing the pronoun i in capital letters are helpful, but they dont provide clear answers for every situation. As a general rule, capitalize an adjective derived from a proper noun or a name. Capitalization punctuation rules blue book of grammar. When these are official locations labeled on maps, they are. Always capitalize the first word of a sentence or direct quotation. Always capitalize both the first word of a title and the first word following a.
Example exception do not capitalize directions when used as compass. Learn how to play dominoes and rules for your favorite domino games. Learn how to capitalize the major words in titles of books, articles, songs, and more. Capitalization is one of the most basic and important elements of writing. Mar 29, 2019 you should always use capitalization when writing the titles of works. Capitalization is the writing of a word with its first letter in uppercase and the remaining letters in lowercase. Capital letters with north, south, east, and west points. In the two sections above easy rules harder rules, it is correct to use the word rule. For example, atlanta, new orleans, and nashville are all in the south, not the south. Capitalize any word, regardless of the part of speech, if it is the first or last word of the title or subtitle or a proper name or if it follows a punctuation mark indicating a break in the title. This is a book to be printed for students with a practice activity for each cap. All quiet on the western front by erich maria remarque, east of eden by john steinbeck, north and south by elizabeth gaskell. Do not capitalize general references to places river, park, city, college, hotel the following stars and planets.
The unfortunate lack of proper catholic capitalization posted on february 5, 2012 by john paul wohlscheid as a writer and reader of catholic literature, there is one thing that always annoys me to no end. The first word in the greeting and closing of letters. The unfortunate lack of proper catholic capitalization. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions, and prepositionshowever, some style guides. North, south, west, east capitalizing can be a beast. Answer keys is included in all worksheet and for the scoot game.
In this lesson, you will learn rules for capitalization of letters in written english. The capitalization rules for titles of books, movies, and other works vary a little between style guides. Always capitalize the letter i when it is used to refer to yourself. Always capitalize both the first word of a title and the first word following a colon.
Capitalization in specialized documents should be based on professional style guides. The major words in the titles of books, articles, and songs but not short prepositions or the. This is a set of two capitalization practice worksheets. If the word forms part of a longer name, do not abbreviate it under any circumstances. Have students create personal flip books for capitalization rules. It contains clear explanations for each rule with simple examples of correct sentences. This packet will help your students to learn and remember all of the times that they sh. For example, the hurricane move north towards the gulf coast. She is an inductee in the podcasting hall of fame, and the show is a fivetime winner of best education podcast in the podcast awards. In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs even short ones, like is, all adjectives, and all proper nouns. I have documents to edit that are filled with words that shouldnt. Words such as street, avenue, place, road, square, boulevard, terrace, drive, court and building are spelled out in general writing but may be abbreviated in footnotes, endnotes, sidenotes, tables and addresses. Capitalization rules cardinal directions hundred years of solitude proper nouns getting up early english study in writing esl sentences. Shore, the left bank, the west end, but dont capitalize compass points north, southeast if they simply indicate direction or location.
Not knowing how to capitalize book titles can often present a problem. So, in this post, well introduce the basic rule and go though a number of different examples of putting it to use. When youre naming a region, directions are capitalized. Capitalization inconsistency in prime minister, president, etc. Capitalization packet when to use a capital letter no. Provide the title of a work as it appears on the title page, but follow the capitalization rules of bluebook rule 8. In general, this rule requires that all words be capitalized except.
Capitalize the first word in quotations, provided the quoted material is a complete sentence. This handout is designed to help with the rules of capitalization. South, east, and west when used as sections of the country, but not as compass directions. This is because the title is unique and specific and capitalization will signal that the words of the title should stand out to the reader. They are suitable for different levels and each covers a different set of capitalization rules. June, 2016 when it comes to the question of directions, theres often quite a bit of confusion as to whether or not you should capitalize the directions north, south, east and west. However, by learning and following the rules of capitalization, you can ensure that your writing will be both formal and correctly. Do not capitalize these words when they merely indicate general location or refer to the geography or climate of the region. Capitalize all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions.
In order to ensure consistency in your own style, follow the rules below, which apply to most general types of writing, and consult the gage canadian dictionary, which gives the uppercase use of many words. First of all, youre correct that most companies would capitalize the directional word in a job title. Appendix a provides guidelines for various languages, and instructions for types of words titles. This document highlights the major instructions and policy statements. This resource is designed to be a companion for your writers. Rules for capitalization vary by country, language and word usage. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard english capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. What about capitalizing northern, southern, eastern, western. According to the chicago manual of style, sections 8. If no usage is specified, spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above. Pointers for writing about compass directions law firm web.
Text style guide the catholic university of america. Though there are numerous rules associated with capitalization, our editors highlight a few of the most common ones they encounter in academic and in esl writing. Between them, we will find the ordinal or intercardinal directions, such as southwest, westnorthwest, and an infinite number of other descriptors. There are ten fundamental rules for capitalization. This post outlines the recommendations for when to use uppercase letters for words referring to cardinal directions, and when to employ lowercase letters. As a general rule, capitalize proper nouns proper nouns name a specific person, place, thing or idea. From the very basic rules to the very commonly broken ones in corporate america. Should the cardinal directions be capitalized when used as an. For cardinal numbers, consult individual entries in the associated press stylebook.
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