This tags is for questions about the use of capital letters in writing.
53
votes
11answers
26k views
Which words in a title should be capitalized?
Are there any concrete rules that say which words (parts of speech) in a title should start with a capital letter? What would be a correct capitalization for the title of this question?
47
votes
2answers
6k views
Why should the first person pronoun 'I' always be capitalized?
Why should we capitalize first person pronoun 'I' even if it does not appear in the beginning of a sentence? Why it is not the case for other pronouns?
20
votes
2answers
3k views
How do you capitalize a proper noun such as “iPhone”?
I was always taught to capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence, and also the first letter of proper nouns. In the last few years it's been common for certain firms to name their ...
16
votes
1answer
6k views
Do you capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word in a title?
Do you capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word in a title?
"My Ex-Wife Hates Me"
or
"My Ex-wife Hates Me"
17
votes
4answers
4k views
When should the word “God” be capitalized?
Aside from proper noun usage, like "We're on a mission from God", when should "God" be capitalized? A few examples:
That's a god awful question.
Oh my god!
No god-damn way.
He played the part of the ...
6
votes
2answers
756 views
Capitalization for a bullet list
The following is from some software documentation we are writing:
NOTE: Refreshing a report may be necessary or helpful when:
you believe the data in the report has changed since it was ...
3
votes
3answers
314 views
Should I change the structure of a sentence/add filler words to make sure that the sentence always starts with a capital letter?
Here is a quote from a book on C++ ("for", "while" and "do" are keywords in many languages, and in most languages they have to be in lower case. The C++ language is one of those.):
Simply put, ...
1
vote
1answer
956 views
Capitalization of names that begin lowercased, at the beginning of a sentence [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
How Should Trademarks be Written?
How do you capitalize a proper noun such as “iPhone”?
Many products these days have names that intentionally begin with ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
How Should Trademarks be Written?
I'm a moderator at another StackExchange site and a debate has come up about the usage of the trademarked name for which I site is about, i.e. WordPress. Note as a trademark it is spelled in CamelCase ...
7
votes
3answers
10k views
“Thanks and Regards” vs. “Thanks and regards”
I am almost certain that the R in regards must be in lower case because it follows a conjunction and is therefore a part of the same phrase/sentence. But I've been seeing a lot of emails of late that ...
2
votes
2answers
649 views
Capitalising a sentence whose first word is explicitly lowercase [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Capitalization of names that begin lowercased, at the beginning of a sentence
Let's say that you have a word that should be typed with leading lowercase letter. Perhaps ...
18
votes
3answers
3k views
Capitalisation of nouns in English in the 17th and 18th centuries
It seems to have been common practice in the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain to capitalise the first letters of nouns in English, e.g.
At which Time he prov'd himself the Noah's Dove, that ...
15
votes
6answers
2k views
Should the word Boolean be capitalized?
I keep second guessing myself on this one.
On one hand it seems like it should because the word Boolean is derived from the name of George Boole, the inventor of Boolean logic. However, the term as ...
14
votes
7answers
3k views
Is there an antonym for “capitalize” (as in letter-case)
A word that starts with a lower-case (lowercase?) letter can be capitalized, but what is the converse action?
Google has only one page in the top results that addresses this and the closest thing to ...
6
votes
4answers
4k views
Should I capitalize the starting sentence after a greeting that ends in a comma (e.g. “Hello,”)?
Should I open the starting sentence after comma in adressing "Hi," ("Hello,") with capital letter?
Hi, Xxxl, Dear Xxx L,
let me ...
vs.
Dear Xxx L,
Let me ...
In Russian it ...
4
votes
1answer
3k views
To capitalize “department” or not
When using the word "department" after the name of a department, does one capitalize it? For example, "Advertising Department?"
3
votes
3answers
2k views
When using complete sentences in parenthetical e.g. or i.e. situations, should the first word be capitalized?
In a bulleted list of very technical sentences, where each bulleted item has one or two parenthetical examples or restatements which are complete sentences, should the first letter of each e.g. or ...
13
votes
2answers
953 views
Should the names of seasons be capitalized?
When you are writing about the seasons, should you capitalize their names?
For example, would you say:
I love the colors of the leaves in Autumn.
Or should you say:
I love the colors of the ...
8
votes
2answers
547 views
Capitalising the definite article in names
When I was a youngster some mumble-mumble-mumble decades ago, I was taught that, in the instances of names of persons, places, and things which carried the definite article the, the article wasn’t ...
1
vote
1answer
334 views
(I'm not sure) how to capitalize this sentence
When a sentence begins with a parenthetical clause (uncommon, I'm sure), how should the following portion be capitalized? My thought is it would be either
(In my opinion, at least[,]) the play was ...
19
votes
8answers
3k views
Should I use capitalization when mentioning a domain name?
Let's say I have a product/brand with a website, for the purpose of this question the product is called Acme and the site is http://acme.com .
What's more correct when referring to the site without ...
20
votes
6answers
2k views
Should the words “internet” and “web” be capitalized?
There seems to be some inconsistency on whether people capitalize the words internet and web (as in World Wide Web) as proper nouns. What is the official ruling on when or if these words should be ...
16
votes
4answers
5k views
“you” versus “You” as polite form of writing
Is it correct to write "You" with a capital Y as a form of politeness?
If yes, should I use that form throughout the entire letter/document, or only at specific places?
7
votes
6answers
3k views
Are particular seasons proper nouns?
Should fall be capitalised in the following? If yes, is it because Fall 2011 is a proper noun?
Where should an app be released in Fall 2011?
Context.
In a Wikipedia article, Avatar (2009 ...
5
votes
1answer
354 views
Correct Usage of Capital Letters
Suppose there is a Department of English (note: the name is not English Department) at Abc University. I want to know the correct use of capital letters in these sentences:
The Department of ...
12
votes
3answers
982 views
Should capitals be used when verbing trademarks?
When using a trademark as a verb ("hoovering", "xeroxing", "photoshopping" and "googling"), should it be capitalized or uncapitalized?
Strictly speaking, Google and Adobe are opposed to their ...
8
votes
4answers
661 views
Proper capitalization of commonly used acronyms
I was always under impression, that acronyms ought to be written all caps. However reading BBC News site very often I see some of the common acronyms written as proper names (first cap). For example ...
7
votes
2answers
297 views
Should capitalization be preserved in loanwords?
The fundamental principle of gestalt perception is the law of prägnanz (German for pithiness).
In German, all nouns are capitalized. Should the above text be written as is, or with "the law of ...
10
votes
4answers
502 views
Capitalisation of titles
Please excuse the contrived example below, but I am wondering if this example is properly capitalised? I'm assuming that capitals are used when addressing someone directly, but lower case is used ...
9
votes
4answers
522 views
Should initial e's after h-dropping be capitalized?
A new Victorian-set British novel begins sentences containing h-dropping with lower-case e's, as in " 'e took my money, 'e did." This seems incorrect but I'm at a loss to find the rule.
7
votes
3answers
2k views
Understanding U.S. President capitalization
I was taught at an early age in the USA that when we write about our President, we are supposed to capitalize this in order to mean it's on the federal level. Is this correct to always do that? And ...
7
votes
7answers
3k views
Apostrophes and caps in Happy Mother’s Day / Happy Mothers’ Day
So, I’m writing this as it is Mother’s (or maybe Mothers’) Day today, and I was wondering what would be a correct way to write that.
Should the apostrophe come be between the r and the s, or after ...
6
votes
2answers
6k views
Use of capitals and full stops in bullet points [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Capitalization for a bullet list
Let's say I have a bullet point list e.g:
Point 1.
Point 2.
Point 3.
Notice I have put a capital letter for the starting letter of ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
Can a sentence start with a small letter? [duplicate]
Exact duplicate:
How do you capitalize a proper noun such as “iPhone”?
Also related:
Capitalising a sentence whose first word is explicitly lowercase
Should I change the structure of a ...
4
votes
4answers
6k views
-7
votes
2answers
366 views
Is “Sent from my iPhone” correctly punctuated and capitalized?
I'm sure everyone has seen this phrase at the bottom of many e-mail messages. My question is about the combination of punctuation and capitalization.
The capitalization of the first word makes me ...
19
votes
6answers
4k views
Which is correct: “Filename”, “File Name” or “FileName”?
Which is correct: "Filename", "File Name" or "FileName"?
10
votes
4answers
2k views
Is “Thank god”, as opposed to “Thank God”, acceptable?
People are quite stingy lately about anything with religious connotations, so I'm worried that the phrase "thank God" might tick some people off.
Is "thank god" acceptable? Would that offend people ...
10
votes
1answer
523 views
Is there a Name for this Style of Capitalisation?
It seems quite common on the web to capitalise certain words in a heading, or navigation bar, but not others.
Here are some examples:
Visit the Member's Page
How to Format (as seen on this ...
6
votes
3answers
810 views
Capitalization: when does a phrase become a proper noun?
This is a question on capitalization. Proper nouns are capitalized. But how can I tell which parts of a term constitute a proper noun?
Take, for example, the nickname for traveler's diarrhea (sorry, ...
6
votes
4answers
8k views
Does the word after a question mark start with a capital letter?
Should I write it like this? Or perhaps like this?
Should I write it like this? or perhaps like this?
What about after an exclamation mark or semicolon?
4
votes
9answers
1k views
Are there examples of terms named after a person that are no longer capitalized?
Are there any grammatically correct examples of terms named after someone that are no longer capitalized?
I know certain brand names have become so ingrained in the lexicon that they are no longer ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
Yoga (proper-case) or yoga (lowercase)?
I've seen it written in both ways. I'm tempted to use the proper case, because I was under the impression that it is also a form/name of religion. What do you think?
18
votes
3answers
5k views
When a sentence starts with “e.g.”, should the e be capitalized?
When a sentence starts with e.g., should the e be capitalized?
Neverminding that it might be better to start with "For example," ... Thinking of SE posts and comments, should the starting e be ...
12
votes
4answers
3k views
When is it correct to capitalise 'earth'?
At the beginning of a sentence is obvious.
I'm referring to the following examples:
A handful of earth.
The earth under this house.
The earth beneath my feet.
What on earth?
The ...
8
votes
5answers
593 views
Correct capitalization for “of” in an acronym definition
For an acronym that includes the word "of", do you capitalize its usage within the definition (or expansion) of the acronym
For example, in the follow sentence:
My coworker Steve suffers from ...
7
votes
3answers
3k views
Why is the letter after “Mc” in names capitalized?
For example, McDowell, or McDonald, or McKenna, etc. Is it necessary to capitalize that letter following "Mc"? And if yes, why is this so?
3
votes
8answers
16k views
Should it be “Happy Birthday!” or “Happy birthday!” when used as a two word sentence?
I've always simply written it "Happy birthday!" but my wife recently said that "Birthday" should be capitalized as well. What's grammatically correct?
2
votes
1answer
54 views
Should words be capitalized because they're loanwords?
In the English language Wikipedia article on noh theatre, "Noh" is frequently capitalized even when it's in the middle of a sentence. The only reason I could see someone doing that deliberately is ...
2
votes
2answers
62 views
Capitalization of “School” as an adjective
I am working on a research poster, and the teacher supervising wrote the following language. It doesn't seem to me like "School" is a proper noun, but he tells me it is when referring to a specific ...
