A small capital letter can make a big difference. When you write maria and Maria, one looks unfinished and one looks correct. Writers use capital letters to show that some words are special. Dates and names of people are special, so they need capitals.
We use a capital letter at the beginning of some words. A capital letter is a big letter, like A, B, or M. Capital letters help readers know which words are names, days, months, and holidays.
Capitalization means using uppercase letters in the correct places when we write.
Proper noun means a special name, such as the name of a person, a month, or a holiday.
When writing is missing capitals, it can look messy. Correct capitalization helps your sentence look neat and clear. It also helps show respect for a person's name.
A person's name is a special name. That means it begins with a capital letter. This is true for a first name and a last name.
Look at these examples: Liam, Ava, Noah, Sofia, Juan, Mia Chen, and Ella Brown. Each important part of the person's name begins with a capital letter.
You should write: Ben, not ben. You should write: Ana Lopez, not ana lopez.
People's names are always special names. If the word names a person, begin it with a capital letter. This includes one name, two names, and even a nickname if it is used as a name, such as Grandma June.
Sometimes a title goes with a name. If the title is part of the name, it can begin with a capital letter too. For example: Mr. Lee, Ms. Patel, Dr. Kim. In these examples, the title is used with the person's name.
If you are not using the title as part of the name, you may not need a capital. For example, my teacher is not a special name. But Mrs. Green is a special name.
A date tells when something happens. In dates, some words need capital letters. The names of the months begin with capitals: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December.
The names of the days of the week also begin with capitals: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Holidays begin with capitals too. Write Thanksgiving, New Year's Day, Halloween, and Memorial Day.
Examples of dates with capitals
Step 1: Start the day name with a capital letter.
Monday
Step 2: Start the month name with a capital letter.
April
Step 3: Put them into a date.
Monday, April 8
The day and month begin with capital letters because they are special names in a date.
Notice that the number in a date is not about capitalization. In Friday, June 14, the words Friday and June have capitals, and the number 14 stays the same.
Some time words do not usually begin with capital letters. The seasons are usually lowercase: spring, summer, fall, and winter.
Write: We play outside in summer. Do not write: We play outside in Summer.
Also, ordinary words like girl, boy, teacher, month, and day are not special names, so they usually do not need capitals in the middle of a sentence.
Remember: every sentence begins with a capital letter too. That is a different rule, but you use it at the same time as capitalizing names and dates.
Here is a good example: My friend Leo has a party on Saturday in July. The sentence begins with a capital M, the name Leo has a capital, and the date words Saturday and July have capitals too.
Writers use correct capitals in notes, stories, cards, and school writing. Read these sentences:
Sara will visit Grandma on Tuesday.
My birthday is in November.
Eli saw Dr. Ruiz on Monday, March 3.
We celebrate Halloween in October.
In each sentence, the special names begin with capital letters. Names of people, days, months, and holidays stand out clearly.
| Word | Use a capital? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| person's name | Yes | Olivia |
| day of the week | Yes | Thursday |
| month | Yes | August |
| holiday | Yes | Valentine's Day |
| season | Usually no | winter |
| common noun | Usually no | teacher |
Table 1. This table shows which time words and name words usually need capital letters.
Sometimes writers forget capitals. Good writers check their work and fix mistakes.
Fix the capitalization
Step 1: Read the sentence.
emma has music on friday.
Step 2: Find the special names.
emma is a person's name. friday is a day.
Step 3: Change them to capitals.
Emma has music on Friday.
Try another one in your mind: we go to sam's house in december. The corrected sentence is We go to Sam's house in December. The sentence starts with a capital, the person's name has a capital, and the month has a capital.
Many books, birthday invitations, calendars, and classroom signs use capital letters to help readers find names and dates quickly.
When you edit your writing, look for these questions: Is there a person's name? Is there a day of the week? Is there a month? Is there a holiday? If the answer is yes, begin that word with a capital letter.
Careful writers use capitals to make writing easy to read. Every time you write a name like Jada or a date word like Tuesday, you are showing strong writing habits.
