CAPITALIZATION

Most students can remember to capitalize names of people (Jane, Hakeem, Dr. Francoise, Yasmin), but what students need to know is that other things can be considered names, and we call those proper nouns. Proper nouns are specific common nouns.

Certainly, place names are simple enough to remember. Town, city, state, country, planet names are all names too.

• Let’s go to Manassas to see friends today.
• Our family flew to Shanghai last year, and it was amazing.
• I live in Arizona where it is often hot and dry weather.
• Touring the coast of southern France is lovely this time of year.
• There is a new mission to Mars launching soon.

What’s trickier are things such as brand names such as Taco Bell, Snickers, Dove, Huggies, Exxon, Walmart, Amazon, Nature Valley, Burger King, Pepsi, Starbucks, and, yes, SpiderSmart.

What else is capitalized? Again, these are specific things.

• days: Monday, Tuesday, Friday
• months: January, March, September
• holidays: Christmas, Halloween, Ramadan
• religions: Muslim, Hindu, Buddhism
• geographic locations: Grand Canyon, Himalayas, Mississippi River Delta
• titles: Star Wars, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• organizations: National Basketball Association, United Nations, School Library Journal

Of course, we capitalize other words in certain situations or locations when we write, but for now concentrate on the many types of proper nouns we must learn to capitalize.