STANDARD IV: The student will use correct capitalization and punctuation

STANDARD IV: The student will use correct capitalization and punctuation.

OBJECTIVE 1.Demonstrate correct use of

capitalization.

Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives.

• The pronoun I is always capitalized with no exceptions.– Yesterday I was sick.

• Names of individuals and nicknames are capitalized.– Elvis Presley, Connie Chung, and Shaq are

all famous people.


• Titles of individuals and abbreviations of the titles are capitalized.–Mr. Kennedy met with Dr. Johnson and

Governor Smith.• In family relationship titles, capitalize the title

if a name follows it.–My Aunt Martina and Uncle Bernard visited

Grandmother Rice.


• If you omit the name and if they have a possessive word in front of them, they are not capitalized.–My aunt, your father, and Dirk’s uncle

greeted his mother.• If you use a title in place of a name, you do

capitalize it. (To test it, try a name in place to see if it fits.)– Friday Mother will pick me up.–Unfortunately, Grandpa broke his leg.


• Capitalize names of ethnic groups, nationalities, and languages.–Native Americans and Italians do not speak

the same language.– English and Swahili are difficult languages

to learn.


• Capitalize academic institutions and specific courses, but do not capitalize general courses unless it is a language course.– I learned chemistry in Auburn University’s

Chemistry 101 class, and I took two Japanese courses, Japanese 101 and Japanese Fluency 201.


• Names of places, such as street, city, state, county, country, and bodies of water, are capitalized.–Main Street runs parallel to the Mississippi

River.– I am from Salem, Oregon, and he is from

Mexico City, Mexico.–Africa borders the Atlantic Ocean.


• Directions (north, south, east, west) are capitalized when they refer to a section of the country or they are part of a name.

• Directions are not capitalized when they are directions.–We live in the South.– She lives in South Carolina.–Utah is west of Colorado.


• Historical events, eras, and calendar items (days of the week, months, and holidays) are capitalized, but not the seasons (fall, winter, spring, summer).– He said that May is his favorite because he prefers

the spring.– Sam Adams led the Boston Tea Party on

December 16, 1773, just over a week before Christmas.

– During the Progressive Era, Americans experienced a period of general prosperity before World War I.

Capitalize Titles

• Capitalize the first word, last word, and all important words in the titles of –books, chapters, comic strips, essays,

magazines, newspapers, articles, historical documents, laws, works of art, pieces of music, plays, poems, short stories, songs, movies, and television programs.– Exceptions on next slide

Capitalize Titles

• Capitalize all other words except the following exceptions:– articles (a, an, the)–Coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, so,

yet, for)–Prepositions having fewer than five letters

(to, at, from, for)– To in front of a verb (infinitive)–Articles that come before the title of a

newspaper or magazine.

Capitalize Titles

• “Murders in the Rue Morgue”- short story• the Chicago Tribune – newspaper• “Joy to the World” – song• For Better or Worse – comic strip

Capitalize Sentences & Quotes

• The first word in a sentence is capitalized.– The boy wrote a note to his friend.

• A quote tells what someone else said. In a direct quote, you tell a person’s exact words, and you put the sentence in quotation marks. In an indirect quote, you tell what someone else said in your on words, and you don’t need quotation marks.

Capitalize Sentences & Quotes

• If the speaker is a pronoun and comes last in a direct quote, you do not capitalize it.– “I saw the sun rise,” he said.

• If the quote is interrupted, you do not capitalize the word in the middle of the sentence.– “I saw,” he said, “the sun rise.”

• If the speaker comes first, you do, of course capitalize the first word of the sentence.– He said, “We saw the sun rise.”

1. Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Choose the answer that shows the correct capitalization for that part.After she finishes lake swan junior high school, my sister will be attending high school with me.

A. Lake Swan junior high schoolB. lake Swan Junior High SchoolC. Lake Swan Junior High School D. Correct as it is

Capitalization

2. Choose the sentence in which ALL the capitalization is correct.

A. The senior class invited the junior class to a cookout at the park.

B. Two Alabama Counties, Mobile and Baldwin, are bordered by the gulf of Mexico.

C. The Amazon River in South America is the longest river in the western hemisphere.

D. The seniors have read poetry of the Neoclassical Era in their english literature classes.

Capitalization

3. Read the sentence. Find the word that needs a capital letter. The group of teachers, scientists, and county officials met for a conference at the chinese restaurant.

A. countyB. conferenceC. chineseD. Correct as it is

Capitalization

4. Choose the sentence in which all capitalization is correct.

A. All of Ellen’s relatives yelled at once, “surprise!”

B. “Ellen,” her mother said, “You are officially old enough to drive.”

C. Ellen closed her eyes as her younger sister yelled, “Make a wish!”

D. “Can anyone guess what I wished for?” Asked Ellen.

Capitalization

5. Look at he underlined part of the sentence. Choose the answer that shows the correct capitalization for the part.

Our English teacher assigned us to read a tale of two cities by charles dickens.

A. A Tale of Two Cities by charles dickens.B. A Tale of two cities by Charles Dickens.C. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.D. A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Capitalization

6. Look at the underlined sentence part. Choose the answer that shows the correct capitalization for that part.

If you want to have a thriving garden, you should read How To Water And Care For Your Special Outdoor Plants.

A. How to Water and Care for Your Special Outdoor Plants.B. How To Water and Care For Your Special Outdoor

Plants.C. How to Water And Care For Your Special Outdoor

Plants.D. Correct as is

Capitalization

7. Read the sentence. Choose the word that needs a capital letter.While living in the state of Alabama, she worked as a medical doctor in Jefferson county.

A. stateB. medicalC. doctorD. county

Capitalization

Capitalization8. Look at the underlined part of the sentence.

Choose the answer that shows the correct capitalization for that part.

The Battle of The Coral Sea was one of the largest sea battles ever fought.

A. battle of the Coral SeaB. Battle of the Coral SeaC. Battle of The Coral SeaD. Correct as it is

9. Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Choose the answer that shows the correct capitalization for that part.

I would love to visit crete, a greek island located in the mediterranean sea.

A. Crete, a greek island located in the Mediterranean SeaB. Crete, a Greek island located in the Mediterranean seaC. Crete, a Greek Island located in the Mediterranean

Sea.D. Crete, a Greek island located in the Mediterranean

Sea.

Capitalization

Documents

STANDARD IV: The student will use correct capitalization and punctuation