Capitalization Rules in English

English letters have uppercase and lowercase forms, such as A and a. Using an uppercase form is called capitalization. It is not just making a letter bigger: a large printed a is still lowercase. These rules describe English; other languages can use capitals differently.

Sentence Beginnings and Names

The first word of an English sentence begins with a capital. In “We can see Sam.”, W begins the sentence. Sam also begins with a capital because it is a person's name. That S does not start another sentence.

Specific names of people and places use capitals. The English word I is uppercase even inside a sentence: “Sam and I can hop.” Days and months, such as Monday and June, also begin with capitals.

Words That Usually Stay Lowercase

Common words such as dog, city and school usually stay lowercase unless another rule applies. Season words such as summer and winter are usually lowercase too. A word may need a capital when it starts a sentence or belongs to a name or title.

Titles and Page Layout

Titles follow a chosen writing style. Styles differ about which small words receive capitals. When referring to a published book, copy its title carefully instead of guessing one rule for every title.

A sentence can continue onto the next line. A capitalized name can appear on that new line without starting another sentence. Look at the words and ending punctuation together. Neither counting capitals nor counting lines is enough to count sentences.