Use of Capital Letters
The following are the general rules for the use of capitals, together with the abbreviations most commonly used. Many special uses of capital letters are also insisted upon by writers which cannot be reduced to general rules.
Rule 1.—The first word of every sentence should begin with a capital letter.
A sentence preceded by an introductory word or clause such as Resolved, Be it enacted, etc., begins with a capital notwithstanding the introductory word.
Rule II.—The first word of a direct quotation, of an important statement, and of a direct question, should begin with a capital.
Examples:
One truth is clear: Whatever is, is right.—Pope. Ask yourselves this question: Are you doing right?
Rule III.—The first word of every line of poetry should begin with a capital.
Rule IV.—All proper names begin with capitals. If the proper name consists of several words, all are capitalized except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.
Examples:—San Diego, Burton-on-Trent, the Grand Army of the Republic.
The words street, road, lake, river, mountain, etc., should begin with capitals when used in connection with proper names.
Examples:—Crawford Road, Prospect Street, Lake Erie, Cuyahoga River, Little Mountain.
North, South, East, and West, should begin with capitals when they mean sections of the country and not points of the compass.
Example:—Chicago, the largest city of the West, is south of Lake Michigan.
Capitalize city only when part of the corporate name, New York City, Washington City.
Rule V.—Names of days and months always take a capital; but the names of seasons of the year are not commonly capitalized.
Rule VI.—Titles of office before personal names, and other titles so placed which are not mere common names of vocation, are written with capitals.
Examples:—Senator Jones, Doctor (or Dr.) Brown, Aunt Jane, Miss or Master Gray; but coachman Smith, barber Harris, etc.
Titles of dignity are also commonly capitalized when used alone, as in address, or with the definite article.
Examples:—the President, Senator, Judge, the Judge, District Attorney.
When title, with or without Christian name, precedes “de,” use lower-case “d”; this rule applies also to “la,” “di,” “von,” “van,” etc.
Examples:—Marquis de Lafayette, Di Cesnola, Prince von Moltke, Von Humboldt, Dr. la Mond, De Chaulnes, Mr. van Renssalaer.
Rule VII.—Many special names of a common kind are, in particular uses, treated as proper nouns and capitalized.
Examples:—Congress, Parliament, Senate, House of Representatives, State (for one of the United States), Hudson River Railroad, Aldine Printing Company.
Capitalize the names of political parties; as, Republican Party, Democratic Party, Progressive Party, etc.
Capitalize Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Lincoln’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, Good Friday, Decoration Day or Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Election Day, Thanksgiving Day, etc.; a noted day, as Black Friday, etc.; but blue Monday.
Capitalize Northerner, Southerner, Northern gentleman, Southern blood, etc.
Capitalize names of important events and periods: as, the Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the Reformation, the Revolution (French or American), Civil War (American), the Middle Ages, the Union, Reconstruction.
Capitalize religious denominations; as, Methodist, Episcopal Church, St. Mark’s Church, Church and State, etc.
Church is without the capital always when used alone or when meaning congregation or building; as, a Methodist church in Hoboken.
Capitalize College, Club, Society, etc., when referring to that particular body, in by-laws, proceedings, or other publications of a college, club, society, company, etc.
Capitalize Monsieur, Madame, Signor, etc.
Capitalize State only when referring to one of the United States.
Rule VIII.—Adjectives and nouns derived from proper names are written with capitals.
Examples:—Jacksonian, New Yorker, Congressman (if Congress has a capital).
Names of countries and places, and adjectives derived from them.
Examples:—a German dictionary. The best Spanish wines.
But such words used in some other common way are not capitalized.
Examples:—morocco leather, russia leather, india rubber, plaster of paris, etc.
Rule IX.—Names of families and larger groups in natural history, and of genera, are written with capitals; also botanical specific names derived from proper names, and those that have formerly been genus-names, though zoölogical usage gives a small initial to every specific name.
Examples:—Asplenium Trichomanes (a fern). Menticirrhus americanus (a fish). Carya alba (a hickory tree).
Rule X.—In headings the important words only should be capitalized.
Titles of books, newspapers, plays, and the like, are written with capitals beginning the important words, most commonly nouns, principal verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The word the is capitalized as part of the title if the title is quoted exactly.
Examples:—A History of the Rebellion.
Examples:—Free Trade and Protection.
Examples:—Put Yourself in his Place.
Examples:—Milton’s Select Poems.
Examples:—The Beginnings of Poetry.
Rule XI.—The pronoun I and the interjection O are capitalized.
Rule XII.—All names of God, all words that may be regarded as titles of the Deity, should begin with capitals.
Rule XIII.—In compound words, as vice-president, ex-president, etc., the prefix (vice) should not be capitalized.
Rule XIV.—In personification it is usual to capitalize the personified words.
Examples:—
Vice is a monster; smiling Spring.
The Voice of Nature; but: true to nature.