Always capitalize
The first word of a sentence
Every sentence starts with a capital letter, including a full sentence inside quotation marks: She said, “We leave at noon.”
The pronoun “I”
“I” is always capitalized, including in contractions: I'm, I've, I'll.
Names of people and places
Capitalize names of people, cities, countries, rivers, mountains, streets and buildings: Priya Sharma, Mumbai, the Ganges, Mount Everest, Baker Street, the Taj Mahal.
Days, months and holidays
Monday, October, Diwali, New Year's Day.
Nationalities, languages and religions
Indian, French, Hindi, Christianity, Buddhist.
Organizations, brands and products
the United Nations, Google, Toyota Corolla. Follow the company's own spelling for brands with unusual capitals: iPhone, eBay, YouTube.
Common mistakes
Seasons
Seasons are lowercase: We launch in the spring. Capitalize them only as part of a name: the Winter Olympics.
Job titles
Capitalize a job title directly before a name, where it works like part of the name. Lowercase it otherwise. ✓ Prime Minister Modi spoke today. ✓ The prime minister spoke today. ✓ Our chief executive, Ana Lopez, …
Family words
Capitalize Mom, Dad or Grandma when used as a name, but not after a possessive. ✓ I told Mom. ✓ I told my mom.
Directions and regions
Compass directions are lowercase: drive north for ten miles. Capitalize them when they name a region: she grew up in the South, Northeast India.
Subjects at school
Academic subjects are lowercase (math, history, biology) except languages (English, Spanish) and specific course names (History 101).
After a colon
In American English, capitalize after a colon only if what follows is a complete sentence (some styles) or a proper noun. In British English, the word after a colon is usually lowercase. Whichever you choose, be consistent.
Internet and email
Most style guides now write internet, website and email in lowercase.
Titles and headings
For titles of books, films, articles and headings, use either title case (The Art of Clear Writing) or sentence case (The art of clear writing), and stick to one. Our guide to title case rules explains exactly which words to capitalize in AP, Chicago, APA and MLA style.
Acronyms and initialisms
Acronyms are usually written in capitals: NASA, UNESCO, FAQ, CEO. Some long-established acronyms have become ordinary words in lowercase, like laser and scuba. Some publications write long acronyms in title case (Nato, Unicef); follow your style guide.
When to avoid ALL CAPS
Text in all capitals is harder to read for more than a few words, because every word becomes the same rectangular shape and readers lose the cues they use to recognize words. Online, ALL CAPS also reads as shouting. Use it sparingly: for short labels, acronyms, or a single word of emphasis. For emphasis in a sentence, bold or italics work better.
Fixing capitalization quickly
- Text typed with Caps Lock on? Use the sentence case converter, then capitalize names by hand.
- Need consistent headings? Use the title case converter.
- Need everything in one case for a label, code or data cleaning? Use the uppercase or lowercase converter.