Capital letters are used for a variety of reasons and it is very important to identify the times when they are necessary.

PUNCTUATING YOUR WORK

A capital letter is, of course, always used after a full stop to start a new sentence.
—The bridge was old and had to be replaced. Both rail and road traffic were disrupted for several days.

Capital letters are also usually used after question marks and exclamation marks.
—How long will the traffic disruption last? She has to travel to London next week.
—How disgraceful! We should have been told the road was closed to traffic.

Writing direct speech

Direct speech is when words are enclosemay have to add other letters. If there is ad in inverted commas to indicate what someone is saying. The first word of a person’s speech always starts with a capital letter even if it is preceded by a comma.
—Tracy remarked, ‘It’s going to be a lovely day.’

If a question mark or exclamation mark is placed within inverted commas and followed by the person speaking, a capital letter is not used.
—’I was held up for two hours!’ she exclaimed.
—’I don’t believe it!’ he exclaimed.
—’Why don’t you drive to London?’ asked Lucy. ‘It’s much quicker.’

Notice that both ‘exclaimed’ and ‘asked’ begin with small letters although they are preceded by an exclamation mark and a question mark. This is because the words are connected to the person who is speaking.

Remember that the personal pronoun ‘I’ is always written with a capital letter.

Utilising other punctuation marks

A capital letter is not used after a comma, a semicolon or a colon.
—Because it was pouring with rain, the tennis match was postponed.
—She shuddered; there was a frightening atmosphere in the house.
—Your spelling is weak: you must learn the basic rules.

USING PROPER NOUNS

A proper noun is the name of a person, place, institution or brand name. They are always written with capital letters:

Capitals are also used when there are two main words as in a street or a river:

Writing days and months

The days of the week and the months of the year should always be written with a capital letter:

It is not necessary to use capitals when writing the seasons of the year:

Forming adjectives from proper nouns

A capital letter is always used if an adjective is formed from a proper noun as in the following:

WRITING TITLES

Capital letters are always used for people’s titles:

Capitals are also used for the main words in institutions:

When writing the title of books, plays, films, magazines, news-papers or songs, use capital letters for the main words:

USING GEOGRAPHICAL TERMS

If you are writing about a specific region use capital letters:
—There is some spectacular scenery in the South West.
—There is a lot of industry in the North East.
—Houses are very expensive in the South East.
—It was Colder in the North than the South.

If you are using the terms as directions only, there are no capital letters and the words are hypenated if there are two:
—Gatwick Airport is south-west of London.
—Cornwall is south of Somerset.
—You travel north on the Ml to drive to Scotland.

CHECKLIST

• Always use capital letters after a full stop.
• Don’t use capital letters after a comma unless you are writing direct speech.
• Don’t use capital letters after semi-colons or colons.
• Use capital letters after question marks and exclamation marks unless you are writing direct speech.
• Use capital letters for proper nouns, and adjectives formed from them.
• Use capital letters for titles and geographical locations.

PRACTISING WHAT YOU’VE LEARNT

Correct the following sentences:

• 1.It was very cold, the crowds were hurrying home.
• 2.‘how are you?’ She asked, ‘i haven’t seen you for ages.’
• 3.The roar of the planes grew louder; The boys covered their ears.
• 4.The english team lost the match.
• 5.Jobs in the north east are scarce.
• 6.She only used persil automatic in her washing machine.
• 7.The british museum was closed for renovation.
• 8.The group went on a trip on the river thames.
• 9.She sent a number of articles to woman’s own but they were returned by the editor, ms jenny ashton.
• 10.The film shakespeare in love won seven oscars.