Proper & Common Nouns
These types of nouns include the names of specific persons, places, and things, and should always be capitalized.
You should capitalize this noun only when referring to the United States' version or when naming any other version in full.
What are constitutions?
You should capitalize these nouns when referring to geographical formations.
What are rivers, lakes, and mountains? (Ex: Snake River and Rocky Mountains)
You should always capitalize all of these words except articles, conjunctions, and prepositions when they are four letters or less and the word "to" is an infinative.
What are titles?
This punctuation mark precedes a capitalized word if it is a quote, if it consists of more than one sentence, or if it is an emphasized phrase.
What is a colon?
These words and phrases can be derived from proper nouns and should be capitalized unless they have acquired an independent or specialized meaning.
What are verbs and adjectives?
You should always capitalize these nouns when stating the official name or any subparts.
What are Legislative Acts?
You should always capitalize the name of these definite periods of time.
What are historical periods and events?
You should always capitalize the first word following the colon in these captions.
What are subtitles?
This beginning word is always capitalized even if it is a proper noun that is not ordinarily capitalized.
What is the first word of the sentence?
You should not capitalize proper nouns that are in this form unless it is well-known.
What are short forms of proper nouns?
What are cases and judicial acts?
The general rule of capitalizing geographical formations should be excluded if the terms fall within this category.
What are descriptive terms that denote geographic regions, localities, or places?
You should capitalize these to a chapter of a book, a part of an article, or a top-level subdivision of any other non-governmental work.
What are references to subdivisions of non-governmental works?
You should capitalize the first word, setting it off with a comma or dash, when a sentence ends with this.
What are direct questions?
This type of noun should be capitalized when being used in place of a proper noun. Examples of these nouns include: the Lone Star State, the Big Apple, and the Duke
What are nicknames?
You should not capitalize a common noun that refers to these parties unless it refers to a governmental party.
What are litigants?
These two historical periods should never be capitalized.
What are periods and centuries? (Ex: the ice age; nineteenth century)
Material that is printed in this manner should be capitalized exactly as it appears in the original.
What is a foreign language?
Always capitalize the first word in this phrase unless it is woven into the syntax of the sentence.
What is a quotation?
What are Trade and Brand names?
You should only capitalize these words when referring to the U.S. Supreme Court.
What are session and term?
Descriptive geographical terms should be capitalized except when they fall under this category of indicators.
What are indicators of direction or position? (Ex: southern Texas; southeastern New York)
You should always capitalize these words by treating them as spaces when they appear in a title.
What are hyphenated words in titles?
You should use this type of punctuation when you change the capitalization in a quotation.
What are brackets?