capitalization rules
You should always capitalize this word, no matter where it appears in a sentence.
What is the pronoun “I”?
These are words that name a person, place, thing, or idea.
What are nouns?
These verbs, like is, are, was, and were, connect the subject to a word that describes or renames it.
What are linking verbs?
Words like Joe’s or hers are actually this kind of pronoun but also act as adjectives.
What are possessive pronouns?
Words like I, you, he, it, we, and they belong to this type of pronoun.
What are personal pronouns?
This is when you should capitalize the very first word in a sentence.
What is at the beginning of every sentence?
This type of noun names general people, places, or things and should not be capitalized unless it begins a sentence.
What is a common noun?
Verbs like grow, remain, appear, become, and seem are special because they can be replaced with a form of “to be” or an equals sign.
What are GRABS verbs (linking verbs)?
This part of speech modifies a noun or a pronoun.
What is an adjective?
Words like who, which, and that are this type of pronoun, often introducing clauses.
What are relative pronouns?
Titles like Mr., Ms., and Dr. should be capitalized when they appear before this.
What is a person’s name?
Words like team, class, and family are examples of this type of noun because they name groups made up of members.
What is a collective noun?
This type of verb shows what the subject actually does, such as run, yodel, or write.
What is an action verb?
This modern writing style is most often used for English and humanities papers.
What is MLA format?
Pronouns like myself, ourselves, and themselves are used when the subject and the object of the verb are the same person or group.
What are reflexive pronouns?
This rule says to capitalize the names of school subjects only when they refer to specific course titles, like “Spanish 1” or “English 101.”
What is capitalize specific course names?
Nouns like book, dog, and apple are examples of this type because they name things you can see, touch, or measure.
What are concrete nouns?
Phrases like were singing or had been doodling are examples of this structure, which combines a helping verb and a main verb.
What is a verb phrase?
The first line of the MLA header should include this information.
What is the student’s full name?
Words like this, that, these, and those point out specific people or things.
What are demonstrative pronouns?
Words like French, Buddhist, or Mexican need capital letters because they are examples of these.
What are proper adjectives or nouns indicating nationality, religion, or ethnic origin?
The plural form of most nouns is made by adding this letter or letters.
What is “-s” or “-es”?
This group of helping verbs—would, could, might, and should—show conditions, possibilities, or hypotheticals.
What are modal helping verbs?
Descriptive words that can be used before nouns.
What are descriptive adjectives?
Words like ours, yours, his, hers, and theirs show ownership, and they’re also considered this part of speech.
What are adjectives?