the first word of a sentence:

Today is the first day of school.
 

the first word of a quotation:

She said, “Today is the first day of school.”
 

the greeting and

closing in a letter:

Dear Grandma,
 

Love,
Sherry

the names of days, months, and holidays:

The fourth Thursday in November is Thanksgiving.
 

people’s first and last names, their initials, and their titles:

Mrs. Cruz and her son Felix were both seen by Dr. S. C. Lee.
 

abbreviations for titles:

Mr.   a man
Mrs.  a married woman
Ms.  a woman
Dr.  a doctor
 

the word that names yourself - I:

My family and I enjoy camping together.
 

a word that is used as a name:

Be Careful!  Do not use a capital letter at the beginning of a word when it is not used as someone’s name:

Hint:  If you can replace the word with a name, it needs a capital letter:

I went with Dad and Aunt Terry to visit Grandma.

 I went with my dad and my aunt to visit my grandma.

I went with Dad.    I went with Joe.

the names of nationalities and languages:

Mexican, Cuban, and Nicaraguan people all speak Spanish.
 

the names of racial, ethnic, or cultural groups:

There were Asian, Native American, and African dancers at the festival.
 

to begin the names of these special places and things:
 

• street names:

Palm Avenue,  Cypress Street,  Pine Boulevard

• cities, states, and countries:

Los Angeles, California,  United States of America,  Paris, France

• continents:

Asia,  Europe,  North America

• landforms and bodies of water:

Rocky Mountains,   San Diego Bay,  Lake Jennings

• buildings, monuments, and public places:

the White House,  the Statue of Liberty,  Yellowstone National Park

titles of books, stories, poems, and magazines:

Be Careful!  Do not use a capital letter at the beginning of a small word in a title, such as a, an, at, for, in, and the, unless it is the first word in the title.

Remember...

Some titles are underlined:



Some titles go inside quotation marks:

The story “The Friendly Fruit Bat” appeared in Ranger Rick magazine and in a science book called Flying Mammals.

Book Titles:  Frog and Toad
Magazine Titles:  Ranger Rick
TV Shows:  Sesame Street

Story Titles:  “The Fox and the Crow”
Poem Titles:  “My Shadow”
Song Titles:  “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star