What kinds of words must be capitalized, in English :) ?

Question

I'm Brazilian, and I'm always confused by this, because I see most people I know capitalizing words that we don't, in Portuguese.

Thank you for your answers! :)

Have a wonderful day! :)

Inspired by Susan's question:

http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhOa.UTjR48ubzp1UjOqxYzAFQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20071017043208AASyKyH&show=7#profile-info-f005983d8c4908c03021a87774d6b3f5aa

To the first to answeres - So far, the same. I'm still thinking why so many common words are capitalized.

* two

Sorry!

Miss T: That would be nice, thank you! :)

I'm thinking of words like "Mom", "Dad", "Earth" and "Ocean", for example.

((((Raji)))) :)

Answer 1

Days of the week, months, the pronoun I, nationalities, languages, proper names.

If you want links for ESL grammar sites, tell me, I'll send you a few good ones.

Edit: http://www.rong-chang.com/
http://a4esl.org/
http://www.eslcafe.com/
http://www.manythings.org/

Answer 2

Capitalization, like spelling, is a set of conventions intended to clarify written communication. The following guidelines for capitalization are generally accepted.

Sentences should begin with a capital letter:

A boy brought home a penguin.

Proper names and adjectives derived from proper names should be capitalized:

The penguin's name was Opus.

He came from Antarctica.

He hitch-hiked across the Arctic Ocean.

Capitalize the first word of a direct quotation:

The instructor said, "Thou shalt not have fun in Physics."

Capitalize geographical names:

Vancouver Island

San Francisco

the Grand Canyon

the South Pacific

Note: do not capitalize directions that are not part of a regions name:

northern California

Capitalize the main words and the first word of the titles of articles, books, poems, plays, songs, etc.:

English Structure and Style

The Brothers Karamazov

Stairway to Heaven

Capitalize official names or names of groups or organizations:

Department of Redundancy Department

House of Commons

House of Senate

Republicans

Black Americans

Lutherans

Capitalize personifications:

Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —

Usually capitalize the first word of each line of poetic verse (see above example).

Answer 3

Words that lead off a sentence are always capitolized. Also all proper nouns, words intended to convey respect. All words in the title of a book or other work, such as a song or poem. The word "I" is always capitalized, as well. The words in a tile of honor, such as Congressperson Mr. So And So. The only wsords not capitalized in a title are the words; "of, and, or, nor, the and by", unless they appear at the beginning of the title.

English can be a difficult language to read and write because of the nuances in the language. For example, the term religion would begin with undercase letters when referring to an indirect reference to it. However, in the case of a direct reference to Religion, as the group or belief system, then it'd be capitalized.

Additionally, in terms of netspeak (internet conversation) it is customary to capitalize an entire word for emphasis. This however is NOT considered proper English usage but seems to be restricted to the internet.

I hope that this helps a little bit.

BB,
Raji the Green Witch <---- Proper Name AND Title of Honor

Answer 4

Proper nouns. Those are like names... Susan, Fred, Jennifer, etc. Not girl, boy, house, store...etc... The names of specific places: the Vatican;Big Ben; Naples, Italy... specific things:
Neptune, Mars, Venus. Not: planet, asteriod, etc. The first letter in the first word of a sentence. 'See the girl run.'....
RE: your examples... words like mom and dad, yes, if used as a proper name. .. "Hey. Mom!" Not if general... "His mom and dad were there." "He went swimming in the ocean." (no.) "He went swimming in the Pacific Ocean." (yes.)

Moon, you do so very well... I've never seen you make a mistake!
And, I gotta tell ya, your English is waaay better than my Portuguese! (I speak one language.) You speak what... 6-7? I'm in awe of you! }:>

Answer 5

well there are several - words are wonderful things... Dichotomy - the splitting of a whole into two halves Vernacular - One's native language Derogatory - To insult Belligerent - At war There are plenty of others obviously but these are amongst my favorite words... The average persons learns around 10,000 words throughout their lifetime

Answer 6

I don't know, high school grammar was 46 years ago, so i don't capitalize any of them, then i hit the spell checker, and all of those red words show up, and being the compulsive person that I am, I have to go back and correct every thing.
oh, except I do capitalize I, and God. don't ask me why, I just do.
unless i forget.

Answer 7

Most nouns need to be capitalized. A persons name, the name of a place, and the first word in ever sentance

Hi my name is Dylan and i'm from Maryland.

Answer 8

Here's a really good link with examples I found. I hope this helps. (((Moon :) )))))

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/592/01/

Answer 9

the names and forenames, the word God, and all those who come first in a new sentence...

Answer 10

no clue