[EDUCATOR] Capitalization.
The rules of capitalization
in the English language
can seem overwhelming,
but really there are only
three things that we capitalize,
and those would be proper
nouns, titles and headings,
and the first word in a
sentence and the pronoun I.
We're going to cover each one
of these cases in a little
more detail, and the goal of
this lesson is by the end of it,
you'll be much better at knowing
when to capitalize letters
in the English language.
The first case of
words that are always
capitalized are proper nouns.
A noun is a person,
place, or a thing.
Proper nouns refer to
specific people, places,
things, and brands.
We always capitalize proper
nouns, and some examples of
proper nouns are Matthew,
Chicago, and Kleenex.
Whenever these words appear in
any sentence you're writing,
you should always capitalize
the first letter of those words.
However, there are
also common nouns.
Common nouns refer to general
people, places, and things.
We never capitalize common
nouns nouns unless they're
the first word in the sentence.
Here are some examples of
common nouns, kid, city, tissue.
Now if you notice my examples
for proper nouns and my examples
for common nouns align.
Matthew is the proper
noun version of kid.
Chicago is a proper
noun version of city.
And Kleenex is a proper
noun version of the
common noun tissue.
Notice Matthew, Chicago,
and Kleenex are always
capitalized because they're
proper nouns, and kid, city,
and tissue are never capitalized
unless they are the first
word in a new sentence.
Since understanding proper nouns
is essential to capitalization,
we're going to stop right here
and do a quick practice.
What I'm going to do
is show you a noun.
You will, either on a separate
sheet of paper or in your head
right now decide whether each
is a common or proper noun.
If you know that
the noun is proper,
I would like you to
find a common noun
version of that proper noun.
And if the word word
is a common noun,
I'd like you to find
a proper noun version
of that common noun.
Let's try it out.
Eiffel Tower.
Is Eiffel Tower a common
noun or a proper noun?
If it's a common noun, think
of the proper noun version.
If it's a proper noun, think
of the common noun version.
Teacher.
Again, decide whether it's
a common or proper noun.
If it's a common noun,
think of a proper noun
version of teacher,
and if it's a proper noun,
think of a common noun
version of teacher.
Car.
Africa.
If I'm moving too quickly,
feel free to pause this video.
Language.
Okay, I'm going to show
you the answers that I got.
Your answers are quite
likely to be different
than the ones I thought of,
but the answers I came up
with should give you some
guidance as to whether you're
on the right track or not.
Eiffel Tower.
Eiffel Tower is a proper noun.
The common noun version I
thought of was monument.
You might have also came up with
landmark, or sculpture, or some
other common noun version of
Eiffel Tower, the proper noun.
Teacher.
Teacher is a common
noun and I chose Mr.
Morton to represent the
proper noun version of
the common noun teacher.
Car.
Car is a common noun.
I chose Ford Escort,
my first car to represent
the proper noun version
of the common noun car.
Africa.
Africa is a proper noun.
Continent is the the
common noun version
that I chose to represent
the proper noun Africa.
Language.
Language is a common noun,
and I chose English as the
proper noun representative
of the common noun language.
We always capitalize proper
nouns no matter where they
appear in the sentence.
This is the first case of things
that we always capitalize in
the English language.
The second case is
titles and headings.
We always capitalize words in
title or heading, except we
don't capitalize little words.
By little words,
I'm talking about
articles like
the, a, or an,
conjunctions like
and or but,
or prepositions
like in, with.
We don't capitalize those words
when they appear in a title,
unless they are the first
word in the title.
Here are some examples of how we
capitalize titles and headings.
We read Lord of the Flies.
Lord of the Flies,
the title of a book.
As a title,
we always
capitalize Lord
of the Flies.
But you will notice the words
of and the are not capitalized.
The reason why we don't
capitalize of and the in
this title is because
they are little words.
Of is being used as
a preposition and
the is an article,
so we don't capitalize
those in this title.
I listened to The Marriage
of Figaro by Mozart.
Here we have the
title of a song.
As with titles of novels
or shows or movies,
we capitalize every
word in the title.
Again, as with Lord of
the Flies, we do not
capitalize the word of
because it's a little word,
but we do capitalize the
word the in this case,
and that's because it's
the first word in the title.
Like when we start a sentence,
when we start a title, we always
capitalize the first word,
even if it's a little word.
And here's one more example of
capitalizing the first letter
of all the words in a title.
Many presidents have met
with Prime Minister May.
Here, we're not talking
about the title of a book,
or the title of the song,
but rather a professional title,
the title that a person holds.
And when we're giving that
title to a specific person
and it's attached to that
person's name, we capitalize
every word of that title.
That is why Prime Minister
May is capitalized.
However, if you look
at the word presidents,
presidents here is being
used as a common noun,
a general group of presidents,
not a specific or proper noun.
If we were referring
to President Lincoln,
for example, we would always
capitalize the word president,
because it's used as a title
attached to a person's name.
One thing to consider when
you're capitalizing titles
that can be complicated is class
titles or titles of courses.
We're talking about
specific course titles.
Knowing when and which words
to capitalize on the title of a
class can be really complicated.
But again, it sort of just
points back to our first rule
about capitalizing proper nouns.
So when we have a
specific course title,
that's a proper noun.
Here are some examples where we
capitalize course titles because
they refer to specific courses.
I am in Earth Science 101.
Here we capitalize both the E
in Earth and the S in science.
And the reason we do this
is because we're referring
to a specific course called
Earth Science 101.
I take Algebra 1 and
English Literature 2.
In this sentence,
we see the words
algebra, English,
and literature
all capitalized.
And the reason why we
capitalized all of these
words is because they are
the titles of specific
courses, proper nouns,
which are always capitalized.
We also have general
course titles,
and those are
common nouns.
Here are some examples
of course titles being
used as common nouns.
I like Earth science.
Here we do not capitalize
the S in science.
The reason why is because
science is a common noun.
We never capitalize the word
science unless it appears as
the first word in a sentence
or is attached to a course
title and refers to a specific
course as a proper noun.
However, the E in Earth
is always capitalized.
Any time we use the word
Earth, even as an adjective,
such as here describing a type
of science, we always capitalize
Earth, because Earth is a proper
noun, even in adjective form.
I like English literature
more than algebra.
We do not capitalize
the words literature or
algebra because they are
common nouns, but we still
capitalize the word English.
Though it is being used as
an adjective to describe
the type of literature,
we always capitalize the
names of countries or languages
no matter where or how they
are used, because they are
rooted in a proper noun.
We capitalize proper
nouns everywhere.
So far we have talked
about two cases where
you capitalize words.
Those would be, number 1, proper
nouns, always capitalized,
and number 2, titles.
Whether it's the title
of a book, class,
or professional title,
we capitalize every word in the
title unless it's a little word.
We still have one more case of
capitalization to look at, and
that would be first word and I.
We always capitalize the
first word in a sentence
and the pronoun I.
You probably already know
this, but since we're
covering capitalization,
let's take a look at it.
We left.
Since we is beginning the
sentence, we capitalize it.
Then Tim said, do you get it?
In this sentence,
we have three capitalizations.
First, we have the word then,
which is capitalized because
it's starting the sentence.
Next, we have the word Tim,
which is capitalized because
it's a proper noun.
But thirdly,
we have the word
do, which is also
capitalized because
it's starting a sentence.
So well, it seems like a
continuation of the first
part of the sentence,
it's actually treated
as a whole new sentence.
So we capitalize the first
letter in any dialogue
the moment it begins.
So I said, yes, I get it.
So here you see we're not
only capitalizing so and yes,
because they are words that
are beginning sentences,
we also see that we are
capitalizing the pronoun
I every time we use it
no matter where in the
sentence it appears.
In review, capitalization rules
in the English language can be
explained in very complicated
ways, but really there are only
three cases where we capitalize.
We capitalize these
things, proper nouns,
including brand names,
are always capitalized.
Titles and headings,
except little words
are always capitalized.
And the first word in a
sentence and the pronoun
I are always capitalized.
Okay, that's all the
instruction I'm going
to offer you for today,
but I do have a short
practice activity if
you'd like to review
what you've learned.
You can complete this activity
on your own with a piece
of paper or in your head,
we'll cover the answers,
or if you're doing this
with your teacher, just do
whatever your teacher says.
Now here's some practice
problems to help you
review capitalization.
Here's what I want you to do.
I'm going to show you sentences.
You will write down the
sentences and while you are
doing so, you will correctly
capitalize each sentence.
While you are doing so, you
will also write a letter under
each capitalization you make.
Put the letter A if
it's a proper noun.
Put the letter B if you're
capitalizing the word because
it's a word in a title, or put
the letter C if you're making
the capitalization because
it's the first word in a
sentence or the pronoun I.
So again, write the sentences
down, fix the capitalization
while you write them down,
and then note why you are
capitalizing, either
because it's a proper
noun, a word in a title,
or the first word in a sentence
with the pronoun I. Let's begin.
Tom ran to the Harold
Washington Library.
You may want to pause
these examples if I'm
not giving you enough time.
He met with Chief
Librarian Roberts,
the woman who ran
the whole library.
Tom was good at math,
but was getting a low grade
in his Reading 101 course.
Get ready for a curveball.
The Chief Librarian
helped Tom research Apple
iPhones for his report.
Ooooooooh!
Apple iPhones!
How do you capitalize that?
Why do you capitalize
it like that?
And lastly, Tom said,
'Thanks for the help
with my reading class.'
Okay, let's look
at some answers.
Tom ran to the Harold
Washington Library.
In this sentence,
we capitalize Tom
not only because
it's the first word in
the sentence, but also
because it's a proper noun.
We also capitalize
Harold Washington Library
because Harold Washington
Library is a proper noun.
It refers to a specific library,
and library would be the common
noun version of Harold
Washington Library.
He met with Chief
Librarian Roberts.
Here we capitalize the
word he because it's the
first word in a sentence,
but we also capitalize
Chief Librarian Roberts.
We capitalize Roberts
as a proper noun because
that's a person's name,
but we also capitalize Chief
Librarian because it's attached
to Roberts as part of her title.
Tom was good at math but
was getting a low grade
in his reading 101 course.
Again we capitalize Tom
as a proper noun and the
first word in the sentence.
I also capitalize Reading 101.
And the reason why I do this
is because it's a proper noun.
It's the title of
a specific course.
Had you put A or B there, that
would have been fine for me.
Continuing on.
The chief librarian
helped Tom research Apple
iPhones for his report.
This one was a
little bit trickier.
It's kind of fun thinking about.
So we capitalize the word the as
the first word in the sentence,
and we should capitalize
the word Tom and Apple.
I see I did neither.
I'm going to have
to work on that.
But yeah, Tom and Apple should
both be capitalized.
I'm not about to go
re-record this whole
thing because I didn't
capitalize those two words.
But know that yours should
be capitalized unlike mine
because Tom is a proper noun
and Apple is also a proper noun,
brand name, name of a company.
The word iPhones we spell
in that way because that's
how they say it's spelled.
It's their product.
They can break all the
conventions of English
language and spell it
however they want as
they have done here,
and we just sort of
have to respect that.
So well, you should spell
iPhones with a i and a P,
the only reason we do that is
because we respect that company.
They determine how to spell
the name of their product.
Lastly, Tom said,
'Thanks for the help
with my reading class.'
And here we see we capitalize
Tom, not only as a proper noun,
but the first word
of the sentence.
We also capitalize thanks,
because while it seems like
a continuation of Tom said,
that's actually treated
as a whole new sentence.
Thanks for following
along with me today.
Take a look at that link in
the description of this video.
That's going to lead you
right to my website where
I got a bunch of great free
resources on capitalization.
That includes worksheets,
PowerPoint lessons,
online tests, paper tests.
You're going to love it.
Click on through, stop by.
Thanks for listening
to me today.