| A | B |
| A proper noun | is the name of a particular person, place, thing or idea |
| A proper adjective | is an adjective made from a proper noun |
| Capitalize names of persons | Toni Bambara |
| Capitalize initials that stand for names | Robert B. Ballard |
| Capitalize titles that appear before people's names | Dr. Sarah Smith |
| Do not capitalize titles when a name does not follow. | The doctor walked in. |
| Capitalize mother, father, aunt, uncle when these are used as names. | Tom and Dad went shopping. |
| Do not capitalize mother, father, aunt, and uncle when preceded by the possessive. | My mother and I sang. |
| Capitalize abbreviations of titles that appear after a name. | Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
| Always capitalize the pronoun I. | I read some of his poetry. |
| Capitalize religions, sacred beings or religious scripture. | The Bible is the source for Christianity. |
| Races and ethnic groups are capitalized. | There are African Americans and Hispanics in the U.S. |
| Capitalize languages. | English and French are taught in our school. |
| Only capitalize school subjects if it is a language or a number comes after. | I took English and Math 101 today. |
| Capitalize nationalities. | French and Norwegian sailors visited the shop. |
| Capitalize important words in a geographic name. | The Atlantic Ocean borders the east coast of the U.S. |
| Capitalize world regions. | The Far East is a source of trade. |
| Always capitalize names and sections of the U.S. | The North has more factories than the South. |
| Do not capitalize the compass if it is a direction. | We traveled south on Route 95. |
| Capitalize adjectives that are made from compass areas. | The Western nations agreed to trade. |