What are the Capital Letters?
Capital letters are the upper-case alphabets of English which are present with our 26 letters. The capital letters are generally more in height than the small letters.
We can easily differentiate upper-case alphabets and lower-case alphabets by just looking at them.
The capital letters look like – A, B, C, D…. Z
The small letter looks like – a, b, c, d…...z
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This picture above is clearly showing the difference between capital letters and small letters.
Uses and Examples of Capital Letters
From the first day of starting our journey in the world of education, we start with the learning of alphabets. As time goes by, we learn about what are capital letters, and where do we use capital letters? We learn to differentiate it properly.
We have always learned that whenever we write our name, we keep the first letter of our name capital always. It is the most basic and important rule towards capitalization.
For example,
Suppose there is a guy whose name is Vedant.
We are not supposed to write his name as vedant. We can properly see that there is no change in the spelling of the name, but the first letter of the name is in a small letter which is an incorrect way of writing anyone’s name. Proper capitalizing always plays an important role in the English subject.
The correct way of writing the name is to write the first letter as a capital letter even in between of any sentences. We always write the first letter of the name as a capital letter.
For example,
There is a boy named Vedant who likes to play football and cricket both.
There is a boy named vedant who likes to play football and cricket both.
From sentences 1 and 2 we can see that sentence 1 has written the first letter of the name as capital while in sentence 2 we can see that the first letter of the name is small.
So, which one is the correct form?
The first sentence present in the example is the correct form of writing a person’s name.
Always remember to write the first letter of the name as a capital letter.
Some Rules to use Capital Letters
1. If we write anyone’s name or city the first letter needs to be always in capital letters.
2. Even when you are using anyone’s name or place in between sentences.
For example,
Sheela is a good girl
My favourite dancer is Sheela.
Paris is my favourite destination to visit.
Sheela lives in Paris.
All the sentences give you a clear image of the writing name and place the first letter as capital.
3. Whenever we start a sentence the first letter should always be in capital letters. We never start a sentence with a small letter. It’s an important rule for capitalizing letters.
Example-
The bridge is broken for many years.
What is your name?
This is a beautiful present.
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4. If we write a sentence that is quoted under quotation. The first letter of the quoted sentence should always be a capital letter.
Example,
Mr. Roy, who is an English professor, has complimented me as “You are a brilliant student”.
In the above example, we have written the first letter of the quoted sentence in capital letter and it should be done always whenever we are quoting any sentences.
5. We always write the large letter of titles of Books or Movies in capital letters. But we do not write any word in a capital letter which has of, they, etc if they are present between the titles.
A Suitable Boy (We generally don’t write the word ‘A’ as a capital letter if it’s present in between any title but because the word ‘A’ is used as the first word we write it in capital letter.)
War of the Arrows (We generally don’t write the first word “of” and “the” in capital letters if they are present in between sentences but like in life there are some exceptions even in the rules of capital letters)
6. If any word is derived from proper nouns, we write that particular word in capital letters.
Example,
My favourite subject to read in English, science is my most hated subject.
In the above sentence, we wrote the first word of English as a capital letter because it’s derived from England whereas science‘s first word is a small letter because it’s not a derived proper noun.
FAQs on Capital Letters: When and How to Use Them
1. What are the main rules for using capital letters in English?
Using capital letters correctly makes your writing clear and easy to read. Here are the most important rules to remember:
- Always capitalise the first word of a sentence.
- The pronoun 'I' is always a capital letter, no matter where it appears.
- Capitalise the names of specific people, places, and things (also known as proper nouns), like 'Ravi', 'Mumbai', and 'Ganga River'.
- Use capitals for the main words in titles of books, movies, and articles.
- Capitalise days of the week, months of the year, and holidays, such as Monday, January, and Diwali.
2. What are proper nouns, and why must they be capitalised?
A proper noun is the specific name of a person, place, organisation, or thing. For example, 'Sita' is a proper noun, but 'girl' is a common noun. We capitalise proper nouns to show they are unique and important. It helps the reader easily identify specific entities in a sentence. Examples include names like India, Rohit Sharma, and brands like Vedantu.
3. Why is it important to use capital letters correctly in writing?
Using capital letters correctly is very important for a few key reasons. First, it makes your writing look professional and neat. Second, it helps your reader understand your sentences clearly by showing where new sentences begin and by highlighting important names and titles. Wrong capitalisation can confuse the reader and make the text difficult to follow.
4. Do I always use a capital letter after a punctuation mark?
No, not always. You must use a capital letter after punctuation that ends a sentence, such as a full stop (.), question mark (?), or exclamation mark (!). However, you should not use a capital letter after a comma (,), semicolon (;), or colon (:) unless the word that follows is a proper noun.
5. How should I capitalise words in a title or a heading?
In titles and headings, the general rule is to capitalise the first and last words. You should also capitalise all 'important' words in between, such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Small, 'unimportant' words like 'a', 'an', 'the', 'and', 'but', or 'in' are usually not capitalised unless they are the first or last word of the title.
6. Are there any exceptions for capitalising the first word of a sentence?
In standard English writing, you should always capitalise the first word of a complete sentence. The main exception is when you are quoting a sentence that was interrupted. For example: "The teacher said, 'please turn to page ten,' and the students opened their books." Here, 'please' is not capitalised because it is part of the original quoted sentence that begins later.
