Users' questions

Do you capitalize the first letter after an apostrophe?

Do you capitalize the first letter after an apostrophe?

An apostrophe is not a letter, so a sentence beginning with an apostrophe has the first letter following the initial apostrophe capitalized, by convention.

Do you capitalize the first sentence in letter?

Capitals signal the start of a new sentence. This is a stable rule in our written language: Whenever you begin a sentence capitalize the first letter of the first word. This includes capitalizing the first word or a direct quotation when it’s a full sentence, even if it appears within another sentence.

Should Dean be capitalized?

Don’t capitalize academic ranks like professor, dean, president, and chancellor when they are used descriptively after a name rather than as titles before it.

What are the rules of apostrophes?

Apostrophe Rules for Possessives

  • Use an apostrophe +”s” (‘s) to show that one person/thing owns or is a member of something.
  • Use an apostrophe after the “s” (s’) at the end of a plural noun to show possession.
  • If a plural noun doesn’t end in “s,” add an apostrophe + “s” to create the possessive form.

What is the rule for capital letters?

In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs (even short ones, like is), all adjectives, and all proper nouns. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions, and prepositions—however, some style guides say to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions that are longer than five letters.

What are the 10 rules of capitalization?

Thus, here are 10 capitalization rules you should know for a well written write-up:

  • Capitalize the first word of every sentence.
  • “I” is always capitalized, along with all its contractions.
  • Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence.
  • Capitalize a proper noun.
  • Capitalize a person’s title when it precedes the name.

What words should be capitalized?

Is your major capitalized?

Academic Majors, Minors/Courses Lowercase all majors except those containing proper nouns. (His major is English; her major is engineering. Sue is majoring in Asian studies.) General subjects are lowercase (algebra, chemistry), but the names of specific courses are capitalized (Algebra I, Introduction to Sociology).

What are the 2 types of apostrophes?

There are two different kinds of apostrophes: smart and straight.

How do you know what to capitalize in a title?

The rules are fairly standard for title case:

  1. Capitalize the first and the last word.
  2. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as “play with”), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
  3. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions (regardless of length).

Do you capitalize the first letter of a word in a sentence?

Do not capitalize the common names of semesters, terms, or academic sessions. Sentence case capitalizes the first letter of the first word and proper nouns in a title—just like in a regular sentence. Use sentence case for marketing materials.

When do you use an apostrophe in a quotation?

For a direct quotation that includes another quotation, use double quotation marks to identify the overall quotation and single quotation marks (or an apostrophe on the keyboard) to indicate the quotation within the quotation:

When to capitalize the first part of a compound word?

When a compound word features a hyphen, there are multiple ways to capitalize it in a title. Because compound words always serve as nouns or adjectives (or, rarely, verbs), we always capitalize the first part of the compound. What is less straightforward is whether to capitalize the word that comes after the hyphen.

Do you capitalize the first word in a heading?

In general, headings will be capitalized in the same manner as the document’s title, usually having the first and last word capitalized as well as any nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs (and, depending on the style guide being followed, any prepositions or conjunctions longer than three letters).

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