In today's lesson, we'll cover two confusing capitalization rules. Here we go!
Capitalize days of the week and months of the year, but don't capitalize seasons unless the name of the season is being used as part of a proper noun.
Last winter, we watched fireworks on a Thursday in January.
I can't wait for spring break this year! It starts Monday, March 9 and goes to Friday, March 13.
We do not capitalize winter or spring in these sentences since they are both being used to name seasons.
The 2020 Summer Olympics will be hosted in Japan.
When I was a classroom teacher, I read Brian's Winter with my students.
Here, Summer and Winter are words within proper nouns, so we capitalize them. Summer Olympics names a specific event, and Brian's Winter is the title of a book.
Capitalize north, south, east and west when referring to specific regions, but don't capitalize them when referring to directions.
I love hiking in the West.
I can't wait to visit Southern California!
The West and Southern California are specific regions, so we capitalize them.
To get to my house, go west on Highway 35.
I live south of town.
Here, west and south are being used to describe direction, so we keep them lowercase.
Rule 3 - Family Names
Capitalize family names when you use them as a specific person's name.
Don't capitalize titles used after possessive adjectives or the words a, an, or the.
Aunt Edna asked my dad if he wanted to sit near Mom.
Aunt Edna and Mom are being used as a specific person's name, and neither of has have a possessive adjective/pronoun or article before them, so they should be capitalized.
Dad has the word my before it, so it should start with a lowercase letter.
Capitalize titles of specific courses.
Don't capitalize titles of general courses unless they are derived from proper nouns.
My brother teaches chemistry and English.
Chemistry and English are both being used as the titles of general courses. Chemistry is not derived from a proper noun, so it should be lowercase. English is a proper noun, so it should be capitalized.
Tip: The names of languages are proper nouns, so they should always be capitalized.
This fall he'll be teaching Chemistry 101 and English 203.
Here, Chemistry and English are in the titles of specific courses, so they should be capitalized.
Directions: Correct the mistakes (if any) in the following five sentences. You'll find the answers below.
You can learn more capitalization rules here if you'd like.
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