The following are the general rules for the use of capitals,
together with the abbreviations most commonly used. Many special
uses of capital letters are also insisted upon by writers which
cannot be reduced to general rules.
=Rule 1.=--The first word of every sentence should begin with a capital
letter.
A sentence preceded by an introductory word or clause such as Resolved,
Be it enacted, etc., begins with a capital notwithstanding the
introductory word.
=Rule II.=--The first word of a direct quotation, of an important
statement, and of a direct question, should begin with a capital.
Examples:
One truth is clear: Whatever is, is right.--_Pope._ Ask yourselves this
question: Are you doing right?
=Rule III.=--The first word of every line of poetry should begin with a
capital.
=Rule IV.=--All proper names begin with capitals. If the proper name
consists of several words, all are capitalized except articles,
prepositions, and conjunctions.
Examples:--San Diego, Burton-on-Trent, the Grand Army of the Republic.
The words _street_, _road_, _lake_, _river_, _mountain_, etc., should
begin with capitals when used in connection with proper names.
Examples:--Crawford Road, Prospect Street, Lake Erie, Cuyahoga River,
Little Mountain.
_North_, _South_, _East_, and _West_, should begin with capitals when
they mean sections of the country and not points of the compass.
Example:--Chicago, the largest city of the West, is south of Lake
Michigan.
Capitalize _city_ only when part of the corporate name, _New York City_,
_Washington City_.
=Rule V.=--Names of days and months always take a capital; but the names
of seasons of the year are not commonly capitalized.
=Rule VI.=--Titles of office before personal names, and other titles so
placed which are not mere common names of vocation, are written with
capitals.
Examples:--_Senator Jones_, _Doctor_ (or _Dr._) _Brown_, _Aunt Jane_,
_Miss_ or _Master Gray_; but _coachman Smith_, _barber Harris_, etc.
Titles of dignity are also commonly capitalized when used alone, as in
address, or with the definite article.
Examples:--_the President_, _Senator_, _Judge_, _the Judge_, _District
Attorney_.
When title, with or without Christian name, precedes “de,” use
lower-case “d”; this rule applies also to “la,” “di,” “von,” “van,” etc.
Examples:--_Marquis de Lafayette_, _Di Cesnola_, _Prince von Moltke_,
_Von Humboldt_, _Dr. la Mond_, _De Chaulnes_, _Mr. van Renssalaer_.
=Rule VII.=--Many special names of a common kind are, in particular
uses, treated as proper nouns and capitalized.
Examples:--_Congress_, _Parliament_, _Senate_, _House of
Representatives_, _State_ (for one of the United States), _Hudson River
Railroad_, _Aldine Printing Company_.
Capitalize the names of political parties; as, _Republican Party_,
_Democratic Party_, _Progressive Party_, etc.
Capitalize _Christmas Day_, _New Year’s Day_, _Lincoln’s Birthday_,
_Washington’s Birthday_, _Good Friday_, _Decoration Day_ or _Memorial
Day_, _Fourth of July_, _Labor Day_, _Election Day_, _Thanksgiving Day_,
etc.; a noted day, as _Black Friday_, etc.; but _blue Monday_.
Capitalize _Northerner_, _Southerner_, _Northern gentleman_, _Southern
blood_, etc.
Capitalize names of important events and periods: as, _the Creation_,
_the Fall_, _the Flood_, _the Reformation_, _the Revolution_ (French or
American), _Civil War_ (American), _the Middle Ages_, _the Union_,
_Reconstruction_.
Capitalize religious denominations; as, _Methodist_, _Episcopal Church_,
_St. Mark’s Church_, _Church and State_, etc.
Church is without the capital always when used alone or when meaning
congregation or building; as, a _Methodist church in Hoboken_.
Capitalize _College_, _Club_, _Society_, etc., when referring to that
particular body, in by-laws, proceedings, or other publications of a
college, club, society, company, etc.
Capitalize _Monsieur_, _Madame_, _Signor_, etc.
Capitalize _State_ only when referring to one of the United States.
=Rule VIII.=--Adjectives and nouns derived from proper names are written
with capitals.
Examples:--_Jacksonian_, _New Yorker_, _Congressman_ (if _Congress_ has
a capital).
Names of countries and places, and adjectives derived from them.
Examples:--a German dictionary. The best Spanish wines.
But such words used in some other common way are not capitalized.
Examples:--morocco leather, russia leather, india rubber, plaster of
paris, etc.
=Rule IX.=--Names of families and larger groups in natural history, and
of genera, are written with capitals; also botanical specific names
derived from proper names, and those that have formerly been
genus-names, though zoölogical usage gives a small initial to every
specific name.
Examples:--_Asplenium Trichomanes_ (a fern). _Menticirrhus americanus_
(a fish). _Carya alba_ (a hickory tree).
=Rule X.=--In headings the important words only should be capitalized.
Titles of books, newspapers, plays, and the like, are written with
capitals beginning the important words, most commonly nouns, principal
verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The word _the_ is capitalized as part of
the title if the title is quoted exactly.
Examples:--A History of the Rebellion.
Free Trade and Protection.
Put Yourself in his Place.
Milton’s Select Poems.
The Beginnings of Poetry.
=Rule XI.=--The pronoun _I_ and the interjection _O_ are capitalized.
=Rule XII.=--All names of God, all words that may be regarded as titles
of the Deity, should begin with capitals.
=Rule XIII.=--In compound words, as vice-president, ex-president, etc.,
the prefix (vice) should not be capitalized.
=Rule XIV.=--In personification it is usual to capitalize the
personified words.
Examples:--
Vice is a monster; smiling Spring.
The Voice of Nature; but: true to nature.