Two capital letter rules
You already know the first one. Here it is with a second one beside it.
- The first word of every sentence begins with a capital letter.
- The word I is always a capital, wherever it sits.
The second rule is strange, and it is the only word in English that works this way. It does not matter where the word lands.
“I made a fort.”
“My brother and I made a fort.”
In the second sentence the word is stuck in the middle and still gets a capital.
Every sentence, not just the first one
A common mistake is capitalizing the first sentence of a story and then forgetting the rest.
| Written | Right or wrong? |
|---|---|
| We walked to the lake. it was frozen. | Wrong. The second sentence needs a capital I on it. |
| We walked to the lake. It was frozen. | Right. |
| my brother and i built a fort. | Wrong. Two capitals missing. |
| My brother and I built a fort. | Right. |
Every sentence gets its own capital, even the tenth one on the page.
Watch for the mid-line start
Sentences do not always begin at the left edge. When one sentence ends partway along a line, the next one starts right there.
That new sentence still needs a capital letter. Find where the sentence starts, not where the line starts.
What does not get a capital
Ordinary words in the middle of a sentence stay small, even important ones.
“My Best Friend Moved Away.” is wrong.
“My best friend moved away.” is right.
Names of people and places do keep their capitals. You will work on those in later courses.
Your turn
Fix the capital letters.
- “i lost my glove”
- “ava and i walked home”
- “The Wind Was Cold”
Check your answers
- “I lost my glove.”
- “Ava and I walked home.”
- “The wind was cold.”
Remember
- Every sentence starts with a capital letter, not just the first one.
- The word I is always a capital.
- Other words in the middle stay small.