Capitalization Italicization Quotations and Hyphenation Adapted from Real

Capitalization, Italicization, Quotations, and Hyphenation Adapted from Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon

Capitalization Capitalize all major words in a title. Do not capitalize articles, conjunctions, or prepositions: The Hound of the Baskervilles “Song of the Open Road” Leaves of Grass

Capitalization Capitalize the first word in a complete sentence in direct quotation: Socrates advises, “Know thyself. ” Do not capitalize the first word in a direct quotation that is only part of a sentence: Despite his medical degree, the locals considered Dr. Williams a “snake oil salesman. ”

Capitalization Capitalize brand trade names: Ford truck Kleenex Post-It Amazon Prime

Capitalization Capitalize personal names: Ms. Williams Le. Bron James Bertrand Russel Nina Simone Capitalize stage names: Professor Marvel Bill Nye the Science Guy

Capitalization Capitalize titles with proper names: Professor Hood Doctor Ferguson Representative Janet Cruz

Capitalize titles that denote high rank: She will soon be President of the United States. Do not capitalize titles of ordinary positions: She is president of her school’s drama club.

Capitalization Capitalize abbreviations, initialisms, and certain acronyms: Ph. D or Ph. D IRS NFL NASA

Capitalization Capitalize Proper Nouns: University of West Florida Booker T. Washington High School Capitalize political, social, athletic, and other groups: The League of Women Voters The Social Security Administration The New England Patriots

Capitalization Capitalize the names of specific academic courses: Black Women Writers Symbolic Logic Composition 102 Chemistry I Do not capitalize general descriptions of courses: a history course the science requirement my math class a seminar in literature

Capitalization Capitalize specific time periods, holidays, and events: the High Middle Ages Hangout Fest St. Valentine’s Day Yom Kippur Capitalize the names of states, countries, and continents: Florida Walton County Mexico Asia Capitalize the names of races, nationalities, and species: African-American Puerto Rican Homo Sapien

Capitalization Capitalize compass directions when they refer to regions: the Deep South the Southeast the Middle East Do not capitalize compass directions when they refer to directions of travel: I live south of the flood zone. Continue driving north 500 feet.

Capitalization Capitalize religions and specific religious terms: Islam Southern Methodist Hindu deities Buddhist practice the Ten Commandments Do not capitalize religious terms that do not refer to something specific: my church communion agnostic or atheist (these are ways of thinking, not religions)

Capitalization Capitalize “God” or “Allah” when referencing the God of monotheism (a specific God that people often address directly as God as if it were a proper name): Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. ʾIn shāʾ Allāh Do not capitalize the word “god” when referencing gods who are not directly addressed as “God”: The gods of war all the gods of Greece and Rome

Italicization Italicize the titles for longer works: books such as The Elements of Style novels such as The Graveyard Book plays such as Angels in America newspapers such as The Boston Globe magazines such as Time paintings such as Guernica sculptures such as Bird in Space trains such as City of New Orleans ships such as USS Jimmy Carter TV programs such as Grantchester

Quotation Marks Use quotation marks for smaller works: TV episodes such as “Pretty Much Dead Already, ” The Walking Dead movie scenes such as “Stoning, ” The Life of Brian book chapters such as “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, ” The Wind in the Willows songs such as “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” poems such as “A Sea Dirge” essays such as “A Modest Proposal” speeches such as “The Audacity of Hope”

Quotation Marks Use quotation marks for direct quotations: The Munchkins tell Dorothy, “Follow the Yellow Brick Road. ” Oscar Wilde lamented that he was “fining it harder and harder to live up to [his] blue china. ”

Quotation Marks Place commas and periods (the small punctuation marks) inside quotation marks: “Parting is such sweet sorrow, ” Juliet responds. Place semicolons and colons (the tall punctuation marks) outside quotation marks: The sign on the women’s room door says, “men’s room, ” but the arrow points to the other rest room door.

Quotation Marks Question marks and exclamation points go inside the quotation marks if they are part of the quotation; if they are part of a sentence that ends in a quotation, they go outside the quotation marks: Was it Patrick Henry who said “Give me liberty or give me death”? Dean Martin once asked, “Ain’t love a kick in the head? ”

Hyphenation Use a hyphen for fractions used as modifiers: one-third voter turnout Use a hyphen for numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine. Use a hyphen for some compound nouns: brother-in-law Jack-in-the-box dry-cleaning

Hyphenation Use a hyphen for compound modifiers: Trent is an African-American man. A hyphen combines the words “African” and “American” to form a single adjective that describes the noun “man, ” but Trent is an African American. The word “African” is an adjective that describes the noun “American”; don’t use a hyphen to combine them because they are different parts of speech.

Hyphenation Use a hyphen for some prefixes: wellself- allex- Do not use a hyphen for the following prefixes: pre inter bi over un non semi intra re multi up