Using capital letters with proper and common nouns


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Use capital letters for proper nouns, but not for common nouns.

Capital Letters for Proper Nouns

Use a capital letter for the names of people, places, planets, days of the week, titles of rank or relationship (when joined to person’s name), months, holidays, departments, clubs, companies, institutions, bridges, buildings, monuments, parks, ships, hotels, streets, historical events and documents. (These are known as proper nouns.) Do not use a capital letter for common nouns.

Examples (proper nouns in bold):

The next lake the party visited was Lake Michigan.

(The word 'lake' is a common noun; it is the word for an in-land water feature.
'Lake Michigan' is a proper noun; it is the name of the lake.)

According to Lord Davies, The Church in London is not actually a church; it is a public house.

(The Church - proper noun; church - common noun)

It was a rewarding day, and I intend to visit here again on Armistice Day next year.

(day - common noun; Armistice Day - proper noun)

Could you ask Sergeant Allan or the other sergeant to arrange the patrol
on Friday morning?

(Sergeant Allan - proper noun; sergeant - common noun)

'Big Fish' should be 'big fish'
(magazine article)

'Toilet' should be 'toilet'
(instructions on packaging for a toilet seat)

COMMON NOUN AND PROPER NOUN?

A common noun is the word for something (like 'tower'). A proper noun is the name of something (like 'The Eiffel Tower').

See the lesson: Different Types of Nouns

STICK TO THE RULES

Do not be tempted to give a word a capital letter just because it is an important word in your sentence.

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We value our Clients' opinions.

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Lisa, Vampires are make-believe, like elves, gremlins and Eskimos.

(Homer Simpson quote)
("Vampires" is wrong. "Eskimos" is correct.)

We live in an age when Pizza gets to your home before
the Police.

IN BUSINESS WRITING

In business writing particularly, it is considered good practice (for politeness) to capitalise some common nouns, such as Company and Director - you have a choice.

The manager of your company confirmed the booking in writing
on 15 August.

The Manager of your Company confirmed the booking in writing on 15 August.

In the main, this pertains to job titles and names of departments. Other words which may be important enough in the context of your writing to warrant capital letters are:

Director, President, Office Manager, Commanding Officer, Division, Claims Department, Court, Regiment, Unit

The Director will cast the final vote.