UNIT 3

CAPITALIZATION
 Rules Examples
➢ He said, ‘‘Treat her as you would to your own daughter.’
Capitalize the first word of the sentence and in a
1. ➢ ‘‘Look out!’’ she screamed. ‘‘You almost ran into my child.’’
quoted sentence.

Capitalize all proper nouns and names of ➢ Norton University, Chroy Changva Bridge
2.
nationalities, languages, and religions. Chinese, American, Buddhism, …
Capitalize a person’s title when it precedes the name. ➢ Chairperson Petrov, King Sisowath,
Uncle Sok, Doctor Seng
Do not capitalize when the title is acting as a
description following the name ➢ Ms. Petrov, the chairperson of the company, will address us at
3. noon
However, a title without a name is sometimes
➢ He is a king. She works with my uncle
capitalized when it refers to a particular person.
➢ The President of the United States (Obama) met the Prime Minister
of Cambodia (Hun Sen).
Capitalize any title when used as a direct address. ➢ Will you take my temperature, Doctor
4.
➢ How are you, Uncle?
Sincerely,
Capitalize the person’s title when it follows the name
5. _____________________
on the address or signature line.
Ms. Haines, Chairperson
➢ We have had three relatives visit from the South
➢ Go south three blocks and then turn left
Capitalize points of the compass only when they
6 ➢ We live in the southeast section of town. (Southeast is just an
refer to specific regions.
adjective here describing section, so it should not be capitalized).
.

 Always capitalize the first and last words of titles of ➢ The Day of the Jacka
publications regardless of their parts of speech. ➢ What Color Is Your Parachute
Capitalize other words within titles, including the short ➢ A Tale of Two Citie
verb forms Is, Are, and Be
7. ➢ Of Mice and Me
Exception: Do not capitalize little words within titles such
as a, an, the, but, as, if, and, or, nor or prepositions, ➢ Skills for Succes
regardless of their length. ➢ The Phnom Penh Post

Capitalize names of the days, months, holidays, and special ➢ Monday, Tuesday, …
time periods ➢ January, February, …
➢ Women’s Day, Christmas Day,
8.
Do not capitalize names of seasons. ➢ Snow falls in winter.
➢ I love autumn colors and spring flowers.

➢ Dear Ms. Chan

➢ To Whom It May Concern
Capitalize all the words of a salutation and the first word of a
9.
complimentary close. ➢ Best wishes
➢ Very truly yours,
Capitalize the abbreviations ➢ UN, UK, USA, WHO, NATO,

10. Capitalize only the first letter of the abbreviation of a ➢ Dr., Prof., Mr. and Mrs., …
person’s title.
 

 Capitalize when two or more sentences follow a sentence ➢ I love Jane Smiley’s writing: Her book, A Thousand
ending with a colon Acres, was beautiful. Also, Moo was clever
Do not capitalize when only one sentence follows a ➢ I love Jane Smiley’s writing: her book, A Thousand
11. sentence ending with a colon Acres, was beautiful
After a sentence ending with a colon, do not capitalize the ➢ These are my favorite foods: chocolate cake,
first word if it begins a list. spaghetti, and artichokes.
Always capitalize the pronoun I as a subject first person ➢ I like reading
12.
singular. ➢ My friends and I usually play chess.
.

 Capitalization Exercise

she speaks english with president obama.

S________ E________ P_______O_________________
1. A group of students are talking with the President of ibm.
_______________________________________________________________
2. They are reading romeo and juliet, which was written by william shakespeare.
_______________________________________________________________
3. My family and I always get the news from the cambodia daily.
_______________________________________________________________
4. cambodian government allows it people to follow buddhism, Iilam, christianity, etc.
_______________________________________________________________
5. Cambodian people celebrate khmer new year in april every year.
_______________________________________________________________
6. Have you seen aunt malin? Where have you been, aunt?
_______________________________________________________________
7. I have sent dr. brian a letter about my concerns.
_______________________________________________________________
8. Prof. Chao advised us not to visit the uk in winter.
_______________________________________________________________
9. A lot of tourists are visiting the northeast of Cambodia.
_______________________________________________________________
10. President Obama said, “no one can be above the law.”
_______________________________________________________________
 N M
nelson mandela
my name is nelson mandela, and i have had an unusual life. i have been both a prisoner and a president in my

country. i was born in 1918 in the small village of qunu in the transkei, which is a large territory (like a state) in south

africa. my father, henry mandela, was chief of our tribe, the tembus. as a child, i took care of the family’s cattle and

goats and fished in the bashee river near our village. i decided to become a lawyer because this seemed to be the best

way to help my people. after i became a lawyer, i became the leader of a group of young africans who wanted to

change the system of discrimination in our country. because of my political activities, i was arrested and sent to prison.

i spent twenty-seven years in prison. i spent most of those years on roggen island, a cold, windy island in the atlantic

ocean. the world didn’t forget about me while i was in prison, however. i received important visitors, awards, and

university degrees from all over the world. i also learned afrikaans, which is the language of white south africans. of

course i also speak english and xhosa, which is the tembu language. at last, i was set free in 1990, and i became the

president of south africa in 1994. now i will try to bring peace, democracy, and prosperity to all of my country’s people.