Capitalization Rules
Grade 2 · English · Study Guide
Learn exactly when and why we use capital letters in writing.
Capital letters are the big version of letters — like A instead of a, or B instead of b. We do not use them randomly — there are specific rules for when to capitalize. Learning these rules makes your writing look polished and professional.
The most important rule is: always capitalize the first word of a sentence. Every sentence must start with a capital letter. That is how your reader knows a new sentence is beginning. Another big rule is to capitalize proper nouns — the specific names of people, places, days, and months. So 'Maria,' 'Texas,' 'Monday,' and 'January' are always capitalized.
The word 'I' is always a capital letter when you use it to talk about yourself — no matter where it appears in a sentence. And when you write a title of a book, movie, or story, you capitalize the important words.
Capitalization mistakes are one of the most common writing errors — even adults forget these rules sometimes! But once you know them, you can always check your own work and catch those mistakes before anyone else does.
| Rule | Example |
|---|---|
| First word of a sentence | The dog barked. |
| Names of people | Maria, James, Dr. Smith |
| Names of places | Texas, Paris, Amazon River |
| Days of the week | Monday, Friday, Sunday |
| Months of the year | January, August, December |
| The word I | She and I went to the park. |
| Titles of books/movies | Charlotte's Web, The Lion King |
Key terms
- capital letter
- The uppercase form of a letter (A, B, C instead of a, b, c)
- proper noun
- A specific name that must always be capitalized
- first word of a sentence
- The opening word of every sentence must be capitalized
Flashcards
- capitalize first word
- Every sentence starts with a capital letter
- proper nouns capitalized
- Names of specific people, places, days, months are always capitalized
- the word I
- Always written as a capital I, no matter where in the sentence
- days of the week
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday — all capitalized
- months capitalized
- January through December are always capitalized
- book titles
- Important words in book and movie titles are capitalized
Practice questions
Which word should always be capitalized?
- run
- monday
- happy
- blue
Show answer
Answer: monday
'Monday' is a day of the week — it is a proper noun and must always be capitalized.
The word 'I' is always capitalized.
Show answer
Answer: True
The word 'I' is always capitalized whenever you use it to refer to yourself.
The first word of every ___ must be capitalized.
Show answer
Answer: sentence
Every sentence begins with a capital letter so the reader knows where it starts.
Which sentence is correctly capitalized?
- my dog is named spot.
- My dog is named Spot.
- my Dog is named Spot.
- My dog is named spot.
Show answer
Answer: My dog is named Spot.
'My' is capitalized because it starts the sentence. 'Spot' is capitalized because it is the dog's proper name.
The months of the year are always capitalized.
Show answer
Answer: True
All months — January through December — are proper nouns and must be capitalized.
Fun facts
- In German, ALL nouns are capitalized, not just proper nouns — so every single thing has a capital letter!
- Ancient Romans wrote everything in ALL CAPS because lowercase letters had not been invented yet!
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