Rules for Capitalisation

In English there are a few very simple rules for capitalisation. We mainly use lower case letters, but in certain situations a capital letter is required. Here we’ll look at rules for capitalisation in English.

8 Simple Rules for Capitalisation

for the first letter of a sentence
We are going on holiday next week.
What time is it?

for the first-person singular pronoun, ‘I’ 
When I go to the cinema, I always get chocolate popcorn.
Have I returned your book?

with proper nouns  (see also here)
individualised names given to people, places or things

with adjectives made from proper nouns
Marxism, Thatcherite, Shakespearean

for titles of books, films, songs, articles
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
To Kill A Mockingbird
Note:
small words such as prepositions, articles and conjunctions may not be capitalised, although the initial letter in the title will be capitalised even if it is a small word:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Gone with the Wind

the first word in a quotation
He stood up and announced, “It was me who took the money.”

with abbreviations and acronyms
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
UN – United Nations

for emphasis
Children under the age of 16 are NOT allowed in.

The rules for capitalisation in English are really as simple as that!