Capitalization Rules and Its Importance in English Writing

Most of the English learners do not pay much attention to capitalization rules.

When it comes to writing English, you must master capitalization rules. To capitalize a word is to write its first letter as a capital one (upper-case letter). To make writing effective one has to know the rules of English capitalization. Without capitalization, the meaning of the sentence might change as well. Therefore, it is good to know the capitalization rules to make your writing as well as reading more effective and meaningful.

There are many rules of capitalization depending on the way we use them. One cannot fix the number of rules for capitalization.

Rule 1

Always capitalize first word of a sentence.
‘She lives in New York City. She is a dance teacher.’

Rule 2

Always capitalize pronoun ‘I’
Am I supposed to come with you?

Rule 3

Capitalize names
My brother Rakesh is a doctor.
My sisters Pooja and Reena live in London.

Rule 4

Capitalize titles that come before names of persons
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Doctor Arora, Professor Sangita
We mostly don’t capitalize titles when they come after the names.
‘Mukesh Ambani is the chairman of Reliance Industries Limited.’

Rule 5

Capitalize names of continents, countries, states, cities, towns, streets, seas
Indian Ocean, Singapore, Maharashtra, Jaipur, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, River Ganges, Lajpat Nagar

Rule 6

Capitalize names of languages, nationalities and religions
‘He speaks German.’
‘He is Korean.’
‘He practices Buddhism.’

Rule 7

Capitalize names of deities and holy books
God, Mahavira, Shiva, Quran, Gita

Rule 8

Capitalize names of businesses, schools, buildings, organizations
Yahoo, Don Bosco School, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust

Rule 9

Capitalize names of wars and major battles
Second World War, Indian Rebellion of 1857, Kargil War

Rule 10

Capitalize names of historical periods and events
British Raj, Vedic Period, Gupta Empire, Indus Valley Civilization

Rule 11

Do not capitalize names of seasons
‘I love summers more than winters.’

Rule 12

Capitalize first and last words of names of publications. Also capitalize short verbs like ‘is’, ‘are’ or ‘be’. But do not capitalize small words like ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’, ‘but’, ‘as’, ‘if’, ‘and’, ‘or’
‘The God of Small Things’
‘Three Mistakes of my Life’

Rule 13

Capitalize brand names
Amul, Pepsi, Nike, Nissan

Rule 14

Capitalize names of days, months, holidays and days of observations
Tuesday, December, Diwali, Holi, Children’s Day

Rule 15

Capitalize names of awards and prizes
Grammy, Filmfare, Nobel Prize, Padmabhushan, Booker Prize

Rule 16

Capitalize in each acronym

CEO, NASA, TV, NDTV
As you read the rules you might have noticed that many of them are complicated and wonder that it might be difficult to remember all the rules by heart. To simplify things you should remember three key rules:

•    Always capitalize first letter of a sentence.
•    Always capitalize the pronoun ‘I’ in a sentence.
•    Always capitalize words that give a name to a person or thing.

As a matter of fact, all of the above sixteen stated capitalization rules are condensed in these three broad rules.



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How English Language Helps in Finding a Job

The English language is not restricted to any one faction or part of life anymore, from t.v shows to business to

students everyone has a need and an urge to perfect their English. While many English learners are students applying to colleges in English speaking countries or people who have shifted to an English speaking country recently etc.

But a sizable portion of learners are simply interested to learn English to get some help in advancing their careers because in today’s globalised economy English has the lingua franca of the word over and it is not possible to succeed as a business or as an individual without having a thorough command over this language. 

English serves as a common language for people of various different nationalities, chances are that even if someone doesn’t know your native language they will most probably know English and accordingly use that to communicate with you. So having a good knowledge about the English language allows you to interact with people regardless of their native language. 

When you work in a corporation of any kind it is often necessary to give presentations and reports to your superiors, in these scenarios your image in the company depends upon the fluency your speaking skills and the accuracy of language in your presentation. If you are not completely confident about your writing and speaking abilities in the English language it is always better to take an English improving course like the ones offered on Englishleap.com rather than be embarrassed at work. After all online self-learning classes can be done at your own convenience and the resource section contains valuable tips about work-related terminology and speaking skills. So remove all your doubts and sign up for a course today~

Englishleap - A Guide for Basic Grammar

Grammar is an important part of learning any language and not just English. However in English grammar has a rather unique place, when someone is simply interested in improving their written English then grammar is the most important thing for them to learn. But when one is interested in simply improving their spoken English grammar is one of the least important things to learn once a basic knowledge of sentence construction is acquired. 

For an overall English learner a balance has to be struck between learning grammar and learning other things like vocabulary and speaking styles. This is achieved with ease at Englishleap.com with their crystal clear video lessons that explain the pronunciation accompanied by a corresponding grammar exercises that lets you know the basic rules behind the lesson. 

This ensures that you get the correct dosage of grammar so that you are able to speak fluently without getting confused about the grammar rules and yet know enough about them to be able to write in a confident and correct manner. 

In case you feel that you need extra help with the grammar explained in the videos Englishleap.com has an entire resource section that is packed with explanations on all topics that fall under grammar moreover this section is free to use and anyone can access them.

Apart from this Englishleap.com also has an online audio cum video chat service that you can use to actually practice the grammar you learnt with other learners like yourself and see the amount of progress you make even with a single lesson. 

Grammar learning and balancing has never been easier or more accessible, so check out the englishleap.com site today and make your way to the resource section to solve all your grammar doubts and queries.

Abbreviations and Acronyms in English Speaking

Abbreviations are short forms of words or phrases that are widely used.

Acronym is a short form (one word) of a phrase consisting of first letters of each word in the phrase.

Commonly used abbreviations are:

E.g. is used in place of ‘for example’. It is used for giving one or more examples.  

•             There are many things you can buy from here e.g. headphones, speakers, music system for your car etc. 

cf. is used in place of ‘compare’. It is an abbreviation for latin word ‘confer’. It is used for referring to another given book, document or statement.  Sometimes it is used in place of ‘see’. 

i.e. is used in place of ‘that is’ in written language before giving an explanation about something. 

•             We need to catch the afternoon’s bus i.e. we need to have lunch and finish our shopping in two hours. 

viz. is used in written English when we want to say something in detail or be exact about what we’re saying.

•             We both are going to Dharamshala viz. we will stay there and practice Buddhism while running a small business.  

Etc is used in place of ‘et cetera’. In order to avoid long list of something we use it. 

•             There are cupcakes, muffins, chocolate cookies etc. in her bakery. 

RSVP is written at the end of invitations to mean ‘please respond’. When you receive invitation with RSVP written you must reply saying you accept or decline the invitation. You can also put name with the phone number and address. 

•             RSVP 2475947 (ph no.) by Dec 10 2013

ASAP stands for ‘as soon as possible’. 

•             Please come ASAP.

ETA stands for ‘estimated time arrival’. The time when someone is expected to arrive. 

•             What is your flight’s ETA? 

P.S. is used at the end of letters or mail to add extra information. It stands for ‘post script’.

•             With lots of love, Rajat. P.S. Pay my regards to your parents

DIY stands for ‘do it yourself’. The activity of doing things like repairing, decorating, making something all by yourself without the help of paid professionals. 

•             It’s a DIY game. 

PhD stands for ‘doctor of philosophy’. It is the highest university degree.

•             She has a PhD in Semiotics.

•             He is a PhD in English Language. 

A.D. (or AD) stands for ‘anno domini’. It is used in Christian calendar to refer to a year after Jesus Christ was born.

•             In 1400 AD or in AD 1400

•             In tenth century AD. 

B.C. (or BC) stands for ‘before Christ’. . It is used in Christian calendar to refer to a year before Jesus Christ was born. 

•             The war took place in 98 BC.

A.M. is used to refer to a time between twelve at night and twelve at noon. 

•             The baby was born at two a.m.

P.M. is used to refer to a time between twelve at noon and twelve at night. 

•             The movie is at seven p.m.

Abbreviations in English

Abbreviations are short forms of regular words, like ‘can’t’ for ‘cannot’ and ‘gotta’ for ‘got to’. They are found mostly in informal texts or stories and very rarely in formal texts, however in recent times the process of abbreviating has become very popular thanks to the advent of the SMS language in instant messaging and texting. 

We unintentionally use abbreviations while speaking, either in a rush to get the words out or simply because of our accent or dialect. It is from here that abbreviations were born and were included into written English as well. 

The general rule of using abbreviations is to use a period (.) or an apostrophe (‘) to indicate where the word has been shortened or where the two words have been combined for example - ‘cause is an abbreviation of ‘because’ and Mr. is an abbreviation of ‘mister’ while don’t is an abbreviation of ‘do not’.

Abbreviations are used in texts to save time and space or to give an impression of the speech used by someone. However we must remember that most abbreviations are informal and casual in nature and should not be used in formal texts like reports or theses unless you wish to convey something by using an abbreviation.  

In the case of SMS language, there is no limit to the amount and types of abbreviations that are being invented by people all over the world every day. Some of the common ones are R for our/are, U for you etc. however these abbreviations are not acceptable at all in any written text using the English language.

Learn about the different abbreviations and the difference between them and acronyms before you attempt to use them yourselves. Avail yourself of the different English Quizzes and worksheets offered on the site and learn all about abbreviations today.

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of frequency tell us how often something happens. Following is a list of commonly used adverbs:

• Always
• Never
• Normally
• Frequently
• Usually
• Often
• Rarely
• Seldom
• Sometimes
• Occasionally
• Regularly
• Generally
• A lot

We usually put the adverbs in the middle of the sentence, between the verb and the subject:

• We never drive on highways.
• They generally get up late on weekends.
• I rarely drink carbonated drinks.

We can put some adverbs at the end or beginning of the sentences to make it stronger:

• We don’t go out often.
• Often we don’t go out.

We use adverb ‘a lot’ at the end of the sentence to mean frequently.

• We love going to theatre a lot.
• We go for shopping a lot at the weekend.

There are expressions like ‘every now and again/then’, ‘once in a while’ and ‘from time to time’ which we can use to say ‘how often’ we do something. Note that these adverb can be used only in the beginning or at the end of the sentences. 

• I go to the parlour once in a while.
• Every now and again/then I go for grocery shopping.
• From time to time I call up my daughter.
• Sometimes I do take my kids to the museums.

 We use ‘how often’ and ‘ever’ in questions. We use ‘how often’ at the beginning of the question and ‘ever’ before the verb.

• How often do you exercise?
• How often have you been to Mumbai?
• Do you ever cook at home on weekends?
• Have you ever been to north-east?

In order to say ‘how often’ something happens, you add ‘several’ or ‘many’ followed by times and time period. If want to specify the number of times then you add the number (once if it is one or twice if it two times) followed by ‘a’ and time period.

• I go Jaipur many times a year.
• I visit my dad once a month.
• I visit temple several times a year.
• I do yoga twice a week.

We use ‘every’ in the following way:

·         I travel to Chennai every month.

·         I eat non-vegetarian every Wednesday. 

We can use ‘s’ at the end of the day to mean ‘every Tuesday’. For example:

• I drink on Saturdays.
• I cook on Sundays.

Consider other adverbs in the sentences to understand their usage.

• He visits his parents quite frequently. (frequently means often)
• Normally, we are not out till late at night.
• Now that I have a job, I seldom get a chance to exercise. (seldom means almost never)
• It’s important to do yoga regularly. Otherwise it makes no sense. (regularly means often)
• He always forgets the way to my home.
• Occasionally, I see her travelling in metro. (occasionally means sometimes and not often)
• She usually wears jeans to the college.