¶ The Library

Capitals

The young-learner edition — same rules, smaller steps, friendlier examples.

10 articles For readers 8–18 See the adult edition

Young LearnersUK & US

Back to the library

In this pillar

Every young-learner article

Start here Big Letters, Simple Rules 2 min read When a word needs a capital, when it doesn't, and how to stop Sprinkling Them Everywhere

Capital When Specific (Titles, Directions, Sun/Moon/Earth) 4 min read A red line under 'Mum' in a history essay — when family terms and titles need a capital
Capitalisation in Letters, Emails, Headings & Lists 4 min read Stuck between Dear and Hi with an empty subject line — capitalisation for emails, headings and lists, sorted
Capitalising the First Word of a Sentence 4 min read Re-reading that 4:55 Friday email, the second paragraph forgets to capitalise a sentence
Capitals After Colons, in Quotations & Around Punctuation 4 min read A colon, then a capital or lowercase letter — the rule that actually holds
Names of People, Places, Organisations & Brands 4 min read A wobbly 4:55 email drops a capital from a company name — how names actually work
Proper Nouns & Proper Adjectives — The Core Rule 4 min read Your essay gets a pink underline under 'romeo' — proper nouns and adjectives, capitalised for good
Special Capitalisation Cases: Getting "I", Acronyms, Brand Styling and Religious Terms Right 4 min read IPhone lowercases its own name, yet English never lowercases I — the quirks worth knowing
The Trap of Over-Capitalisation 4 min read That Friday email where every Department and Team suddenly needs a capital letter — when to stop
Title Case or Sentence Case? Titles & Headlines 4 min read You've finished the report and now you're stuck: capitalise every word, or just the first