¶ The Library

Capitals

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

10 articles For readers 11–18 See the adult edition

Young LearnersUK & US

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 Why "the Sun" and "go north" sometimes need a capital and sometimes don't — the specific-versus-general rule
Capitalisation in Letters, Emails, Headings & Lists 4 min read Where the capitals go in a greeting, a heading and a bullet list — the small rules that make writing look neat
Capitalising the First Word of a Sentence 4 min read The very first capital-letter rule — start every sentence with one, even after a question mark or a quote
Capitals After Colons, in Quotations & Around Punctuation 4 min read Does a capital follow a colon or open a quote? The tricky spots where capital letters do and don't belong
Names of People, Places, Organisations & Brands 4 min read People, places, teams and brands all take a capital — how to spot a name and give it the big letter it needs
Proper Nouns & Proper Adjectives — The Core Rule 4 min read The one rule under all the others — names take capitals, and so do the adjectives built from them, like "French"
Special Capitalisation Cases: Getting "I", Acronyms, Brand Styling and Religious Terms Right 4 min read The odd ones out — the lone "I", acronyms like NASA, brand styles and other names that play by their own rules
The Trap of Over-Capitalisation 4 min read When Every Important Word gets a capital, writing looks shouty — how to spot the capitals you don't actually need
Title Case or Sentence Case? Titles & Headlines 4 min read Two ways to capitalise a title — which words get a capital, and when to use each style