This week I’d like to have a look at the correct use of capital letters. As you know, capital letters are often referred to us ‘upper case’ and small letters are referred to as ‘lower case’. But some people find it hard to decide when they should use capital letters in their business writing. Is it Monday or monday? Is it Auntie or auntie? This can lead to letters, reports and emails that are peppered with unnecessary capitals. So, to help you avoid this, here are some basic rules.
Reserve capital letters for proper nouns (Peter, Manchester, France) and full or formal titles (Mr, Mrs, Ms). Don’t use them in a general, descriptive context. For example:
Jobs: People’s occupations are merely job descriptions, so don’t need a capital unless combined with a name. We would talk about Doctor Smith but the doctor’s surgery. Some positions, which might be considered a job, do have capital letters because the role is more significant than the person filling it (The President, The Chancellor). But roles such as the managing director of a company are usually written without capital letters.
Places such as hospitals and universities: Only use capitals if the name is attached. Oxford University and North Manchester Hospital are formal titles, but my daughter is at university and my aunt is in hospital are general statements and do not need capital letters.
Areas such as beaches, hills and streets: Again, only use a capital if this is an address. James lives in West Beach but I went swimming at the beach.
Relatives: aunt, uncle, grandmother, father etc only have capital letters when you are addressing, or talking about, a specific relative. So you can say I went to the cinema with Aunt Susan but you would say Susan Wells is my aunt. In the former ‘Aunt Susan’ is a proper title, whereas ‘my aunt’ is a reference to her relationship to you – as in ‘my sister’ or ‘my friend’.
Use capitals for days of the week and months of the year. For example, Sunday is the first day of the week. But if you are talking about them in general terms use lower case: I always enjoy sundays.
Finally, remember that you should always start a new sentence with a capital letter and the pronoun ‘I’ should always be a capital. Nothing irritates me more than when I receive careless emails and texts that us ‘i’ instead of ‘I’. There’s simply no excuse!
Author: Diana Nadin
