Capital letters are among the more important forms of punctuation as they help guide the eyes and mind through your text. Unconvinced? Try reading this:
“gchq is one of the agencies that contributes to the make-up of the joint terrorism analysis centre. jtac provides advice to the uk government and major industries on terrorist threats.”
The short paragraph above, bereft of all capital letters, is still readable, although it takes a little effort, but think how much easier it would be if the beginnings of sentences and organisation names were signposted by capital letters.
Some rules regarding capitalisation are logical and universally accepted – most people use capital letters to start a sentence, for example – but others are not. Use of capitalisation can vary from country to country, company to company and even from one publisher or newspaper to another. But as a guideline, here are the generally accepted rules for using capital letters:
Sentences Always begin every sentence with a capital letter – no exceptions!
First person Again, always capitalised as in, “I said good grammar is important for credibility.”
Proper nouns Ford, Boeing, London, The Royal Marines (but marine), Afghan hound (but golden retriever), the Southern Hemisphere (but north-west), Cyprus
Exclamations Wow!
Quotations Capitalise the first word of complete quotes but not partial quotes, words or phrases
I hope this clears up any confusion over using capitals correctly but remember, if you need professional help with your marketing communications just get in touch!
