Are you aware that there are some English words whose initials you don't tamper with? You must ensure that their initials are always written in capital letters. I call them
"The king pins of English", but the English man calls them
"Proper Nouns."
However, there are other words that are neither proper nouns nor king
pins of English, but also enjoy this rare privilege because of the orthography
of the language or their position in a sentence. This article reveals all
of these words:
1. The first letter of a sentence or after a full stop, question mark
and exclamation mark.
You don't begin a sentence with a small letter, and in course of
writing, you don't begin a new sentence with a small letter either, after
ending the previous one with a full stop, question mark or an exclamation mark.
Example
Children of this generation really need
the mercy of God. What a lost generation! The eyes
could no longer behold what they see.
Please take note of the bold words. The "C" in
"children" is written in uppercase because it begins the sentence.
The "w" in "what" and the "T" in "the"
are in uppercase because they begin a new sentence, after the end of the
previous ones with a full stop and an exclamation mark.
Another thing you should note is that "children",
"what" and "the" are not proper nouns, but because of their
positions in the sentences, their initials are capitalized.
2. Days of the week and months of the year
On no account should you write the initials of the days of the week or
the months of the year in lowercase. Whether they appear in the beginning,
middle or at the end of a sentence, they must be written in uppercase.
Examples
I was born on August 23, 2016.
I hate Mondays.
He came to my house on Sunday but didn't stay long.
3. Names of persons, cities, villages, states, schools, institutions,
countries and towns
The initials of all the aforementioned must be capitalized.
Examples
- Niger
Delta Development Commission
- First
City Monument Bank
- Olu
Model Schools
- Juliet,
America, Lagos, Ibadan, Amassoma, Rumuola etc.
4. Special Titles
Examples:The Tamunos, The
Principal, The Manager, etc.
5. The different names of God
Whatever name or title you call or give to God in your dialect, make
sure the initial is written in capital letter. Examples: Chukwu, Allah, God,
Oluwa, Tamuno, etc.
6. The first person singular pronoun
Most persons make the mistake of writing the first person singular
pronoun, "I" in lowercase, especially when it is written in the
middle of a sentence. The first person singular pronoun should always be in uppercase, irrespective of its position in a sentence.
Examples
- I love
Tammy's English blog.
- You
and I will be travelling to Abuja tomorrow.
It is worthy of note to state that the pronoun, "I", is not a
proper noun but enjoys the benefit of a proper noun because of the
orthography of the language.
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