We use capital letters for the first word of a sentence and for a proper noun.
| When to use a Capital Letter | Example | Example Sentence |
| At the beginning of a sentence | I will eat paella. She needs to rest. | |
| People’s names and titles | Maria, Juan, Mr. Rios, Mrs. Fernandez | He likes Maria. I invited Mrs. Fernandez. |
| Names of places | Barcelona, Germany, Canary Island | I am in Barcelona. He is going to Germany. |
| Days of the week, months, and holidays | Monday, Tuesday, November, December, Christmas, New Year | She goes to school every Monday. He is on vacation in November. My favourite holiday is Christmas. |
| Institutions | Harvard University, British School of Málaga, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | I am studying at Harvard University. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is the best hospital in California. |
| Acronyms | CIA, CDC,BBC, FBI | He works for the CIA. I like all BBC programs. |
| Titles | ‘Money Heist’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Don Quixote’ | I love watching Money Heist. I like listening to Bohemian Rhapsody. |
Rules:
1. Names of countries, cities, streets, planets, religions, companies are all proper nouns so you have to capitalise them.
| The Earth has only one moon. |
| I live at 123 Birmingham Street. |
2. Do not capitalise seasons.
| Children don’t go to school in summer. They return in September. |
3. Capitalise words that come from the names of places such as nationalities, languages and adjectives that refer to the people or things from a particular place. Adjectives and nouns that come from the names of religions must be capitalised as well.
| Some Germans live in Spain. |
| Christmas is a special holiday for Catholics. |
| Cowboy boots are popular with Texans. |
4. The most important words in film, music and book titles are capitalised. A person’s job title is also capitalised only when it is used before the name of the person.
| Steve Jobs, the former chairman of Apple, died in 2011. |
| Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrived in Barcelona yesterday. |
| I am reading Pride and Prejudice. |