Home of English Grammar

Free Guide (Updated for 2022)

  • Home
  • Download Lessons
  • Grammar Rules
  • Online Exercises
  • Online Tools
    • Grammar Checker
    • Word Counter
  • Guides
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Spelling / Spelling : capital letters

Spelling : capital letters

November 2, 2010 - pdf

Capital letters are used at the beginning of the following kinds of words.

1. the names of days, months and public holidays. The names of seasons do not usually begin with capital letters.

  • Sunday; Monday; Friday
  • January; March, August
  • Christmas; Easter;
  • summer; autumn; winter; spring

2. the names of people and places, including stars and planets

  • John; Mary; Alice
  • India; Tokyo; Paris; Singapore
  • Jupiter; Mars; Neptune
  • (But the earth, the sun and the moon)

3. people’s titles

  • Mr Smith; Dr James; the Chairman; the Managing Director

4. nouns and adjectives referring to nationalities and regions, languages, religions and ethnic groups

  • He is French.
  • She is Spanish.
  • He is a Sikh.
  • Chinese history

5. the first word in the title of books, magazines, plays, pictures, magazines etc. Sometimes other nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in the title also begin with capital letters.

  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or The adventures of Tom Sawyer
  • Gone with the Wind OR Gone with the wind

Spelling :-ly

We normally change an adjective into an adverb by adding -ly.

  • Late – lately
  • Real – really
  • Right – rightly
  • Definite – definitely
  • Hopeful – hopefully
  • Complete – completely

Exceptions

There are some exceptions to this rule.

  • True – truly (NOT truely)
  • Full – fully (NOT fullly)
  • Due – duly (NOT duely)

Y and I

The final -y in an adjective changes to -i- before adding -ly.

  • Happy – happily
  • Merry – merrily
  • Easy – easily

Adjectives ending in consonant + le

-le changes to -ly after a consonant

  • Idle – idly
  • Noble – nobly

Adjectives ending in -ic

Adjectives ending in -ic, have adverbs ending in -ically.

  • Tragic – tragically
  • Phonetic – phonetically

Exception

  • Public – publicly
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
1,127,749 
189,184 

Check Your Grammar

GrammarCheck.net - Try online
Hint → Bookmark GrammarCheck for future use.

Latest Exercises

  • Gap Filling Exercise May 11, 2022
  • Passive Voice Exercise May 9, 2022
  • General Grammar Exercise May 8, 2022
  • Tenses Exercise May 7, 2022
  • And vs. But May 5, 2022
  • Verbs Exercise May 3, 2022
  • Other, Another Or Others May 2, 2022
  • Conjunctions Exercise April 30, 2022
  • Gap Filling Exercise April 28, 2022

Topics

  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • Business Writing
  • Commas
  • Conjunctions
  • Creative Writing
  • Difference
  • Essay Writing
  • Exercises
  • Learning
  • Lessons
  • Nouns
  • Prepositions
  • Pronouns
  • Proofreading
  • Punctuation
  • Quiz
  • Spelling
  • Style Guide
  • Teaching
  • Terms
  • Verbs
  • Words
  • Writing

Quiz

  • Can you correct these 14 basic grammar mistakes?
  • What kind of writer are you?

Copyright © 2022 · EnglishGrammar.org
Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Sitemap