Capitalization

The importance of capitalization is often overlooked by non-native speakers. A native speaker will know that an essay is written by a non-native speaker in a split second if the capitalization is off. Although such mistakes can be as clear as day to a person whose native tongue is English, it can be difficult for English learners to know when and when not to capitalize because many languages around the world do not have capitalization.

These are the main places capitalization errors happen:

Titles
Proper nouns and common nouns
The beginning of a sentences and comma splices

Capitalization in Titles

Correct capitalization of your title is important for making your essay look professional. Though there are many different writing styles in English (AP, MLA, APA, etc.), the general rules are as follows:

Capitalize the first and last words of the title
Capitalize all words except articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, etc.), and prepositions (at, by, etc.)

There are discrepancies between different styles. Some writing styles require you to capitalize all words that are four letters or more, while others require you to keep words like about (a preposition with more than four letters) lowercase. You can consult your teacher, professor, or company on which one you should be using.

Proper Nouns and Common Nouns

English learners can make the mistake of capitalizing common nouns or not capitalizing proper nouns.

The rule here is to:

Capitalize all proper nouns (Paris, Vietnam, Tesla, etc.). Note that some proper nouns are more than one word (United Nations, University of Southern California, etc.) and in most cases, any articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions are not capitalized. You can search the official capitalization of any proper noun online.
Do not capitalize common nouns (dog, cat, book, work, etc.) unless they are at the beginning of a sentence, in a title, or part of a proper noun.

Here are some examples of capitalization mistakes:

The Admissions office will send a response by November. → The admissions office will send a response by November.
He studies at Harvard university. → He studies at Harvard University.
Nathan went to dubai over the summer. → Nathan went to Dubai over the summer.
I wear this jacket during the Winter. → I wear this jacket during the winter.
Wayne is raising a Cat with his girlfriend. → Wayne is raising a cat with his girlfriend.
Have you been to the netherlands? → Have you been to the Netherlands?
Zoe rode her bike to the Office every day. → Zoe rode her bike to the office every day.
James is from south Korea. → James is from South Korea.

Beginning of Sentences and Comma Splices

Although many word processing programs, such as Microsoft Office and Google Docs, have spell check features that correct you when you do not capitalize at the beginning of the sentence, many English learners still forget to apply the rule, especially when physically writing on paper.

Capitalizing the first letter in a sentence may seem insignificant because the sentence still conveys the same meaning whether the first letter is capitalized or not, but not capitalizing the first letter immediately tells the reader that the writer is indeed not from an English-speaking country.

Here are the rules of thumb you can follow to get capitalization down: