Capitalization Rules in English Grammar

Capitalization refers to a writing skill where the first word is written in uppercase and rests of the words are written in lower case. There are few rules defined as mentioned below which govern the use of capitalization.

1. The first word of the document or the first word after the period should be always written in Capital or uppercase. For example, Children have completed their homework. They are playing in the ground now.

The capitalization should not be done if the title immediately follows or precedes a name. For example, Dhoni is the only captain to win two world cup matches.

If the title comes before the name, then it should be capitalized.  For example, I saw Captain Dhoni in the mall today.

2. First word in direct speech should be capitalized. For example, My dad asked “Have you completed the homework?”

3. Brand names should always be capitalized, but the noun following it should not be capitalized. For example, I like Audi Q6 model.

4. Geographical features should be capitalized if they point to a specific attribute.

5. Proper nouns should always be capitalized. For example, names of person, cities, planets, animals, countries, mountains.

6. If an independent clause begins after a colon, then the first letter should be capitalized.

7. Common nouns should not be capitalized. For example cat, church, etc. are common nouns which should not be capitalized.

8. Occupations before full name should not be capitalized. For example, chef Tommy or actress Angelina Jolie.

9. Nicknames should always be capitalized.

10. First word in a complete quotation should be always be capitalized.

11. Relative’s family name should always be capitalized if it precedes a personal name or if they are used in place of personal names.

12. Historical events, specific era should be capitalized always since that will differentiate between the normal regime and special events.

Different Types of Determiners

Determiner is a grammatical form and a type of noun modifier that precedes and followed by the noun. In simple words, it is used in a sentence to give additional information about the noun. These are used before a noun or a noun phrase so as to point out a specific thing, object, place or a person. The role of determiners is to express reference. In other words, determiners clarify what a noun is referring to. For example, He saw the actress (Here, ‘the actress’ means a particular actress) or His father is a doctor (Here, ‘a doctor’ refers to a particular person).  Let us understand different types of determiners in detail.

1.  Articles:  Articles are the most popular determiners. A, an and the are the articles that are used in a sentence to specify a noun. ‘A’ and ‘an’ are indefinite articles as they indicate a group of noun in the sentence. ‘The’ is a definite article that specifies a particular noun in the sentence.

For example:

• The statue of liberty is the symbol of freedom.

• He is an artist.

• She has a famous writer.

2.  Quantifiers: The quantifiers are used to define the quantity like a little, a few, more, most, much, enough, many, much, any, etc.

For example:

• I have enough chocolates.

• He has many friends.

3.  Possessives: Possessives are one form of determiners that shows ownership or possession of a noun. My, our, his, her or there are possessive determiners.

For example:

• This is my dress.

• His mobile phone is very expensive.

4.  Demonstratives: These determiners describe the location and position of a noun from the speaker’s point of view. These, that, this and those are demonstrative determiners.

For example:

• This car is mine.

• These books are good for test preparation.

5.  Interrogatives: Interrogative determiners are used in the sentence for asking questions. Whose, what and which are interrogative determiners.

For example:

• Which fruit do you like the most?

• What would you like to have for dinner?

Kinds of Subjunctive Mood in English Grammar

In English grammar, the mood indicates the attitude of the writer. There are different types of mood in English grammar such as imperative mood, indicative mood and subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood is a verb form that is used in a situation which is not factual or doubtful. In simple words, when the verb is in the subjunctive mood, then it expresses different states of unreality or unreal situations, including wish, opinion, emotion, judgment, action, possibility, demand, regret, proposal, etc. It starts with the word ‘if’ and commonly found in a clause.

Uses of Subjunctive Mood

• It is used after a wish, if, as if.

• It is used after the different types of verbs such as recommend, ask, suggest, command, insist, propose, etc.

• It is used after the expressions such as it is important, it is necessary, it is desirable, etc.

Subjunctive statements mostly denote an action which is in the future and hence the tenses will be applied in a different manner. In other words, tense of indicative verbs may be changed, but the tense of subjunctive verbs indicating a futuristic action does not change.

For example:

• I wish finance minister could give more tax rebate.

• I suggest he implements the design as given in the magazine.

When ‘if’ clause is used as a subjunctive verb, the statements become trickier. As there is no surety of action being performed, we cannot have any tense. For example, if I were to become VP in next 10 years, I would make changes in the work culture.

People often tend to make an error when they use “to be” in the subjunctive mood. The correct usage would be to use “be” in the present tense and “were” in the past tense irrespective of the subject.

For example:

• It will be good if hearing of the case is postponed.

• If I were rich, I would buy the palatial building and build a swimming pool on top floor.