Capitalize the first word in every sentence:

We have had too much rain.

Will summer ever come?

Capitalize the first word in a direct quotation:

"To be or not to be, that is the question."

"Eating out is too expensive," said my mother, "so we'll eat at home."

Capitalize the first word and the major words in titles of books, plays, poems, newspapers, musical works, movies, and TV programs:

The Old Man and the Sea

The Oxford English Dictionary

All's Well That Ends Well

The English Patient

Capitalize the pronoun "I."

Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives:

Specific persons or things:

• Napoleon Bonaparte, Boulder Dam, the Empire State Building

Specific places:

• New York City, the Pacific Northwest, Europe, the Pacific Ocean

Capitalize days of the week, months, holidays:

Monday, June, Thanksgiving, Yom Kippur

Capitalize historical events, documents, periods, movements:

World War II, the Boston Tea Party, the Middle Ages, the Declaration of Independence, the Romantic Movement

Capitalize government offices, departments and institutions:

House of Representatives, Department of State, Ethics Committee, Northeast High School, Seattle University

Capitalize social, athletic, and other organizations and their members:

Democratic Party, Democrats; Sierra Club; Seattle Sonics; Boy Scouts of America, Scout;

Seattle Symphony Orchestra

Capitalize races, nationalities, and their languages:

Native American, German, Japanese, French

Capitalize religions and their followers, sacred persons and things:

Christianity, Christians; Islam, Moslems or Muslims; God, Allah; the Bible, the Koran.

Capitalize words such as street, avenue, park, river, company, college, and county when they are part of proper nouns:

Main Street, Woodland Park, Mississippi River, Lake Michigan, General Motors Corporation.

Capitalize specific trade names:

Scotch tape, Xerox, Mercury, Kleenex.

Capitalize titles of persons when they precede a proper name or are used alone as a substitute for a name:

Senator Robert Dole, Mayor Norm Rice, Dr. Paul McCarthy.

Mr. Mayor, Mr. President.

Capitalize names of family members only when they are part of or a substitute for a proper noun:

Aunt Alice, Uncle Bill, Father.

But: my sister, Alec's brother.

Do not capitalize:

Names of the seasons:

• spring, summer, fall, winter

General directions:

• east, west, north, south

School subjects unless they are languages or specific numbered courses:

• English, Economics 101
• But: a psychology class

Oddities:

Most writers capitalize President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

In classical poetry, the first word of each line is capitalized, but in some modern poetry it is not.

In the latter case, follow the author's style.