Capitalization of Proper Nouns

We capitalize proper nouns:

Common Nouns Within Proper Nouns

When a common noun such as "lake," "river," "mountain," "street," or "school" is a part of a proper noun, we capitalize it as in the examples below.

Small Words Within Proper Nouns

When the following small words are parts of a proper noun, we do not capitalize them unless they are the initial or final word:

a, an, and, at, but, by, for, from,
if, in, into, of, on, the, to, with

Examples below show the correct capitalization of proper nouns.

• The Little House on the Prairie
• Proctor and Gamble Company
• Gulf of Maine
• House of Commons
• Ivan the Terrible
• Straits of Gibraltar
• Richard the Lionhearted
• "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"
• Speaker of the House
• "Stars and Stripes Forever"

Examples

Write the correct capitalization of proper nouns in the following sentences.

1. The main character is tom sawyer.
2. Have you read lord of the rings?
3. The dixon family helped to build hoover dam.
4. Many americans are immigrants.
5. Is christmas island located in the indian ocean?
6. The british still honor their queen.
7. The sciarrotta family cruised from catalina island to ensenada, mexico.
8. The irish celebrate st. patrick's day.
9. Yes, gouverneur morris wrote the u. s. constitution in its final form.
10. The adams family served the government of the united states in several different capacities.
11. The jews celebrate yom kippur.

Solutions

Here we show the correct capitalization of proper nouns: 

1. We capitalize Tom Sawyer because it is a specific person.
2. Lord and Rings are capitalized because they are words of a book title. We do not capitalize the small words of and the.
3. Dixon Family is a specific family and needs capital letters. Also, Hoover Dam is a specific dam.
4. Americans is capitalized because it is a group of people from a specific country.
5. Christmas Island is a specific island and needs capital letters. Also, the Indian Ocean is a specific ocean.
6. British is capitalized because it is a group of people from a specific country.
7. Sciarrotta Family is a specific family and needs capital letters. Also, Catalina Island is a specific island, and Ensenada, Mexico is a specific city in a specific country.
8. Irish is capitalized because it is a group of people from a specific country. St. Patrick's Day is a specific day.
9. We capitalize Gouverneur Morris because he is a specific person. We capitalize U. S. Constitution because it is a specific document.
10. Adams Family is a specific family and needs capital letters. Also, United States is a specific country.
11. Jews is capitalized because it is a group of people with a distinctive religion. Yom Kippur is a specific holiday.