Capital Letters – Rules & Examples

📝 Capital Letters in English – A Complete Guide

Capitalisation in English follows a more extensive set of rules than in many other languages, including Norwegian. Mastering these conventions is essential for formal writing, academic essays, and exam success. This guide covers every rule you need to know — with clear comparisons to Norwegian to help avoid common mistakes.

⚠️ Norwegian vs English – Key Differences

In Norwegian, many words that are capitalised in English are written in lowercase. This is the most common source of errors for Norwegian students writing in English. Pay special attention to nationalities, languages, days of the week, months, and religious terms — all of these require capital letters in English but not in Norwegian.

1. Days of the Week and Months of the Year

In English, the days of the week and months of the year are always capitalised. This is a significant difference from Norwegian, where these are written in lowercase (mandag, januar).

✅ Examples:

• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
• January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

⚠️ Important exception: Seasons (spring, summer, autumn/fall, winter) are NOT capitalised unless they begin a sentence or are personified (e.g., "Old Man Winter arrived"). This is a common mistake.

2. Holidays, Festivals, and Special Days

Names of holidays, religious festivals, and designated special days are capitalised because they are treated as proper nouns — they refer to specific, unique events.

• Easter, Christmas, Labour Day, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving
• Ramadan, Hanukkah, Diwali, Eid al-Fitr
• International Women's Day, World Environment Day

Note: Generic references to celebrations are not capitalised — e.g., "We had a birthday party" (lowercase) vs. "Happy Birthday!" (greeting/title).

3. Names, Titles, and Forms of Address

All proper nouns — the specific names of people — are capitalised. Titles are capitalised when they appear directly before a person's name (as part of the name), but generally lowercased when used as common nouns.

Capitalised (title + name):

• President Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, Professor Taylor
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Prime Minister Solberg

Lowercase (title used generically):

• "The president held a press conference."
• "She wants to become a professor one day."

📌 Rule of thumb: If the title replaces or precedes the name → capitalise. If it describes a role → lowercase.

4. Place Names (Geographical Proper Nouns)

Names of specific geographical locations — countries, cities, continents, rivers, mountains, oceans, and regions — are capitalised. Generic geographical terms are lowercase unless they are part of the proper name.

✅ Capitalised:

• Oslo, London, New York, India, Africa, the Middle East
• the River Thames, Mount Everest, the Pacific Ocean, Lake Victoria
• the Sahara Desert, the Amazon Rainforest, the Rocky Mountains

❌ Not capitalised (generic use):

• "We crossed a river." (generic)
• "We crossed the River Thames." (specific = capitalised)

5. Nationalities, Languages, and Ethnic Groups

Words referring to nationality, ethnicity, and language are always capitalised in English. This is one of the most frequent errors Norwegian students make, since Norwegian uses lowercase for these (e.g., norsk, engelsk, fransk).

• Norwegian, Swedish, British, French, Arabic, Japanese
• Native American, African American, South Asian
• "She speaks fluent English and Spanish."
• "Chinese cuisine is popular worldwide."

📌 This also applies to adjectives derived from proper nouns: Shakespearean, Darwinian, Victorian.

6. Religions, Holy Texts, and Religious Figures

Names of religions, their followers, sacred texts, and religious figures are capitalised as proper nouns.

• Religions: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism
• Followers: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist
• Sacred texts: the Bible, the Quran, the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita
• Religious figures: God, Allah, Jesus Christ, the Prophet Muhammad, Buddha

⚠️ The word "god" is lowercased when referring to deities in general ("the Greek gods") but capitalised when referring to a monotheistic deity ("God is great").

7. Historical Events, Periods, and Movements

Major historical events, eras, and cultural movements are capitalised because they refer to specific, recognised periods in history.

• the First World War / World War I, World War II
• the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution
• the Renaissance, the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment
• the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Age of Exploration

Note: General references to centuries or decades are usually lowercase: "the twentieth century", "the sixties".

8. Buildings, Institutions, and Schools

The official names of buildings, educational institutions, government bodies, and landmarks are capitalised.

• the University of Oslo, Harvard University, Oxford University
• the White House, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace
• the British Museum, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty
• the Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights

But: "She attends university" (generic, lowercase) vs. "She attends the University of Bergen" (specific).

9. Organisations, Political Parties, and Acronyms

Official names of organisations and political parties are capitalised, as are their well-known acronyms.

• the United Nations (UN), NATO, the Red Cross, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO)
• the Democrats, the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, the Green Party
• the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU)

10. Brand Names and Trade Names

Trademarked brand names are always capitalised. However, the generic product they refer to is not.

• Coca-Cola (but "a soft drink"), Nike (but "trainers"), Apple (but "a smartphone")
• Google (but "a search engine"), Band-Aid (but "a plaster/bandage")

📌 Some brand names have become so common they are used as generic terms — these are sometimes called genericised trademarks (e.g., "googling," "hoovering").

11. Headlines and Titles of Works

In English, titles of books, films, songs, articles, poems, and other works follow title case — the main (content) words are capitalised, while minor words are generally lowercase unless they are the first or last word.

Words to capitalise:

• Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns

Words usually NOT capitalised (unless first/last):

• Articles: a, an, the
• Short prepositions: in, on, at, to, for, of, with
• Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor

✅ Examples: …