This language lesson is designed for 6 to 12-year-old children. It aims to guide them about capitalization at the beginning of a sentence.
The video lesson uses a storybook to help the child learn about capitalization rules. Let us understand what capitalization means.
What is Capitalization?
Capitalization is the writing of a word with its first letter in uppercase and the remaining letters in lowercase. It is very often that children get confused about which words need to be capitalized or not. Let us understand 7 rules of capitalization:
7 Rules of Capitalization
Rule #1: Capitalize the first letter of the word of a story, article, lesson, or document, and the first letter of the word after each period.
Rule #2: Capitalize proper nouns: The names of persons, cities, countries, companies, religions, and political parties are called proper nouns and need to be capitalized. Examples are the Grand Canyon, Amy, Siliva, Paris, Nile river, the People’s Party, Christianity, etc.
Rule #3: Do not capitalize after the colon: Do not capitalize the letter of the first word after the colon except for proper nouns and if there is another complete sentence after the colon. For example:
- Julia asked her husband: how she is looking in this red dress.
- I Me and my sister are excited: We’re going on a vacation to Hawaii.
- I invited four of my friends to my sister’s wedding: Amey, Jonathan, Samantha, and June.
Rule #4: Capitalize the First Word of a Quote
For example:
- Maria answered, “I am going to the water park with my friends on Sunday.”
but not partial quotes
- Dr. Maria Montessori said, “the greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say.”
Rule #5: Capitalize Days, Months, and Holidays, But Not Seasons
- We are going on a holiday to Cape Town in December.
- Anne will have a concert after the fall.
- We are renovating our house after Christmas.
Rule #6: Capitalize on Cities, Countries, Nationalities, and Languages
- My father is Dutch.
- Amy can speak three languages: Latin, American, and Spanish.
- My sister is moving to Connecticut.
Rule #7: Capitalize on periods and events but not century numbers
For example:
- Paleozoic era
- …in the twentieth century.
Watch the video and learn the new way of learning the rules of capitalization.
Repeat this activity by sitting down with the child and reading a storybook with them, as shown in the video. Help them notice how the first letter of each sentence is capitalized.
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Video Created by: Justine McNeilly
Tags
- Elementary
- English
- Language
- language development
