Rule 1: Seasons as Generic Nouns Seasons, such as winter, spring, summer and fall, do not require capitalization because they are generic common nouns. ... This can make some intuitive sense, as you capitalize the days of the week (e.g., Wednesday) and the months of the year (e.g., August).

Does August need a capital letter?

Days, months, and holidays are always capitalized as these are proper nouns. Seasons aren't generally capitalized unless they're personified.

Should you capitalize the name of a season?

The seasons are not proper nouns and are therefore not normally capitalized. Of course, as with other nouns, they should be capitalized at the beginning of sentences and in titles. One poetic exception, is that seasons are sometimes personified, or treated as beings, and in those cases they are often capitalized.

Should June have a capital letter?

Correct: My birthday is in June. Every language has different rules for capitalization. In English, we always capitalize the days of the week and the months of the year. ... Always capitalize the months and days, no matter where they are in your sentence.

Does Sunday need to be capitalized?

Months (January, February) and days of the week (Sunday, Monday) are also treated as proper nouns. Seasons and the numbers of the days of the months are not. Also, names of school subjects (math, algebra, geology, psychology) are not capitalized, with the exception of the names of languages (French, English).

Should seasons be capitalized in a sentence?

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When should seasons be capitalized?

The general rule says that seasons should not be capitalized. They are common nouns, not proper nouns. But there are a few exceptions that call for capitalization. Capitalize the name of a season when it's the first word of a sentence or part of a proper noun.

Why are seasons not capitalized?

Seasons, such as winter, spring, summer and fall, do not require capitalization because they are generic common nouns. Some people may confuse these words as being proper nouns and try to capitalize them using that rule of capitalization. ... The winter season allows for many snow related sports.

When should spring be capitalized?

The rule that “spring” is lowercase is general but there are some exceptions in which you should capitalize seasons and capitalize “spring.” The only time you will see the word spring capitalized is when it is used in a title or as the first word of a sentence.

How are dates capitalized?

In the most formal writing, such as contracts, invitations, plaques and presentation documents, it is usual to write out the entire date in words. Days and months are capitalized, but dates and years are not. . . . on this sixteenth day of June, nineteen hundred and ninety-seven . . .

Is fall capitalized in fall semester?

University Terms. Capitalize Fall, Spring and Summer when used with a year: Fall 2012, Spring 2013. Lowercase when used alone: The fall semester.

Do months have capital letters in French?

French uses a lot fewer capital letters than English — many words that have to be capitalized in English can't be capitalized in French. ... Date words: Don't capitalize days of the week and months of the year in French unless they're at the beginning of a sentence.

Are dates proper nouns?

No, it is not a noun because 1914 is a number, even thought it does represent a specific date.

Should year be capitalized?

So, in modern usage, it appears that the rules for capitalization are: Spell the year out in lowercase. Except in wedding invitations, where the first letter is capitalized because everyone does it.

Is Friday capitalized?

The days of the week are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When we write the days of the week, we always use a capital letter. Common nouns are the names of things. These don't use a capital letter unless they are at the start of a sentence.

Is Halloween capitalized?

Is Halloween Capitalized? Yes, the word “Halloween” should be capitalized because it is a holiday and proper noun, so it should be capitalized according to title capitalization rules.

Should Spring Break be capitalized?

Phrases such as “Spring Break” and “Spring Semester” should be capitalized when referring to specific events such as “Spring Break 2020” or “Spring Semester 2020” but lowercase otherwise. Apart from these exceptions, the word spring should always start with lowercase.

Should directions be capitalized?

In general, when a direction is a description, it's lowercase, and when it's the name of something, it's capitalized—but there are exceptions. Sometimes directional terms such as south are capitalized and sometimes they aren't.

Should South be capitalized?

In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate compass direction. Capitalize these words when they designate regions. He drove west.

Is sophomore capitalized?

Lowercase first-year, sophomore, junior, and senior. Only capitalize when part of a formal title: “Senior Prom.” Do not use the word “freshman.” Use “first-year” instead.

Do you need to capitalize mom and dad?

In other words, capitalize words such as Mother, Father, Grandmother, Grandfather, Son, Daughter, and Sis when they are used in place of the person's name. Do not capitalize them when they follow possessive pronouns such as her, his, my, our, your.

Should winter solstice be capitalized?

The summer and winter solstices occur in June and December. These terms are not capitalized. The word equinox comes from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night).

Are seasons capitalized AP style?

Here is a quick refresher to help us all spring clean our AP Style writing: ... Seasons are never capitalized: winter, spring, summer, fall. Numbers under 10 should be spelled out, unless it is a percentage or age. Percent should always be written out, never %.

Should Year 12 be capitalized?

When the word grade is followed by a numeral, always capitalize grade and use a numeral for the grade number. When writing a grade in its ordinal form, use words for Grades 1–9 and numerals for Grades 10, 11, and 12. However, if an ordinal number 10 or above starts a sentence, then use words.

Can a year be a proper noun?

While a specific year (e.g., "2019") might be thought of as a proper noun, in that it is the name of a specific set of 365 days, years should almost always be written as numbers. ... Note that the year is not written out with capitals in every word, as is the case with proper nouns.

Is New Year a proper noun?

Capitalizing “New Year”

You may have noticed that we did not capitalize “new year” in the first sentence of this post. But we do capitalize it in other cases. The difference here is between the holiday known as the New Year – which is a proper noun – and simply discussing the “new year” in general.