Capital letters and apostrophes

Do you know how to use capital letters and apostrophes properly? Enhance your knowledge with a lesson given below and the grammar explanation to guide you better.

Check out these examples to see how capital letters and apostrophes are used:

• Canada celebrates Thanksgiving in October.

• Emily speaks French, Spanish, and a little Italian.

• It’s raining heavily today! They predict a storm later.

• Tom’s visiting his brother's apartment this weekend.

Grammar explanation - Capital letters and apostrophes

Here is the grammar explanation to help you better:

1. Capitalisation

There are many occasions where capital letters are needed – for example, to begin a sentence or when using the pronoun I. Here are some other important rules for using capital letters.

2. Days, months, and holidays

We capitalise days of the week, months, and holidays, but not seasons.

• His graduation ceremony is on Monday.

• The shops are closed on Thanksgiving.

• Flowers bloom in March and April, but autumn is chilly.

3. Names of people and places

We capitalise the names of people, places, streets, planets, continents, and countries.

• Maria Gomez lives on Elm Avenue in Chicago.

• Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.

• Australia is part of Oceania.

Words derived from place names – like languages, nationalities, and adjectives referring to countries, regions, or cities – are also capitalised. Additionally, nouns and adjectives derived from religious names are capitalised.

• Many Australians speak English.

• Tokyoites enjoy sushi regularly.

• Buddhists celebrate Vesak Day.

4. Titles and names of institutions

The names of organisations, and the important words in book and film titles, are capitalised. When a job title precedes a name, both the title and the name are capitalised. If the title is separate, only the name is capitalised.

• Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, met President Macron.

• The managing director works in Sydney.

• We are studying The Great Gatsby with Mr Patel, our literature teacher.

5. Apostrophes

We use apostrophes to show contractions or possession.

6. Contractions

Apostrophes indicate missing letters in contractions.

• It’s sunny today. (It’s = It is)

• Don’t be late. (Don’t = Do not)

• She’s working late today. (She’s = She is)

• I’d love to come. (I’d = I would)

• They’ll arrive soon. (They’ll = They will)

Note:It's is a contraction of it is or it has. Its is the possessive form of it.

• The cat is playing with its toy.

• Are you sure it’s safe to leave now?

• It’s been a long week.

7. Possession

We use an apostrophe followed by s to show possession for nouns (usually people, animals, or groups).

• The dog’s collar is blue.

• Clara’s friends live in Boston.

• Japan’s technology sector is thriving.

8. Singular or plural

We use 's when the possessor is singular.

• David’s backpack is on the chair.

We also use 's when the possessor is a plural noun that doesn’t end in s.

• The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

• She writes for a children’s magazine.

When a plural noun ends in s, the apostrophe is placed after the s (s’).

• This is a picture of my grandparents’ house.

• Our neighbour’s car is new. She bought it last week.

• Our neighbours’ car is new. They bought it last week.

When a singular noun ends in s, we usually use 's.

• Chris’s laptop needs to be repaired.

• He collects Dickens’s works.

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