https://www.apstylebook.com/ap_stylebook/capitalization

capitalization 


In general, avoid unnecessary capitals. Use a capital letter only if you can justify it by one of the principles listed here.

 
PROPER NOUNS:
 
 
Capitalize nouns for a specific person, place, or
thing.  That means names. These are considered proper nouns:
 
Alicia,  AmericaBoston,  Peru, England.
 
Capitalize the names of companies and the official names of organizations and schools:
 
The City College of New York,  Google, Apple, NBC 
 
 
 
PROPER NAMES: 
 
Capitalize common nouns such as partyriverstreet and west when they are part of the full name for a person, place or thing:
 
Democratic PartyMississippi RiverFleet StreetWest Virginia.
 
Lowercase these common nouns when they stand alone in subsequent references: 
 
the partythe riverthe street.
 
 
Lowercase the common noun elements of names in plural uses: 
 
the Democratic and Republican parties, Main and State streets, lakes Erie and Ontario. Exception: plurals of formal titles with full names are capitalized: 
 
Presidents Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barak Obama
 
POPULAR NAMES: 
 
Some places and events lack officially designated proper names but have popular names that give them the same states as a proper name:
 
the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side, Wall Street (referring to the financial district.) 
 
The principle applies also to shortened versions of the proper names of one-of-a-kind events: 
 
the Series (for the World Series)the Derby(for the Kentucky Derby).
 
This practice should not, however, be interpreted as a license to ignore the general practice of lowercasing the common noun elements of a name when they stand alone.
 
DERIVATIVES:
 
 Capitalize words that are derived from a proper noun and still depend on it for their meaning: AmericanChristianChristianityEnglishFrenchMarxismShakespearean.
 
Lowercase words that are derived from a proper noun but no longer depend on it for their meaning:
 
french fries, venetian blind, pasteurize 
 
SENTENCES:
 
Capitalize the first word in a statement that stands as a sentence.
 
In poetry, capital letters are used for the first words of some phrases that would not be capitalized in prose.
 
COMPOSITIONS:
 
Capitalize the principal words in the names of books, movies, plays, poems, operas, songs, radio and television programs, works of art, etc:
 
Eternals, The Power of the Dog, Licorice Pizza, Dune, The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor,  Still Got It, 
 
 
TITLES:
 
 Capitalize formal titles when used immediately before a name.
 
The City College of New York President Vincent Boudreau, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, 
 
Lowercase formal titles when used alone or in constructions that set them off from a name by commas.
Use lowercase at all times for terms that are job descriptions rather than formal titles.
 
Vincent Boudreau, the City College of New York president said,  Eric Adams, New York’s mayor said, 
 
 

 

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