Common Capitalization Errors to Avoid

Capitalizing proper nouns and names may be second nature to you, but some common capitalization “rules” can easily trip you up. Have you made any of these capitalization mistakes recently?

Roles vs. Titles

Confusing roles with titles is a common capitalization mistake. Roles, for one, are not capitalized. But titles are.

Roles: manager, director, principal, student, doctor, queen

Titles: Hiring Manager, Communications Director

💡 If you’re addressing someone by a job title, capitalize it (eg. Dr. John Smith, Queen Elizabeth II, President Joe Biden, etc.)

If the role comes after the person’s name, and you’re simply describing their job title, use lowercase (eg. Dr. John Smith is a great pediatrician.)

In Acronyms or Shortened Forms

Words are often shortened or abbreviated. When that happens, the shortened form is often written out in capital letters; however, the long form may not need initial capitals.

Here are a few examples:

Southeast

• Shortened form: SE

• Incorrect long form: South East

• Correct long form: Southeast

Australian dollar

• Shortened form: AUD

• Incorrect long form: Australian Dollar

• Correct long form: Australian dollar

goods and services tax

• Shortened form: GST

• Incorrect long form: Goods and Services Tax

• Correct long form: goods and services tax

In Titles

Titles are often capitalized, meaning that the words in the title often take an initial capital. However, not all the words should be capitalized. Joining words and articles like “and”, “the”, “into”, “of”, “a”, or “an” should not be capitalized, unless they are the first word in the title.

For example:

• Carbon Emissions in Indonesian Cities

• Annual Report of the Entertainment Industry

• Roles of Politics and Economy in America

• In the Great Barrier Reef

Elevating the Importance of a Word

If you want to make a word stand out in a sentence or paragraph, randomly capitalizing the word is not grammatically correct—especially in an academic report or essay. Remember, only proper nouns should be capitalized.

If you want to draw attention to a particular word, try italicizing or underlining the word instead. However, use them sparingly and only according to what kind of paper or article you are writing.