“After diwali, we look forward to christmas,” wrote Divya. “Why does that looks wrong?” she said, frowning at her composition.
“Festivals take capital letters,” pointed out Susan.
Divya sighed. “Please give me some tips on how to avoid capital confusion.”
“Every sentence begins with a capital letter,” said Susan. “Sorry, of course you know that! It's as obvious as the capital for the pronoun 'I'. Remember that every word in an address starts with a capital. For example: 4, Ramappa Road/ Brijesh Nagar/ Mysore.”
“Proper nouns muddle me,” said Divya. “I'd certainly use capital letters for 'Susan' and for cities and countries, but what about days of the week?”
“Capitals for those and for months of the year,” said Susan. “Now, note the following. We use capital letters for languages and nationalities---a Chinese vase or the German tongue---but when the proper noun isn't important in relation to a word, the capital isn't necessary. Thus, 'v' not 'V' in venetian blinds.”
“What about ranks and titles?”
“No capitals, unless they accompany names, as in Colonel Rao or Queen Elizabeth. Now, let's turn to books, where there's the danger of over-capitalization.”
“What do you mean?” said Divya surprised. “Surely, both words in 'Black Beauty' must have capital letters.”
Susan nodded. “That's true of 'Little Women' as well, but what about 'The Wind in the Willows'? Only the key words---'Wind' and 'Willows'---require capitals. 'In' doesn't need one, and neither does the second 'the'. The first 'the' does, only because it is the first word of the title.”
“This is Capital punishment!” exclaimed Divya. “My head is reeling.”
“In conclusion,” said Susan laughing, “shun small letters in acronyms like UN, CRY, and NATO.”
Replace small letters with capitals where necessary:
1. You must read 'cat in clover'.
2. he thinks i should go out.
3. She told me to watch bbc this monday.
4. There is no finer officer than captain singh.
5. Is holi celebrated in march?
Answers: 1. Cat, Clover 2. He, I 3. BBC , Monday 4. Captain Singh5. Holi, March
