Common and proper nouns: the difference and the capital letter rules

Capitals: names of people and places, days, months, festivals, languages, nationalities, organisations, and titles used before a name (Dr Rao, Professor Ahmed). Words made from proper nouns also take a capital: India gives Indian food, Shakespeare gives Shakespearean.

No capitals: seasons (summer, monsoon), school subjects other than languages (maths, history, but English), and compass directions used as directions ("drive north for ten miles"). A direction takes a capital when it is part of a name: North America, South Asia.

Job titles used without a name usually take a small letter: "the doctor", "a professor". Style guides differ on high offices such as "the Prime Minister", so follow one style consistently.

A word can change type with its use. "I study at a university" uses a common noun; "I study at the University of Karachi" uses a proper noun. "My mum is a nurse" is common; "Can you help me, Mum?" uses Mum as a name, so it takes a capital.

Most proper nouns take no article (India, Rahul, Lake Geneva), but some do, such as rivers, oceans, mountain ranges and plural country names: the Indus, the Pacific, the Alps, the Philippines.

• Wrong: I will visit delhi in january.

  Right: I will visit Delhi in January.

  Names of places and months are proper nouns, so they take capitals.

• Wrong: My favourite Season is Winter.

  Right: My favourite season is winter.

  Seasons are common nouns, so they take small letters.

• Wrong: She speaks english and tamil fluently.

  Right: She speaks English and Tamil fluently.

  Languages always take a capital letter.

• Wrong: I study at a University in Lahore.

  Right: I study at a university in Lahore.

  A university is any university, so it is a common noun. Use a capital only in a full name.

• Wrong: The India is a large country.

  Right: India is a large country.

  Most single-word country names take no article.

Missing capitals on names, nationalities and languages look careless in IELTS Writing and PTE Write Essay, and a written answer is judged on accuracy. In IELTS Listening form completion, names of streets, people and companies are often spelled out for you, so write them exactly as you hear them. In essays, avoid capitalising ordinary nouns for emphasis, such as "Education" or "Technology" in the middle of a sentence.

Try each one, then open it to check your answer.

1. 1. Common or proper? "festival"

   Common.

   It is a general word for any festival.

2. 2. Correct this: "we flew to dubai on friday."

   We flew to Dubai on Friday.

   The first word, the city and the day all need capitals.

3. 3. Capital or not? "I enjoy ___ (Maths / maths) more than ___ (English / english)."

   maths; English

   School subjects take a small letter, but languages always take a capital.

4. 4. Is "Indian" in "Indian food" a proper noun?

   No, it is a proper adjective.

   It describes food, but it comes from a proper noun, so it keeps the capital.

5. 5. Correct this: "My Uncle works for a Bank in Dhaka."

   My uncle works for a bank in Dhaka.

   Uncle and bank are common nouns here. Only Dhaka is a proper noun.

• Nouns
• Abstract nouns
• Collective nouns
• Articles (a, an, the)
• Possessive nouns
• All grammar lessons
• Everyday English sentences