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< Using Capital Letters

Using Capital Letters: Using Capital Letters #2

Dennis Oliver
Using Capital Letters (#2)

Capital (or upper-case) letters are important in English,
and there are many situations when you should use
them. We began our review of capitalization with five
basic situations. Here are three more common ones:

1.

Use capitals for the first letter of the greeting
(salutation) in a letter:

Dear Sally,
Dear friends,
Dear Ana and Jorge,

Dear Chairman Thompson:
Dear Ms. Sharpe:
Dear Grievance Committee:

To whom it may concern:

Notes:

a. The first letters of names are, 
of course, capitalized; so are the
first letters of titles.
b. Use a comma ( , ) after the greeting
in a friendly letter.
c. Use a colon ( : ) after the greeting
in a business letter.

2.

Also use capitals for the first letters of the
closings (endings) in letters:

Love,
Joe

Fondly,
Samir

Your friend,
Sheila

Write soon!
Anita
Sincerely,
Joseph McAllister		 Sincerely yours,
Sheila M. O'Day

Notes:

a. There is no set form for the closings
of friendly letters.
b. The most common endings for
business letters are Sincerely and
Sincerely yours.
c. Use a comma ( , ) after the closing
in both friendly and business letters.

3.

Use capitals for family terms when they are
used instead of a name or with a name:

Where's Mother?
Hello, Uncle.
I'm writing to Grandma.

Aunt Sara is in the hospital!
Grandpa Jones lives in New York City.
How's Cousin Grace?

Note:

Do not use capital letters for family terms
when they follow a possessive pronoun or
other determiner:

Where's your mother?
I talked to my uncle.
Our aunt Sara is in the hospital.
Where does his grandfather live?

Eimi became a mother last week!
Meryem has a lot of cousins.
Who's the father of this child?
The mother of the bride is crying.
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