What Is a Capitalization Test?
The capitalization test is a form of a verbal reasoning test that measures your aptitude for knowledge of capitalization, an important aspect in English grammar. This exam has varying question formats depending on the individual test, but the general idea is to test your knowledge of capitalization in the English language. This article will walk you through the basics of capitalization as well as provide tips to aid in your preparation for the capitalization test.
How to Prepare for the Capitalization Tests?
Preparation for the capitalization test should come in the form of studying capitalization rules as well as familiarizing yourself with potential question formats. The questions vary depending on the individual capitalization test, but you can gain a general idea of what to expect.
One question type you can expect involves you being presented with two identical sentences, but one has at least one capitalization mistake. Your job is to identify which sentence is correctly formatted. (Note: a variation of this question type involves being presented with up to four variations of the sentence.)
Example Question: Choose the below sentence that is capitalized correctly.
- Andrew Vanderbuilt, the vice president of the company, is known for his fluency in French.
- Andrew Vanderbuilt, the Vice president of the company, is known for his fluency in french.
Answer: The correct answer is sentence A. As you will see later in the article, you do not need to capitalize the word vice, but the word French does need to be capitalized.
Another question type you can anticipate is the multi-select question. This question format involves presenting you with 4+ different sentences and asking you to select all that are correct.
Example Question: Which of the below sentence(s) are correct? Select all that apply.
- I recently saw a movie titled 47 Meters Down.
- She said, “johnny is known to be quite the goofball.”
- The president visited Paris, France on vacation last year.
- Your next appointment is scheduled for thursday at four o’clock.
- Your Honor, I would like to ask the defending a question.
Answer: The correct sentences are A, C, and E.
The final question type we will explore gives you a sentence and asks you to identify whether or not the sentence given is correctly capitalized.
Example Question: Is this sentence correct? “Dear Evan Johannes, I regret to inform you that I will not be able to make our next appointment. Please call me to reschedule. Sincerely, dr. Brown”
- Yes, it is correct.
- No, it is incorrect.
Answer: The correct answer is B, as “Dr.” should be capitalized.
While each of these question types have many variations (again depending on the individual test), you can expect that the general idea of each of them is something you will probably see on the capitalization test. Now, in order to adequately prepare for the exam, let’s go over the basic rules of capitalization!
Capitalization Rules
When preparing for the capitalization test, the best way to get ready is to familiarize yourself with the rules surrounding capitalization. Ingraining these rules into your mind will make them habitual, making answering capitalization questions easy!
Rule One: Capitalize the first word of a document and the first word after a period.
Correct: This document will explore the nuances of aquatic engineering. This subfield gained popularity following the invention of the submarine.
Incorrect: this document will explore the nuances of aquatic engineering. this subfield gained popularity following the invention of the submarine.
Rule Two: Capitalize proper nouns and adjectives formed from proper nouns. Proper nouns are names, places, specific organizations, and initials of any of the above.
Correct: Robert Owens, CEO of the company Foraging United, is known to vacation in Florence, Italy.
Incorrect: robert owens, ceo of the company foraging united, is known to vacation in florence, italy.
All of the following things count as proper nouns: brand names, company names, days of the week, months of the year, governmental matters, historical eras, educational institutions, holidays, nicknames and epithets, landmarks, counties/cities/towns/states, countries/continents, planets, races/nationalities/tribes, religions/deity names, special occasions, and street/road names.
Rule Three: When referencing a brand name or company that purposefully includes a word beginning with a lowercase letter in their name, do not capitalize it (ex: eBay)
Rule Four: Capitalize titles used before nouns unless the title is followed by a comma.
Exceptions: Don’t capitalize titles that are used after names/in place of names. Also, out of respect, some titles are kept capitalized even if they break these rules. Examples of this are referring to the President (of the US), the Queen (of England), and the Pope.
Examples:
Governor Lewis has been in power for about a year now. He truly enjoys his job as the governor. Other governors from Virginia and Texas regularly give him advice.
Doctor Howell specializes in neurosurgery. She holds a monthly forum for other doctors to share experiences and insight.
Rule Five: Capitalize relative names when they take the place of a personal name or precede a name.
Example: Uncle Bill was supposed to call Mom today.
Rule Six: Capitalize specific geographical regions, but not compass directions.
Example: I’ve lived in the South my whole life, but we drive north once a year to visit family for the holidays.
Rule Seven: Do not capitalize the word the before proper nouns unless it’s a part of the formal title.
Example: I know you like the Grateful Dead, but I prefer The Story So Far in terms of rock bands.
Rule Eight: Always capitalize the first word in a complete quotation, even mid sentence.
Rule Nine: When referencing a title, do not capitalize the words a, an, the, for, and, nor, but, to, or, yet, so unless the title begins with one of those words.
Example: The Fault in Our Stars is a heart-wrenching novel.
Rule 10: Do not capitalize the names of school subjects unless the subject is a language.
Example: I have math before English today.
While these rules may seem like a lot, regular practice with them will make recognizing capitalization mistakes within the capitalization test easy. Let’s take a look at a fictional article excerpt full of capitalization mistakes to practice putting these rules into action.
Excerpt: Jaywalking has become an issue in the populated cities of north carolina1. Local law dictates that Pedestrians2 must follow traffic control signs and crosswalk indicators, but many city denizens choose to ignore these laws in favor of crossing streets whenever they’d like. jaywalking3 disrupts the flow of traffic, increasing safety concerns of those driving within the city. A local news person, Jane elliot4, stated, “if5 law enforcement does not get the amount of people disobeying traffic law under control, I suspect we will see a rise in pedestrian-related accidents within the next year.”
The first mistake to be found is “north carolina.” This is a proper noun (the name of a state), so both parts need to be corrected to “North Carolina” according to Rule Two. The next mistake is “Pedestrians.” While the word is a noun, it is not a proper noun, and therefore does not need to be capitalized. Similarly, “Jane elliot” is the proper first and last name of the news person being quoted, so it should be changed to “Jane Elliot.”
Superscript 3, “jaywalking” is the beginning of a sentence and should be capitalized to reflect Rule One. Finally, the beginning of the direct quote should be capitalized to reflect Rule Eight since the quote is a complete sentence.
You may encounter a selection such as the one above within the capitalization test that includes a longer excerpt and a series of questions pertaining to the capitalization within the same passage.
