United States
Hong KongCapitalization
Skill 12 reads "Demonstrate command of standard capitalization". It is a whole skill of twelve, which is more weight than it sounds. Almost every item turns on one distinction: a proper noun names a specific thing and takes a capital, a common noun names a category and does not.
Capitalization gets its own skill in the rule, level with punctuation and spelling. That is a hint worth taking.
The distinction that decides most items
| Capital | No capital | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Principal Ruiz | the principal | Title before a name is part of the name |
| Lincoln High School | a high school | Specific institution versus category |
| the South | drive south | Region versus direction |
| Spanish | mathematics | Language from a proper noun versus a general subject |
| Algebra I | algebra | Named course versus field of study |
| Monday, March | spring, semester | Days and months are proper; seasons are not |
Read the right-hand column downward. Every pair is the same question asked six ways: is this the name of one particular thing, or the name of a kind of thing.
Titles before and after a name
Before a name, a title is capitalized because it has become part of the name. After a name, or standing alone, it is a common noun.
- Superintendent Alvarez spoke.
- Maria Alvarez, the superintendent, spoke.
- The superintendent spoke.
One title, three sentences, one capital. Family words follow the same logic: I called Mom uses it as a name, I called my mom does not.
Which sentence is capitalized correctly?
- Every Spring, Principal Ruiz meets the High School Math Department.
- Every spring, principal Ruiz meets the high school math department.
- Every spring, Principal Ruiz meets the high school math department.
- Every Spring, principal Ruiz meets the High School math Department.
Titles of works
Capitalize the first word, the last word, and everything in between except articles, coordinating conjunctions and short prepositions.
The Sound and the Fury. The second the is capitalized nowhere except at the start, and and stays lowercase. This convention shows up more on the essay than in a multiple-choice item, but it belongs to the same skill.
Things that look like they should be capitalized and are not
- Seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter
- General subjects: history, biology, mathematics, unless the subject is a language
- Directions used as directions: turn north
- Job titles standing alone: the superintendent, the teacher, the coach
- Generic terms after a proper noun: the Mississippi river becomes the Mississippi River only when River is part of the official name
Languages are the odd one. History stays lowercase and Spanish does not, because Spanish comes from the name of a country. That is the only reason, and it is enough.
How much time it deserves
Half an hour, once. It is one of twelve skills under the largest competency on the subtest and there is no depth to it: the proper-versus-common test settles nearly everything, and the exceptions fit on a card.
Our concession on this page is that we cannot show you a real item. The Test Information Guides that carry sample questions live on the testing vendor's site, they are its copyright, and we neither hold them nor reproduce them. Everything above is built from the rule's skill statement and from standard American convention.
Common questions
Are seasons capitalized on the FTCE?
No. Spring, summer, fall and winter are common nouns and stay lowercase. Days of the week and months of the year are proper nouns and take capitals, which is the contrast most capitalization items are built on.
When is a job title capitalized?
When it sits immediately before a name and functions as part of it: Principal Ruiz. Standing alone or following the name it is a common noun, so "Maria Ruiz, the principal" and "the principal spoke" both stay lowercase.
Is a school subject capitalized?
Only if it derives from a proper noun or names a specific course. Mathematics, history and biology stay lowercase; Spanish and English take capitals because they come from country names; Algebra I is capitalized as the title of a particular course.
How much of subtest 826 is capitalization?
It is one of the twelve skills under Knowledge of standard English conventions. FLDOE publishes 30 questions for the subtest and no split beneath it, so no per-skill count exists. Treat it as a short, high-certainty topic rather than a large one.