Capitalization Rules
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For U of G-specific capitalization rules, see "University Names and Titles"
Government titles
Don’t capitalize government in generic references to governments, but as official entities, they are the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada.
Do not use the word Honourable to refer to cabinet ministers, judges, etc. unless writing a formal document. It should read as, Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield or Lloyd Longfield, Guelph MP.
Capitalize formal government titles when they precede a name, but place titles in front of names only with short titles
Example: Prime Minister Justin Stone, Premier Doug White, Mayor Cam Goodman
Avoid piling up adjectives in front of the person’s name, particularly for a lengthy title. Instead, place after their name
Example: Jane Smith, Minister of Pertinent Portfolio in Industry and Trade.
Use lowercase when referring to a title generically.
Example: the minister of energy, the president, Dr. Slater, professor of anthropology
Titles preceded by former, late, etc., are also lower case: former prime minister Joe Clark, late president Jimmy Carter.
All references to the current Governor General and the King are capitalized.
Headlines
Use title case and capitalize initial letters of principal words (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and the first and last words of the title as well as short verbs and nouns such as, Is, Are, Be, It, etc.)
Capitalize prepositions and conjunctions of four letters or more in headlines such as, With, Into, From.
Don’t capitalize articles (a, an, the) or prepositions and conjunctions of fewer than four letters. Capitalize these short words (for, to, at, in) only when they appear as the first or last word in a title or when they appear immediately after a colon or semicolon.
Write everything else in lower case.
Example: Prof Discovers Ways to Help Heart Failure Patients
If a title contains hyphenated words, capitalize both words.
Example: New Book Tells Story of History-Filled Guelph Guitar
If a headline or title is in French, these capitalization conventions don’t apply and only the first word is capitalized.
Titles of Creative Works
Titles of books, plays, movies, TV radio and podcast shows, newspapers, journals, albums, and names of artwork are capitalized and italicized.
Titles of academic papers, articles, theses, lectures, songs and book chapters are capitalized and placed in quotation marks.
Sacred works such as the Bible and the Qur’an are not italicized.
Italics
Ae well as the names of some creative works mentioned above, the names of ships, spacecraft, aircraft and trains and scientific names of organisms are italicized (Homo sapiens, E. coli).
Addresses
Capitalize street, road, etc., in addresses, but use lower case with plurals.
Example: She lives on College Avenue and works at Edinburgh and Stone roads.
Quotations Marks
Titles of academic papers and journal articles, book chapters, theses are enclosed in quotation marks, not italicized.
Full quotation marks are used when formatting a direct quote. All punctuation is formatted inside of quotation marks.
Do not use quotation marks for anything other than the above. It can be perceived as editorializing.
Geographical Regions
Capitalize regions that are known as specific geographical areas.
Example: Western Canada, the North or Far North, the West (region of Canada or the world), East Coast, Niagara Escarpment, the Prairies, the Western Hemisphere.
Use lower case for derivatives of these specific areas or if the words indicate mere direction or position.
Example: southern or northern Ontario, the western provinces, the western world, eastern Europe, the east coast (the shoreline).
Arctic is capitalized both as a noun and as an adjective.
Seasons
Spring, summer, fall and winter are not capitalized, even in reference to the semester: The program is launching fall 2025.
Military
Canada’s military forces are capitalized.
Example: Canadian Forces, the Forces, Canadian Navy
For other forces, use lower case when army, navy and air force are preceded by the name of the country.
Example: British air force, U.S. navy, German army
Places
Capitalize city only when referring to the incorporated entity.
Example: The City of Guelph has introduced a new bylaw.
Capitalize Earth when referring to the planet.
Example: The space shuttle returned to Earth.
Otherwise, it’s lower case.
Example: earth science.
Mars is the red planet, not the Red Planet.
Province
No initial capitalization unless part of the formal governmental title.
Example: the Province of Ontario. Otherwise, province and provincial take lower case.
Numbers
Capitalize a noun followed by a number denoting place in a numbered series.
Example: Room 447, Day 1, Part 2, Grade 3, Phase 1, Act 2, Chapter 10.
Use lower case in plural.
Example: phases 2 and 3, grades 9 to 12.
Page, paragraph, sentence, size, verse and line are all lower case when followed by a number.
Religion
All the names of religions are proper names and capitalized.
Example: Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Baha’i, etc.
Black People
Capitalize the word Black in referring to Black people.
Example: Black population, Black studies, Black person.
Web Terms
Proper forms for web terms are as follows – email, website, internet, online, home page.
Proper/Proprietary Names
Proper names that have acquired independent meaning are lower case. Proprietary trade names are capitalized.
Example: french fry, brussels sprouts, scotch whisky, Aspirin, Band-Aid, Frisbee, Kleenex, Plexiglas, Styrofoam, Velcro, Xerox
Use generic words instead of trade names when possible.
