Are School Subjects Capitalized? When to Capitalize Them?

Proper writing is essential as it helps make your message meaningful and clear. But the rules of English writing are numerous and can be confusing, especially when dealing with the capitalization rules. The common question is, are school subjects capitalized?

When writing school subjects, the general English rule is the subject should not be capitalized. But it is important to note that the English language has many rules and exceptions, and in some instances, you will be required to capitalize the school subjects.

You need to take your time to understand the English rule on capitalization. The numerous writing rules can be overwhelming if you are not into detailed English. You will be able to engage in written communication more easily if you are willing to learn. This article will elaborate more on the various rules of capitalizing the school subjects.

Rules for Capitalizing School Subjects

School subjects are common nouns and when writing them, follow the English rule of writing common nouns. If you are not familiar with the rule, it states that common nouns are not given any special consideration when writing English words, and that is why there is no need to capitalize them. 

Common nouns are not given any special consideration when writing them because they are not specific to anything, place, or person to understand common nouns better. The same case applies when writing school subjects since they are common nouns and are not specific to a person or place. With that in mind, when writing, there is no need to capitalize them. The rule of thumb is school subjects should be written using a lowercase.

Example sentences:

• I am excited to study art in my new school.
• He studied geometry during the summer holiday.
• He found a math tutor and improved drastically during the next semester.

Rules-Based On Types of School Subjects

You also need to adhere to the sentence writing rule when writing school subjects. That means if the subject you are discussing comes at the beginning of a sentence, then you should capitalize it. 

The proper way of writing English sentences is by capitalizing at the beginning of each new sentence. Regardless of whether the sentence starts with a proper or an improper noun, you need to apply this sentence rule when you write.

Capitalizing the first words in a sentence is one of the most straightforward capitalization rules since there is no exception. So, each time you write school subjects at the beginning of a sentence, make sure that you capitalize them. That helps the reader know that they are reading a new sentence and idea.

Example sentences:

• Math tutors always charge a high fee for their service.
• Geography, at times, can be hard to understand.
• Music is her favorite subject.

Exceptions for Capitalizing School Subjects

School subjects can sometimes be proper nouns depending on how you use them in a sentence. In such instances, then you will have to capitalize them.

It might be confusing how school subjects can change from ordinary to proper nouns. The best way to know when the school subjects are proper nouns or common nouns is the type of message that you are passing along. For instance, when discussing general information about school subjects, they are not specific to anything, place, or person. So you will not need to capitalize it.

Examples of Common Noun School Subjects in Sentences

• The music teacher will not be in today.
• The literature class will take the exam next week.
• The chemistry lab lit fire because students did not follow the proper procedure when doing their experiments.

Examples of Proper Noun School Subjects In Sentences

• She decided to take Biology 101.
• He had a hard time during his first year in college because he took Educational Psychology and Physics 301.
• Most of the students who took Algebra 2 failed because their teacher was not keen on teaching.

Some Edge Cases When Capitalizing School Subjects

An example of an edge case when capitalizing school subjects is when the name or the subject you are writing about is a language. This is because languages are proper nouns, and thus, they should be capitalized. In addition, languages are the proper nouns since they represent nationalities.

Example sentences:

• She took French last semester, but she will be taking Spanish this semester.
• Chinese is the least popular subject in our school.
• I am preparing for my Latin exam.

More Alternative Rules When Capitalizing School Subjects

The other alternative rule when capitalizing the school subjects is talking about a particular subject as an academic degree.

Generally, academic degrees should not be capitalized unless the full name of the degree is used. When writing a full name of a degree, you might be required to write a school subject. Since the subject mentioned is specific to the academic degree, it becomes a proper noun. When writing, you will need to keep up with the English rule of proper nouns on capitalization.

Note that general reference of the academic degree you are talking about, such as doctoral, master’s, or bachelor’s, should not be capitalized. But if you are specific about the degree, then the rule is that it should be capitalized.

Example sentences:

• I finally got my Master of Science after taking the course three times.
• It was surprising that despite graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, he pursued a career in sports.
• Only a few ladies have a Bachelor of Science in mathematics.

10 Examples of Correct School Subjects Word Use In Sentences

Reading different sentences with the school subjects and keenly looking at how they are used will help you better understand capitalization rules. Practicing is the key to learning and understanding the rules of capitalization. Here are examples of sentences to help you learn more about capitalization rules.

1. I am thinking of dropping my philosophy classes this semester.
2. It was tough for him when he was told to pick one language class, yet he loves both Spanish and French.
3. Her brother advised her to study psychology in college, and she is happy she took his advice.
4. My cousin is also taking Philosophy of Language in college, and he loves the course pretty much.
5. Jennifer was assigned to write a personal narrative for her Language Arts class, so she used some personal narrative essay examples for inspiration.
6. I was never a fan of math, yet it is the only subject I passed.
7. They both took Math 301 in college, but Steve loves the subject more.
8. Music lessons made high school interesting; thanks to Dr. Martin for excellent tutoring.
9. I finally got my Doctoral in Consumer Math.
10. Photography classes require each student to have the proper tools.
11. Her love for Japanese culture made her take Japanese in college.

Conclusion

The rules of English writing are numerous, especially when it comes to capitalization. In fact, if you dig deeper into these rules, it might seem like a new language you are learning. However, when you understand the rules, you will notice that everything is not very difficult. All you need is to take the time to read through the article several times and practice what you are reading in your daily life.

Though it might take some time to learn everything, you will be incorporating the words into your writing with ease once you do. If you are writing about school subjects and feel uncertain about writing them, you can get back to the article and reread it. Next time when someone asks, are school subjects capitalized? You will always be happy to explain everything in between.