Do You Capitalize Majors When Writing? Learn The Rules

When you are working on a text, you want to be sure you are familiar with all the grammar rules you need to follow. But sometimes, especially when it comes to capitalizations, rules are pretty difficult to remember or know the exceptions. But lucky you, we are here to give you some help with a common question most people have asked about capitalization, do we capitalize “majors” when writing?

The answer to this question is short; no. We do not capitalize majors, minors, academic disciplines, or courses of study, except for languages such as Spanish or French. This is because majors and other educational programs and courses are not proper nouns. We do not capitalize common nouns.

Examples:

1. I helped them with business administration, which was my major until I dropped out.
2. Jen, the valedictorian of her class, will attend New York University and major in English and arts.
3. Greg wanted to major in physics, but he failed Physics I and changed to law school.
4. Loren majored in journalism at the University of Pennsylvania.
5. Mike majored in history but retired from school in 2010 to join the NBA draft.
6. Anne Winters majored in fashion design at Parsons before deciding to stay in New York to work as a magazine stylist.
7. Jenn majored in Spanish literature at Stanford but dropped school to go to Hollywood to pursue her acting career.
8. Caroline majored in chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin but decided to switch to an art major before dropping out after she gave birth.
9. Rachel is studying marketing, and Jennifer is majoring in culinary arts at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
10. After graduating from high school, being the valedictorian of her class, Marie attended Harvard, majoring in medicine as one of the best of her class.

Capitalization Rules

When writing down letters, articles, essays, and pretty much any paperwork, it is crucial to follow the capitalization rules correctly. Following the rules helps to stylize the text and make it look more professional.

Below, you can see the rules of capitalization as well as some examples.

The First Letter in a Sentence

We should always capitalize the first letter of a sentence. This is the most basic rule of capitalization. It has no complications or exceptions; just remember, you should always capitalize the first letter of a sentence.

• Traveling to new places is scary and exciting.
• As long as you follow the rules, everything will be fine.

The Pronoun “I.”

It would be best if you always capitalize the pronoun “I,” even when we do not capitalize the other pronouns. For example:

• Whether he is going or not, I think we should still go.
• If you start that master’s degree in New York, I will come along with you.

Capitalize Specific Places, Proper Nouns, and Proper Adjectives

We always capitalize proper nouns, no matter where they are located in a sentence.

When talking about proper nouns, we refer to:

• Names of specific places like countries, cities, continents, mountains, hills, rivers, oceans, streets, buildings, monuments, bridges, etc.
• All languages (Japanese, Spanish, French, Russian).
• Names of institutes, groups, organizations, and academic institutions such as schools, colleges, and universities.
• Trademarks and companies’ names.
• Events and periods in time.
• Texts about religion and God’s names.
• People’s names.

Proper adjectives could be:

• Nationality or based on the name of a place (Californian, Mexican, American).
• To describe something is similar to people’s work or movements, using their name as a base (Shakespearean, Darwinian).
• Coming from religion (Jewish, Islamic).

See Also: Are School Subjects Capitalized?

Writing and Work Titles

When you are working on an article, post, book, movie, or any artistic work, you should capitalize some words in the titles. Here is a list of the words that should have the first letter capitalized:

• The first word
• Nouns
• Verbs
• Adjectives
• The last word

However, the following words should not be capitalized in titles:

• Articles (a, an, the)
• Conjunctions (for, but, and, so)
• Prepositions with no more than three letters (in, on, and at)

On Quotations, We Capitalize the First Letter in Some Cases

When quoting a whole phrase or sentence, we should always capitalize the first letter of the sentence. But when quoting a fragment or piece of a complete sentence, we do not capitalize it.

For example:

• The first thing she said about her wedding was, “This is my dream come true. I feel happier than ever”.
• She said her wedding was her “dream come true” and that she felt “happier than ever.”

The Titles of People Should Be Capitalized

When we refer to people by using their title or label, we should also capitalize the suffix or the title they go by alongside the name. When addressing people by their position or family title, we should also capitalize only when it is part of the name.

Suffixes examples:

• Jr.
• Sr.
• The Amazing
• Princess of Power

Titles examples:

• Dr.
• Mr.
• Mrs

People’s positions examples:

• Major John Smith
• Executive Designer Anne Miller

Examples of family titles:

• Grandpa Noah
• Uncle Tom
• Aunt Deborah

Initials, Initialisms, and Acronyms Should Be Capitalized

Initials, initialisms, and acronyms are always capitalized with no exceptions.

Initialisms examples:

• UK
• CD
• US
• NSA
• DVD
• KFC

Examples of acronyms:

• MAC
• NASA
• HIPAA
• FIFA
• AIDS

Example of initials:

• JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy)

Holidays, Months, and Days

We learned this one organically by looking at the calendar. Days, months, and holidays should have their first letter capitalized. Here are some examples:

• I will visit my doctor next Tuesday.
• My family’s Sundays consist of going to church and then having a family reunion with my grandparents. We have lunch and play movies and games.
• She will return to the country next Saturday.
• Greg quit last March, and he is still unemployed.
• Classes are intended to start next August.
• Her boyfriend is planning a month of surprises in November because it is her birthday.
• I am visiting my family in New Jersey for Thanksgiving.
• I have a lot of plans for Christmas.
• We like to dress up and get crazy makeup for Halloween.
• Last New Year’s Eve was calm and quiet.
• This Fourth of July was the best ever. We had a BBQ party with a pool and a beautiful beach sight at the Hamptons.

Exceptions

As usual, there are some occasions where rules seem not to apply. Here you have a list of the exceptions when it comes to capitalizing words.

We Should Not Capitalize Common Nouns

When speaking in general terms, we do not capitalize nouns such as bridge, high school, institution, etc. These are general and common nouns, and we are not referring to a specific place by its name.

We Should Not Capitalize After Colons, Semicolons, and Commas

We never capitalize after a comma, semicolon, or colon unless it is a proper noun. Because a comma does not end a sentence, it is unneeded to capitalize the word that follows it.

We Never Capitalize Directions

There are some exceptions to this specific rule, such as capitalizing east, north, west, and south in some instances. However, we usually do not capitalize directions when describing them.

Birthdays and Anniversaries Should Not Be Capitalized.

If we talk about the proper way of writing anniversaries, birthdays, or any special occasion when writing, we should not capitalize, especially if we are congratulating someone. But if you are making a banner or a cake topper, this one exception is flexible enough to let you get crazy and capitalize as you like.

Final Thoughts

After reading this article, there is no doubt you are an expert at capitalization. Whether writing a letter, a text message, or an email, be sure to remember all the rules stated above. This will allow you to always convey our message properly. If ever in doubt, you can always come back to this article for assistance.