Capitalization For Children
Knowledge of a language always begins with sounds. Then we associate those sounds with the letters that represent them. And finally, we form words to express ideas that, little by little, evolve into increasingly complex sentences. It sounds easy, but it is not so easy for children to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase.
Capital letters are easier to learn because they are cleaner, that is, they are not linked or have any type of filigree (serifs). But the challenge begins when children make sentences and short texts according to the correct use of capital letters. At that point, they begin to learn the spelling rules, and here we have collected the most important ones.
Capitalization of proper names
The first use of capital letters children will learn is that all proper nouns are capitalized. But what is a proper name? How can they learn to differentiate it? These are the most common examples.
Names of people
What is the name of each member of the family? And his friends? All names and surnames of any person will always begin with a capital letter. So one of the first things children learn is to spell their names correctly.
In addition, the names of people can also be found in the names of some streets or subway stations, for example. And, on the other hand, we must also mention the pets, whose name will always begin with a capital letter.
Capital letters and geography
Another very simple rule: any continent, country, city or town is capitalized. It does not matter where it is or how big or small it is: they are all equal before capital letters. In the same way, all the names of mountains, rivers, capes, gulfs and beaches will begin with a capital letter.
Finally, we cannot forget about large-scale geography, that is, space. Each planet, satellite, or star has its own name. This will help us children to differentiate Earth (soil) from Earth (our planet).
Capitalization and punctuation
If explained clearly, children should not find great difficulty in this capitalization. At each beginning of a sentence or after a period, a capital letter must be started.
They may write everything in lowercase at first out of inertia, since uppercase is less used. However, the main question is usually how to construct a sentence.
What does a sentence have to have? When it ends? In the first steps of writing, a sentence consists of subject (person or thing), verb (action), and predicate (optional additional information). Each sentence will be an idea that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. At first, children will have many short sentences that they will later learn to relate to each other.
Common capitalization mistakes
Months and days
Whether it is writing these words in isolation or looking at them on a calendar, no problem. But what happens when they are inside a sentence? That’s when the doubt assails us. Unless they are the first word of the sentence, months and days are always written in lowercase.
This doubt usually arises due to the influence of English, since these always begin with a capital letter. Since children start studying English at an early age, it is normal for them to sometimes mix up the spelling rules.
Uppercase with or without accent
Grandparents and some parents often have this doubt when they help children with their homework. However, the rule is clear: if a word must have an accent, it must appear, whether it is uppercase or lowercase.
When using typewriters, it was often not possible to capitalize the accent. However, now there is no reason not to put it, either handwritten or on a computer.
Titles
There is a tendency to capitalize the entire title or the first letter of each word. It is used under the influence of English or with the aim of making the title more attractive. Therefore, unless there are proper names, only the first letter needs to be capitalized.
