Making sense of capitalisation: week 4 – capitalising common nouns

Kat Taylor
Apr 8, 2020
2 min read

Updated: Mar 1, 2024

A common noun is the generic name for a person, place or thing in a class or group. For example, boy, city and cat are common nouns, whereas James, Sheffield and Felix are the proper nouns that name the specific person, place or thing.

A common noun is not capitalised unless it begins a sentence or appears in a title, unlike proper nouns which are always capitalised.

It's usually fairly obvious if a specific person, place or thing is being named, yet, many writers wrongly capitalise common nouns. Understanding the difference between a common noun and a proper noun will help you know when to capitalise and when not to.

So, time for a quick quiz! Can you tell which of these examples are common nouns and which are proper nouns?

1) Never stroke a tiger, it will eat you for breakfast.

2) "The name's Tigger! T-I-double-guh-ER!"

3) Who was the first president of the United States?

4) A girl came to see you earlier.

5) I'm learning to fly an aeroplane.

6) I'm learning to fly a Spitfire.

Here's a clue: the common nouns are NOT capitalised.

Example number 3 is a good one because the word president could be a common noun or a proper noun, depending on whether it is naming a specific president.

"According to a recent survey, President Abraham Lincoln is the highest ranking US president of all time."

In this example, president is used as both a common noun and a proper noun. Can you tell the difference? It is first used as a proper noun (where it refers to a specific person), and later it is used as a common noun (where it refers to a non-specific person).

I hope this article has made things clearer for you. If you are still feeling baffled, consider having your writing proofread by a professional like me.