The English language is constantly evolving, which is a good thing. As our culture, technological strides, slang, and many other factors keep changing, so does the language. We must be aware of the little changes made and implement them to the best of our abilities. 

English has become flexible. Flexibility doesn’t mean that it completely ignores what is and what is not. It is good that we try to maintain and continue some of the standards that have remained consistent. 

For example, let’s consider capitalization. With how much the language has evolved, the rules of capitalization have remained consistent for many years. So, we must keep the standards and apply the changes that may come up from time to time. 

So, let’s answer the question. 

Should your honor be capitlized? 

Yes, it should. When addressing somebody with a title, which your honor is, you have to capitalize. So, it should be “Your Honor.” 

This title capitalization applies to almost every situation that involves addressing people with their titles in the English language. 

This post contains useful information on the issue of capitalization. Read on!

Rules Of Capitalization 

It may be difficult to keep up with all that is going on in the English language, which would not be your fault because a lot is changing.

Capitalization has had almost the same rules for years, so it is easy to remember and apply them. So,  rest assured it will remain consistent, at least for the most part. 

Capitalizing The First Letter In A Sentence 

This rule is most likely the easiest rule to remember. It doesn’t require beating around the bush or complexities. It is straightforward. If you’re going to write any sentence, the first sentence should be in capital letters. Check out all the sentences in this post so far as an example. 

Proper Nouns And Adjectives 

It would be best if you capitalized Proper Nouns always. Proper Nouns are specific things, places, or people. That is the main difference between a common noun and a proper noun. 

For example 

Common noun: boy 

Proper Noun: John

You have to capitalize a common noun, but that depends on if and only if it is at the beginning of a sentence. 

Proper Nouns and their categories:

Names of people: Paul, Joseph, Mary, Linda, Carrie, etc

Cities, countries, streets, places in general: Alaska, Belgium, Africa, Seychelles, Oxford Street, Manhattan Avenue, etc

Schools, colleges, and universities: Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Boston College, etc

Nationalities and languages: French, Dutch, English, etc 

Religious texts and gods: Budha, the Bible, Quran, etc. 

Names of mountains, hills: Kilimanjaro, Mount Everest, etc

Names of buildings, monuments, bridges, etc.:  Statue of liberty, the Outerbridge Crossing, Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, etc

Periods and events: the Second World War, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, etc

Names of institutions and groups: Red Cross Society, Republican Party, the Government, Department of Justice, etc

Companies: Starbucks, Mercedes, McDonald’s, etc

Name of bodies of water: Bodies of water include lakes, rivers, oceans, seas, creeks, and streams. An example is the Atlantic Ocean, Muscogee Creek, etc. 

Proper Adjectives describe Nouns. Examples include:

Adjectives got from Religions: Christian, Islam, and Buddhist. 

Adjectives based on names of places:  Nigerian, Hungarian, Irish, American, etc

Adjectives from Names: Shakespeareans, Darwinian, etc. 

Almost all proper nouns can form proper adjectives. In addition, you shouldn’t capitalize prefixes attached to the Proper Adjectives—for example, post-Shakespeareans. Also, it would be best if you did not capitalize hyphenated words, for example, Irish-born. 

The Pronoun “I” 

It would be best to write the first word of Pronouns at the beginning of any sentence in capital letters. “I” as a word in any sentence should be written in capital letters. Whether it is at the end or in the middle, or at the beginning, it should be capitalized. 

For example 

I don’t know what I want yet. 

John and I will meet up for drinks later. 

I have run out of ideas. 

He said he would call, so I’d wait. 

The First Word In A Quote 

Only capitalize the first word in a quote if the quoted words make up a complete sentence. Capitalize that first letter of a quoted sentence even if it is in a larger sentence. Don’t capitalize phrases, especially if it fits easily into the unquoted sentence. 

Capitalize: He said, “The salesperson would let you know,” but he didn’t. 

Don’t capitalize: The man told me that the salesperson would “let you know,” but he didn’t.

Capitalize: Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.” 

Don’t capitalize: Albert Einstein said doing the “same thing” repeatedly and “expecting” an event result is insanity. 

People’s Titles 

You don’t just capitalize People’s names (their first, middle, and last names); you capitalize whatever suffixes that come with it—for example, Alexander the Great, Michael Jr. 

It would be best if you also capitalized People’s titles. It might be in front of their names (Mr, Mrs, Dr), or it might be something people call them because of their position. 

So, you capitalize People’s titles if it is before their names or if  it is in place of their names (Your Honor) 

Capitalize: I worked under the tutelage of Human Resource manager Mary. 

Don’t capitalize: Mary is different from the other human resource managers. 

Capitalize: I like President Barack Obama 

Don’t capitalize: Barack Obama became president on this day. 

This Capitalizing of titles also goes for family titles like a cousin, uncle, mother, father, etc. But, you shouldn’t capitalize if you’re not using the title as a name.

Capitalize: Hi Cousin, what are your plans for today? 

Don’t capitalize: I told my cousin about the event. 

Capitalize: Uncle Eric is my favorite person right now. 

Don’t capitalize: My uncle is sad. 

Books and movie titles: 

Generally, you capitalize the titles of books, poems, movies, and creative work, except it, is stated otherwise. In the book’s title, you should capitalize the first and last words, verbs, nouns, and adjectives. 

However, you don’t capitalize conjunctions (and, but, for) or articles (a, an, the). Prepositions with less than three or three letters in them (in, at, on) are on that list too. 

Examples of books and movie titles:

Spider-man: Far from Home 

Night at the Museum 

A few good Men

Holidays, days, and months:

It would be best if you always capitalize the days and months of the year, even when they are written in abbreviations. Also, holidays are not an exception. Capitalize holidays when you write them. 

For example:

Tuesday 

Christmas 

Thanksgiving 

January 

October 

December 

Ramadan 

Labor Day 

Fourth of July 

Initials and acronyms: 

When the first letters of each word come together to form another word, it is called an acronym. It would be best if you capitalized acronyms and also pronounced them as a single word. 

Examples

Federación internacional de futbol Asociación – FIFA 

National Aeronautics and space administration-NASA

Initials are different from acronyms only because you pronounce them as they are and not as one word. 

United Kingdom-UK

United States of America-USA 

Federal Bureau of Investigation-FBI 

Lastly, you capitalize the Initials of a person’s name if they go by the first letter of each of their names. 

MLK- Martin Luther King 

JFK- John Fitzgerald Kennedy 

The closing of a letter: 

The farewell words at the closing of every letter should have a capital letter at the beginning. The same way you begin every word in a sentence with capital letters, that is the same way you start the first word at the closing of your letter with capital letters. 

For example 

Yours truly 

Sincerely 

When you sign off with your names, don’t forget to capitalize as well. 

When Shouldn’t I Capitalize? 

Here are times when you shouldn’t capitalize:

Don’t capitalize common nouns:

There is a difference between college and Boston College. One is a common noun, while the other is a proper noun. Common nouns shouldn’t start with capital letters. There is a difference between the ocean and the Pacific Ocean. When it is the known name, don’t capitalize it unless it is specific or at the beginning of a sentence. 

Don’t capitalize directions:

When giving somebody directions, you shouldn’t capitalize. 

Don’t capitalize seasons:

The Capitalization of seasons is a common mistake. I believe it comes up often because people assume that we should do the same for seasons since we capitalize days and months. Don’t capitalize the four seasons (summer, autumn, spring, or winter) unless they are part of a proper noun or used at the beginning of a sentence. 

Don’t capitalize birthdays:

Yes, birthdays and anniversaries are huge! But unless you’re spelling the words entirely in capital letters, you don’t need to capitalize on the birthday. 

So, except you’re doing this: HAPPY BIRTHDAY (which people do a lot, by the way), the correct thing should be, Happy birthday or Happy anniversary. 

Conclusion 

The answer to the question should “your honor” be written in capital letters comes from the fact that titles are always in capital letters (the first word in each title). So, it is Your Honor. 

Capitalizing the right way would change the face of your writing and also score you more points in the English language. You might not get it correct all the time, but practice makes perfect. So, put in the effort in your writing and watch perfection become a reality. 

This post offers an overview of capitalizing. It will equip you with knowledge of what you should capitalize and what you shouldn’t.