Capitalization of Common or Proper Nouns


1. During the battle of the bulge, pope Paul signalled to the masses gathered at the vatican that he was indeed praying for the messiah to liberate us from evil.

Corrected version: During the Battle of the Bulge, Pope Paul signalled to the masses gathered at the Vatican that he was indeed praying for the Messiah to liberate us from evil.

Explanation:

a) the Battle of the Bulge should be capitalized because it is the name of a particular historical battle (see military terms below)

b) Pope Paul names a specific person by title (see titles and offices below)

c) the Vatican names a specific place (see place names below)

d) the Messiah should be capitalized because it names a specific deity/person (see religious names and terms below)


All of the following should always be capitalized in English:


For more rules on capitalization, see Purdue's Online Writing Lab