Definition of

Capital

Writing

Capital letters are larger than lowercase letters.

The etymological origin of the capital letter that we now have to analyze in depth is found in Latin. Specifically, it emanates from the word “maisculus”, which is the result of the sum of two components: “maior”, which is equivalent to “greater”, and the suffix “-cula”, which is diminutive.

The capital is something enormous or greater than what is common in its kind . The term comes from the Latin word maiuscŭlus , which is the diminutive of maior . For example: “What this man said is a major aberration that we cannot allow,” “Whoever lights a bonfire in the middle of the forest and leaves without putting it out is demonstrating a major unconsciousness that puts the lives of thousands of people at risk.” " , "Justice always comes, although sometimes very slowly."

capital letter

A capital letter , known simply as a capital letter , is one that differs from a lowercase letter by having a larger size and, sometimes, a different shape. The use of capital letters is determined by certain spelling and style rules.

Capital letters are used at the beginning of a sentence , after a period and as the initial letter in a proper name. If we want to write the name of the French capital, the correct way to do it is “Paris” and not “Paris” . The same happens with the names of people ( “Carlos” and not “carlos” , “Marta” and not “marta” , etc.).

Capital letters are also used to name divine attributes ( “I entrusted myself to the Lord” ) and sciences as a subject of study ( “My brother graduated in Architecture” ).

Map

The use of capital letters is governed by spelling and style rules.

Writing rules

In addition to these basic rules regarding the use of capital letters, we have to record these other equally important and significant ones:

• They are used for acronyms. Examples of this are NASA, FBI, AIDS...

• The name of certain geographical areas is written with a capital initial letter, such as the names of states, autonomous communities, regions, districts or neighborhoods, for example.

• It should be noted that certain words are also written entirely in capital letters in judicial and legislative documents of certain importance. This is done because it is necessary to highlight in a notable way what is the action indicated by those within those roles. A clear example of this is finding capitalized verbs like “EXPONE” in sides, sentences or edicts.

• Although there are many doubts and controversy about this, the rules of grammar indicate that in the case of Spanish, capital letters are always accented following the same rules that exist for lowercase letters. In this case, it must be said that only the capital letters that function as acronyms do not have an accent.

• The signs of the Zodiac, divinities, trademarks and gods or names of historical periods also have their initial letter capitalized.

The use of capital letters varies with the language . In Spanish, demonym adjectives are written in lower case ( “French” ) while, in English, they are mentioned with an initial capital letter ( “French” ).

Capital letter as a scream

In the Internet environment, when having a written conversation ( chat ), writing in capital letters is considered equivalent to shouting.

“I'M ALREADY TIRED OF YOUR QUESTIONS” is an example of this situation. Whoever writes the expression in that way is "screaming."