strategies for determining when to use capitalized proper nouns?

Q:
(2010-11-18 10:37:12)

A: You capitalize proper nouns.Remember that a noun is a person, place. or thing.

Ann is a proper noun. Ann is a specific person. Child is a common noun. There are a lot of children in the class.

The White House is a specific building. A house is a common noun. There are hundreds of thousands of houses.

A Toyota Sienna is a specific brand of car (a thing). A car is a common noun. There are dozens of different models of cars.