What is the best way to emphasise a point in writing? One of the easiest ways is to use CAPITALS, but they are not necessarily as effective as using bold or italic type.
OVERUSE OF CAPITALS ALSO CANCELS OUT ANY EMPHASIS AND MAKES A SENTENCE DIFFICULT TO READ.
So when should capitals be used?
Generally, at the beginning of a sentence and as the first letter of names, such as George. Countries, languages, places, days of the week and months should all begin with a capital letter.
It is acceptable to capitalise the first letter of each word in a heading, such as:
Using Capital Letters
It can also be effective to write whole words as capitals in short headlines, such as:
EFFECTIVE CAPITALS
This is not so effective with longer headlines.
If you are tempted to start a word with a capital letter simply to emphasise it, please think again. Otherwise you’ll find your Text Scattered With some words starting with capitals and Some That don’t, and it can appear inconsistent.
To use them to best effect, use capitals sparingly.
Robert Zarywacz
