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§ 92. The first word of the text is capitalized, as well as the first word after the period, ellipsis, question mark, and exclamation mark that end the sentence.

Note 1. Usually the first word of each line in poems is capitalized, regardless of the presence or absence of a punctuation mark at the end of the previous line.

Note 2. After an ellipsis, which does not end the sentence, but indicates a break in speech, the first word is written with a lowercase letter, for example: And this week I have ... that ... son died(Chekhov).

Note 3. If a question mark, or an exclamation mark, or an ellipsis is after direct speech, and in the following words of the author it is indicated who owns this direct speech, then after the named characters the first word is written with a lowercase letter, for example:

- Yes, he beats nicely! - said Bulba, stopping(Gogol).
- Do you have to live? – Migun asks with a sigh.(M. Gorky).
- The wind would blow now ... - says Sergey(M. Gorky).

Section 93. The first word is written with a capital letter, following the exclamation mark, placed after the appeal or interjection located at the beginning of the sentence, for example: Oh Volga! After many years, I again brought you greetings(Nekrasov). Oh! Wish this night would pass(Chekhov).

Note. The word following exclamation mark, placed after an interjection in the middle of a sentence, is written with a lowercase letter, for example: I still cannot forget two old men of the last century, whom, alas! not anymore(Gogol).

§ 94. The first word after the colon is capitalized:

1. If this is the beginning of direct speech, for example: Pushing me into the kitchen, Boleslav said in a whisper: “This is a man from Paris, with an important assignment, he needs to see Korolenko, so you go, arrange it ...”(M. Gorky).

2. If this is the beginning of a quotation that is an independent sentence, and the first word of the quotation begins a sentence in the quoted text, for example: He opened the book and read: "Pushkin spent the autumn of 1830 in Boldino."

Note. A quotation included in a sentence as a continuation of it is written with a lowercase letter, for example: Once and somewhere it was perfectly said that "the story is an episode from the boundless poem of human destinies." This is very true: yes, the story is a novel broken into pieces, into thousands of parts, a chapter torn out of a novel.(Belinsky).

3. If this is the beginning of individual headings of text, starting with a paragraph and ending with a period (see §).

Section 95. Names, patronymics, surnames, pseudonyms, nicknames are written with a capital letter, for example: Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov (Andrei Pechersky), Macbeth, Ivan the Terrible, Scipio the Elder, Ivan Koltso, Nightingale the Robber, Richard the Lionheart, Vladimir the Red Sun, Peter the Great (Peter I).

Note 1. Articles and particles at foreign surnames and names are capitalized, for example: d'Artois, van Beethoven, de Valera, Leonardo da Vinci, von der Goltz, la Motte, Baudouin de Courtenay, de la Barthe, Abd el Kerim, Ker-ogly, Ismail Bey.

Articles and particles that have merged with surnames, as well as those that are attached to a surname with a hyphen, are written with a capital letter, for example: Lafontaine, Lavoisier, Vancouver, Macdonald, Van Dyck. All surnames beginning with about (attached to the surname with an apostrophe) and with poppy, sen, san , for example: O'Connor, McMahon, Saint-Simon, de Saint-Morand, Saint-Martin.

Note 2. Chinese surnames (they come before names) are written together, regardless of the number of syllables, and begin with a capital letter. IN Chinese names(stand after the surname) the first part begins with a capital letter, the second, if any, is written with a lowercase letter and is attached to the first with a hyphen, for example: qiao(surname) guan hua(name), Zhan Hai-fu, Chen Yi.

In the personal surnames and names of Koreans, Vietnamese, Burmese and Indonesians, all parts are capitalized and are not connected with a hyphen, for example: Ho Chi Minh, U Nu, Ko Tun, Aung San, U Nu Mung, Takin Kode Hmeing.

Note 3. Individual names of people that have turned from proper names into common nouns are written with a lowercase letter, for example: Lovelace, Don Juan, philanthropist, mentor.

But if such names of people are only used in a common sense, but have not turned into common nouns, then they are written with a capital letter, for example: Maybe his own Platos and fast-witted Newtons Russian land beget(Lomonosov); Gogols and Shchedrins are not born every day..

Note 4. Individual names of people used in a contemptuous sense as a generic name are written with a lowercase letter, for example: azefs, quislings.

Note 5. The names of objects and phenomena formed from the names or surnames of people are written with a lowercase letter, for example: ohm, ampere, pendant(physical units), ford(automobile), browning, mauser(types of automatic pistols), french, riding breeches(types of clothes), Napoleon(cake).

Note 6. Names of ranks, titles and positions are written with a lowercase letter, for example: Minister, President, Marshal, Honored Scientist, Academic Secretary, Senator, State Councilor, Pope, King, Shah, Khan, Pasha.

Note 7. Names of higher positions and honorary titles in the USSR - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Hero of Socialist Labor, Hero of the Soviet Union, Marshal Soviet Union - are written in capital letters.

Section 96. Individual names related to the field of religion and mythology are capitalized, for example: Christ, Buddha, Zeus, Venus, Wotan, Perun, Moloch.

Note. Individual names of mythological creatures that have become common nouns are written with a lower case letter, for example: moloch of imperialism.

Section 97. Individual animal names (nicknames) are capitalized, for example: Emerald, Strider(horses); Pestrianka, Belyanka(cows); Lady, Chestnut, Scatter(dogs); Murka, Gray(cats).

Note. Individual names used as names of animal species are written with a lowercase letter, for example: cow(cow), bear(bear), watchdog(dog).

Section 98. capitalized in fables, dramas and other works of art titles actors, expressed by names that usually have the meaning of common nouns, for example: Hermit, Bear, Donkey, Cannon, Sails(in Krylov's fables); Goblin, Snow Maiden, Santa Claus(in "The Snow Maiden" by Ostrovsky); Falcon, Already(by M. Gorky); Someone in gray(by L. Andreev).

Section 99. Capitalize adjectives formed from the individual names of people, mythological creatures, etc. (see §§ 95-98):

a) if they are possessive in the full sense of the word (that is, they express the belonging of something this person, mythological creature) and contain the suffix -ov(s) or -in (no subsequent suffix -sk- ), for example: Marx's "Capital", Dalev Dictionary, Zeus' Wrath, Liza's work;

b) if they are part of names that are equal in meaning to the “name”, “memory” of such and such, for example: Lomonosov Readings.

Note 1. Adjectives formed from individual names of people are written with a lowercase letter:

a) if they are not in the full sense of the possessive, for example: Pushkin's style, Suvorov's tactics, x-ray room, Adam's apple, Graves' disease, Pasteur's station, Sisyphean labor, Aesopian language, Procrustean bed;

b) if they are possessive in the full sense, but contain the suffix -ovsk- (-evsk-) or -insk- , for example: Tolstoy's estate, Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter", Pushkin's apartment.

Note 2. Adverbs formed from individual names of people are always written with a lowercase letter, for example, Pushkin style, Suvorov style.

§ one hundred. The individual names of astronomical and geographical objects(including the names of states and their administrative and political parts), streets, buildings. If these names are composed of two or more words, then all words are written with a capital letter, except for service words and generic names, such as: island, cape, sea, star, bay, constellation, comet, street, square, etc. ., or ordinal designations of the luminaries ( alpha, beta etc.), for example:

Astronomical names: Mars, Capricorn, Northern Crown, Archduke Karl's star, constellation Big Dog, alpha Ursa Minor, beta Libra.

Note. Words sun, moon, earth are capitalized when they are used as astronomical names, for example: around sun the following planets are in circulation: Mercury, Venus, Earth(with his companion moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune And Pluto; rotation period Earth; but: tillage, sunrise.

Geographical administrative-territorial and other names: Pamir, Pyrenees, Dardanelles, North Pole, Tropic of Cancer, New Guinea, St. Helena, Queen Charlotte Islands, Balearic Islands, Balkan Peninsula, Cape Chelyuskin, Cape of Good Hope, Isthmus of Corinth, Lesser Alps, Rocky Mountains, Main Caucasian Range, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Magnitnaya Mountain, Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Laptev Sea, strait of Gibraltar, Onega Bay, Lake Ladoga, Big Salt Lake, Lake Baikal, Blue Nile, Belaya River, Moskva River, Volga-Don Canal, Georgian Military Road, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, West Kazakhstan Region, French Equatorial Africa, Novgorod-Seversky, Askania-Nova, Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo, Kremlin1, Mokhovaya street, Gorky street, Enthusiasts highway, Komsomolskaya square, Vosstaniya square, Bolshoy Kamenny bridge, Lieutenant Schmidt bridge, Summer garden, Borovitsky gates.

IN official names Soviet republics and countries of people's democracy word republic capitalized, for example: Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, People's Republic of China, People's Republic of Bulgaria.

Informal names of states and their parts, figurative names of geographical objects are also written with a capital letter, for example: Soviet Union, Country of Soviets, Soviet Bashkiria, Poltava region, Trans-Urals, Belokamennaya(Moscow).

Nouns that are part of complex proper names and conditionally name an object are written with a capital letter, for example: Golden Horn(bay), Czech Forest(the mountains), Red Village(city), Small bumps(the outside), Big Dipper(constellation).

Note 1. Names of the countries of the world ( north, south, east, west, southeast, northwest etc.) are written with a lowercase letter, for example: the ship headed south and then turned west.

But when they replace territorial names, they are written with a capital letter, for example: languages ​​of the peoples of the North and East.

Note 2. Articles and particles at the beginning of foreign geographical names are written with a capital letter and are attached with a hyphen, for example: Los Angeles, English Channel, Le Creusot, De Castries.

Note 3. Functional words that are part of foreign geographical names and are in the middle of a combination are written with a lowercase letter, for example: Boulogne-sur-Mer, Piazza di San Marco.

Note 4. Foreign-language generic names that are part of geographical names are written with a capital letter, with the exception of those that are included in the Russian language, for example: Amu Darya, Rio Negro(although Darya And rio means "river"), but Varanger Fjord, De Long Fjord(word fiord exists in Russian as a geographical term).

Note 5. Place names used in a figurative sense retain capitalization, for example: Munich(meaning "agreement with fascism"), Versailles(meaning "Peace of Versailles"), Sedan(meaning "military defeat").

Note 6. The names of animals, plants, tissues and other objects, as well as phenomena formed from geographical names, are written with a lowercase letter, for example: St. Bernard(dog breed) tsinandali(type of wine) Boston(fabric, dance).

Section 101. Adjectives formed from their own geographical names are capitalized:

a) if they are part of complex geographical names, for example: Belgian Congo, Moscow region;

b) if they are part of complex individual names of people as their nicknames, for example: Dimitry Donskoy, Alexander Nevsky, Peter Amiensky;

c) if they are part of complex names historical events, institutions, etc., the capitalization of which is established below (see § 102).

§ 102. In the names of historical events, epochs and phenomena, as well as historical documents, works of art and other material monuments, the first word is written with a capital letter, as well as proper names included in them.

These include names expressed by:

a) one noun, for example: October, Renaissance, Reformation, Domostroy; the same words can be used as common nouns, and then they are written with a lowercase letter, for example: in the 16th century. reformation touched various aspects of German culture; style Renaissance;

b) a combination of an adjective formed from own name, with a noun, for example: Petrine reform, Sassanian era, Carolingian dynasty(but: pre-Petrine era, pre-Napoleonic wars), Edict of Nantes, Poltava battle, Paris Commune, Erfurt program, Lena massacre, Treaty of Versailles, Venus de Milo, Laurentian Chronicle;

c) any other combination with an initial adjective or numeral, for example: Long Parliament, Time of Troubles, Magna Carta, One Hundred Days, Seven Years' War, Third Republic, July Monarchy, Great October Socialist Revolution, Great Patriotic War.

The names of historical events, epochs, etc., which are not proper names, are written with a lowercase letter, for example: paleolith, feudalism, ancient world, Crusades, middle ages, second World War .

§ 103. Capitalize the first word in the names of revolutionary holidays and significant dates, for example: First of May, International Women's Day, New Year, January 9th.

If the initial ordinal number in such a complex name is written as a number, then the following word is written with a capital letter, for example: January 9, May 1.

Note. Titles religious holidays and posts, as well as days of the week, months, etc. are written with a lowercase letter, for example: christmas, trinity day, Christmas time, carnival, great post, eid al-Adha, Thursday, September.

§ 104. In the full names of the orders, all words, except for the words order And degree, are capitalized, for example: Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Order Patriotic War 1st class, Order of Glory 2nd class.

Section 105. In the names of the highest party, government, trade union institutions and organizations of the Soviet Union, all the words that make up the name are written with a capital letter, except for service words and the word the consignment:

communist party Soviet Union.
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union.
Supreme Soviet of the USSR (RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR and other republics).
Union Council.
Council of Nationalities.
Council of Ministers of the USSR (RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR and other republics).
Supreme Court of the USSR.
All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.
Soviet army and the Navy.

Note. All words are also written with a capital letter, except for service ones, which are included in the names of some international organizations: World Peace Council, United Nations, Security Council, Red Cross and Red Crescent Society.

§ 106. In the names of ministries and their main departments, as well as in the names of other central Soviet institutions and organizations (except those indicated in § 105), the first word is written with a capital letter. If they include proper names or names of other institutions and organizations, then these proper names and names are written in the same way as when used independently, for example:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
State Committee Council of Ministers of the USSR on new technology.
USSR Academy of Sciences.
The main thing publishing department Ministry of Culture of the USSR.

In the full official names of Soviet institutions of local importance, higher educational institutions, entertainment enterprises, industrial and trade organizations, etc., the first word and the proper names included in the name are written with a capital letter, for example:

Council of Working People's Deputies.
Yaroslavl Regional Executive Committee of the Soviets of Working People's Deputies.
Moscow State pedagogical institute named after V. I. Lenin.
Kuibyshev State Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Russian folk choir named after Pyatnitsky.
Stalingrad Tractor Plant.

Note. The rule of this paragraph also applies to complex names of international and foreign central public and professional organizations and public institutions for example: World Federation of Trade Unions, All China Democratic Women's Federation, State Council of the Polish People's Republic, People's Chamber(India).

§ 107. In the official names of political parties, the first word is capitalized if it is not a word the consignment, for example: Polish United Workers' Party, Communist Party of Austria, Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, Union of October 17(but: party of socialist revolutionaries).

Conditional names in the composition of the names of political parties are written with a capital letter, for example: party of earth and will(or "Land and Freedom"), People's Will Party(or "People's Will").

Note. Foreign-language names of political parties are written with a lowercase letter, for example: Kuomintang, Dashnaktsutyun(Armenian counter-revolutionary party), Labor Party.

Section 108. In the names of insignia distinguished by quotation marks, the names of literary works, newspapers, magazines, institutions, enterprises, etc., the first word and the proper names included in them are written with a capital letter, for example: "For labor prowess"(medal), Pravda, Leningradskaya Pravda, Evening Moscow(newspapers), « New world» (Journal), "Russian Truth"(legal document), "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"(poem), "Woe from Wit"(comedy), "The Eve"(novel), "I visited again"(poem), "Prince Igor"(opera), "Hammer and sickle"(factory), "The Path to Communism"(collective farm).

In double compound names, the first word of the second name is also capitalized, for example: "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls"," The power of darkness, or the Claw got stuck - the whole bird is abyss ".

§ 109. In the texts of official communications and documents, the spelling of job titles, titles, regulations, etc. with an uppercase or lowercase letter is determined by special departmental instructions.

In special stylistic usage, common nouns can be capitalized, for example: Motherland, Man.

1 Word Kremlin is capitalized when it is the proper name of a city district, for example: Moscow is located in a ring: in the center is the Kremlin, then comes Kitay-gorod etc. But: In Pskov, as in other old Russian cities, there is a Kremlin(here Kremlin- a common noun in the meaning of a fortress).

In specific rules that have a syntactic basis, capital letters are made dependent on punctuation marks. But there are also such names and titles in which only the first word is capitalized: Moscow State University. Of particular note are the cases of writing whole words in capital letters. Initial-letter abbreviations are written in capital letters: UN, NTR, ATS, etc.

A capital letter, or initial, is the element with which the text begins. In ancient times, it was distinguished by painting. Other name given element- letter. medieval tradition influenced the style and fonts. To date, the initial letter is a simple element of decorating a book edition.

An interesting fact is that not all of the world have introduced capital letters into their spelling. Uppercase and lowercase letters are distinguished only in Greeks, Latins, Armenians, as well as in Cyrillic spelling. Capital letters are written in the text certain rules spelling. Unlike uppercase, there are much more lowercase letters in the text, because they are much more often used and used by default (the exception is those cases in which capital letters are written according to the rules). All those letters that do not fall under the rules for the use of uppercase are lined up in one line, which is why they are called "lowercase". Size. The uppercase (capital) letter is approximately twice as large as the other letters (lowercase). For example, the letter "a" in this case will be lowercase, and "A" will be uppercase.

§2. Letter C

We start writing a letter from the middle of the additional ruler. It differs from the capital letter only in size. We will combine capital and lowercase letters C, with other letters in the same way. Upper connection: we lead the end of the letter to the top line of the working line, from where the next letter will be written. The lower connection is not issued separately.

But few people know how to make lowercase letters from capital letters and vice versa with one press of certain keys. SMALL LETTERS OF THE RUSSIAN ALPHABET.

In German writing, all nouns are capitalized, in English they are used at the beginning of each full-valued word in headings. Lowercase Letters, letters of regular sizes and styles, as opposed to uppercase letters in modern scripts based on Latin, Cyrillic, Greek and Armenian graphic bases.

Capital letters in special stylistic usage

An uppercase or capital letter is a letter that is enlarged in size compared to smaller, lowercase, ordinary letters. The concepts of "lowercase letters" and "uppercase letters" must be distinguished very clearly, otherwise your writing may become utterly confusing. A capital letter is a capital letter, that is, large in size. Lowercase letters are those. which are written in a line, since we mainly write in small letters, then lowercase letters are regular, small letters. Uppercase letters are not capital (or capital) letters, but handwritten characters designed for continuous writing.

In many languages, capital letters are used at the beginning of the first word of a sentence, at the beginning of proper nouns or nouns, often at the beginning of each line of verse. So, for example, in titles, words or whole phrases can only consist of capital letters. Abbreviations can be written in all uppercase or a combination of uppercase and lowercase. The division into uppercase and lowercase letters is present in the Greek, Latin, Armenian alphabet, as well as in Cyrillic.

For example, this can be seen in the letters A, B, E, in the variant of lowercase letters they will look like: a, b, e. Differences in spelling are noticeable. In some languages, there is no division into lowercase and uppercase letters, as for example it is not in Georgian writing.

Let's move from history to practical application capital letters in texts. Both uppercase and lowercase letters are used at the beginning of words denoting positions. Everything depends on the context.

Spelling of holiday names

An uppercase (large, capital) letter is used in two different functions. For this purpose, the first word of the text is capitalized, as well as the first word after the period, ellipsis, question and exclamation marks that end the sentence. Secondly, the capital letter serves to highlight individual words, regardless of the structure of the text. Proper names can be used for a generalized designation of homogeneous objects, becoming common nouns; in this case, the uppercase letter in many cases is replaced by lowercase.

The spelling of the names of the holidays also causes difficulty. Immediately make a reservation that only the first words of the name are capitalized. A capital letter is also written in the names of dates that begin with a number. So, the correct option is "March 8".

The very name of the organizations, of course, is included in the section "Words with a capital letter". It can consist of several words, the writing of which must also refer to the rules of grammar.

12.1. The names of elected institutions are written with a lowercase letter. 15. The first word in names is capitalized historical eras and events.

Teacher's Day, Days of Slavic Literature and Culture. Kalke (but: Battle of the Nations, 1813). The word year is also written in names such as the year of the Snake, the year of the Dragon. Perov, Oginsky's polonaise (but: Palace of Congresses, Palace of Nations). USSR, all words are written with a capital letter, except for the word order, for example: the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the October Revolution.

Adjectives in -sky, which are part of the names that have the meaning of "the name of such and such." The first word and all proper names in the names of congresses and conventions. The first word and proper names in the compound titles of the most important documents, state laws, architectural monuments, works of art.

The letter C was the fairest, the brightest, the happiest letter of the Russian alphabet. Oh, I understand, I understand - I can’t do without you in the Russian alphabet! The capital letter C is written in proper names, which include: first names, patronymics, surnames of people, animal names and geographical names.

Every day in writing, a person uses an uppercase and lowercase letter. Previously, only capital letters were used, which were the same height. They had clear boundaries. As writing began to develop, the symbols took on more rounded outlines.

What is important to know

In modern Russian, the use of uppercase letters causes problems for many people, since not everyone knows how to write lowercase or uppercase characters. Despite the constant improvement and development of the language, there are a few basic rules that will help determine the spelling depending on what the writer wants to convey.

Basic moments use of uppercase characters:

• the positions indicated in the official document are written with a capital letter;
• the beginning of phrases that contain the words Central, State, International, Russian;
• a separate stylistic use of the words Motherland, Man, Center;
• courtesy, expressed by a pronoun;
• cult books: the Bible or the Koran;
• abbreviation: Komsomol;
• literary books;
• industrial brands of technical products.

Lowercase characters are written in such cases:

Distinctive features of lowercase characters

There are several differences which you should be aware of:

• Font. The lowercase letter is smaller than the uppercase letter.
• Writing. Capital letters are written with features that are taught at school.
• Use. Small characters are much more common.

Using Symbols in Word

Due to the rapid development information technologies users often use Microsoft Office Word in their work. However, not everyone knows that it is also possible to write lowercase or uppercase characters in it. For this, a combination of certain keys is used.

Features of printing alphabetic characters in Word:

• you need to type the desired text on the computer;
• select it and press the Shift and F3 keys together;
• we get the spelling "lowercase characters of the Russian language";
• if you press them again, you can see the "Lower Characters of the Russian Alphabet";
• if you need to work with the text further, you should press Shift + F3 again.

Capital letters: example

Capital characters are used in such cases:

Capital letters in gadgets

Often when using a smartphone the question arises how to include capital letters. To do this, you need to follow a few simple steps:

• the keyboard opens first;
• a key with an arrow indicating the direction up is selected (the key is usually located on the left);
• a capital letter is written;
• if you want such letters to be all the time, you need to press the button twice in a row.

Recently, many people often confuse When should you capitalize, and when a lowercase letter. This is reflected in the attitude of other people, especially if the mistakes are serious.

Russian letters differ from each other not only in style and sound designation, but also in size. Correct spelling follows certain rules. Uppercase and lowercase letters - what every schoolchild knows, especially an elementary school student. But the knowledge gained at school is forgotten very quickly, and adults are unlikely to remember the definitions of these terms.

Uppercase and lowercase letters are two types of graphic icons in writing. Interestingly, the division into such varieties is not in all languages. They are present in Cyrillic, and also in the Greek alphabet, Latin, Armenian. The situation in Georgia is unusual. There are no capital icons (with a certain meaning of use), but certain sections of the text (for example, titles, headings) are typed in large icons. They have small inscriptions, but differ from them in size. In other writing systems, the division into uppercase and lowercase letters does not exist.

For the first acquaintance with them, it is enough to learn a brief information:

• capital - the one that is larger;
• lowercase - one that is smaller in size.

And in order for the information to be remembered better, linger in the head for a long time and not turn into confusion - you need to study the issue deeper, delving into the details.

uppercase

This is a capital, large, beautiful, initial. The letter sign is increased in size compared to the rest. Most often, it is the only one in the line, it is with it that the sentence begins. IN primary school children with great diligence learn to display the first alphabetic character - after all, it should turn out beautiful.

The first official use of capital letters is seen in the 15th century. However, further research showed that people tried to beautifully arrange the initial characters of the name, surname, sentence long before the beginning of the 15th century. Such graphic icons, decorated with ornaments and curlicues, were called drop caps.

Capital letters inThe text is written only in those cases that are confirmed by spelling rules. The most common of them, which are most often encountered in practice, will be indicated below.

Another definition of "capital" is found in elementary school at the stage of teaching writing. It is less common, therefore it does not appear in dictionaries. It is used only to distinguish between the type of writing, the antonym for the word "capital" is "printed". When a teacher asks to write a word, a sentence, a text in cursive, he means lowercase and uppercase letters. And their choice should take place on the basis of the studied rules.

Lowercase

This is a small letter. In a sentence and text, it is much more common than graphic icons of the previous type. This is explained by the fact that small letters are used several times more often in writing - these are the rules of Russian spelling.

All letters that do not fall under the rules for writing capitals are lined up in one line and have the same height, therefore they are called lowercase.

Note! The stress in the term “lowercase” falls not on the first, but on the last syllable, no matter how much one would like to associate its pronunciation with the pronunciation of the word “line”.

Useful videos: how to write uppercase small letters?

Main differences

Uppercase and lowercase letters have a number of differences from each other.

They are as follows:

• Size. The capital letter is about 2 times larger than the small one. This is clearly seen when using a notebook sheet in a wide line: capital letter occupies the entire height of the line, and the small one fits in its half.
• Writing. The capital letter has much more details and features of the style, which first-grade students are diligently trying to learn. It is much more complicated than small in outline.
• Frequency of use. The capital letter is found in the text much less often than the small one, because its choice must be justified by certain rules.

Having learned for himself the difference between uppercase and small graphic icons, a person stops confusing these two terms with each other.

Examples

An illustrative example of how the styles of both categories look like.

When comparing graphic icons, standing nearby, it immediately becomes clear which of them are CAPITAL and which are lowercase.

Capitalization spelling

In Russian, the use of two types of inscription is subject to the rules of the corresponding section of orthography. According to them, the new sentence begins with a capital character, which seems to lead the army of small, ordinary icons. It shows that the previous thought has ended and another has begun, or simply denotes the beginning of a thought. Direct speech, quotations, each new line of the poem begins with the title.

But there are other, more complex rules that explain the spelling of uppercase and lowercase letters:

1. Names, surnames, patronymics of people and adjectives based on them. For example: Andrey Igorevich Yablochkin, Petkin's car.
2. Names of animals and adjectives made from them. For example: Tuzik, Murka, Kesha, Fluff, Tuzikov collar.
3. Geographical objects, places, names (continents, cardinal points, countries, cities, villages, villages, territories, republics, islands, seas, oceans, rivers, lakes). For example: the Black Sea, the Baltic, the Atlantic Ocean, the city of Moscow, the mainland Africa, the village of Yantarny, the Republic of Adygea.
4. Names of firms, companies, shops, enterprises. For example: the Rostvertol plant, the Pyaterochka store, the Belvest shoe company.
5. Names of great historical events, the most important documents (World War I, Peter's era).
6. Names of publications, works of art, dishes (Murzilka magazine, Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper, Moonlight Sonata, painting Barge haulers on the Volga, Caesar salad).
7. Names of ministries important government organizations(Ministry of Education, City Duma).
8. High positions of great national importance (President, Queen).
9. The first word of the names of holidays and important events (Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Victory Day).
10. The pronoun "you" when special respect is required.
11. Abbreviations - consist entirely of capital icons (KPRF, MLM, SFU).

In all other cases, when the word is not included in the category of proper names, but is a common noun, lowercase are writtenstyles.

Possible difficulties in choosing an option

In Russian, most of the rules are ambiguous and have additional explanations or exceptions.

Important! When the choice of letter size (capital/small) is required for filling important documents or performing serious tasks, works - it is better to check yourself in dictionaries and reference books.

Possible difficulties in choosing the size of a graphic icon:

1. Proper names of mythical, historical, literary heroes, which began to be used in a generalized way, in figurative meaning, to refer to a certain character or way of life of people. The rules for writing such words are ambiguous: some are written with a capital letter (Oblomov, Napoleon, Hamlet), others with a lowercase letter (Donquixote, Judas, Hercules, which have become common nouns). A variant of their use is given in the dictionary.
2. The names of geographical objects and important historical events, used in a generalized (figurative) sense, have the same distinctions and their own spelling features: sodom (debauchery), Olympus (top), Kamchatka ( last places) and Chernobyl, Mecca, Hiroshima.
3. The names of devices, techniques, units of measurement, obtained by the names of their inventors, are written with a lowercase letter. For example: X-ray, volt, pascal and so on.
4. and terms where one of the words is a proper name, as well as adjectives composed of them, do not have a large sign ( Achilles' heel, Demyanov's ear, X-rays).
5. Adjectives that were composed by the last name and first name of a person using the suffixes -sk, -ovsk, -insk - are written with a lowercase letter (Dalevsky dictionary, Prishvin prose).

Useful video: lowercase Russian letters

Output

In fact, delving into the material taught in the lessons in educational institution, the pupil and the student master the spelling of graphic signs well, understand the differences and peculiarities of their use, which means that they do not have serious difficulties in observing this norm.

The main thing is to remember the definitions, to understand some of the difficulties for yourself. And in case of difficulty, do not forget about the possibility of referring to the dictionary.

Most often, words such as “lowercase” and “uppercase” letters are encountered by schoolchildren and their parents. And how can an adult who has not been a student for a long time know what in question? After all, “large” and “small”, “capital” and “ordinary” are much clearer. But if such a question has already hung over you that needs a solution, then we will try to help you figure out what it is about and what is the difference between these two words.

It is worth noting that the words “small” and “large” letters, which burst into our tongues at the sight of such letters, will be perceived in the scientific community as the words of a preschooler or baby. After all, the Russian language has its own terminology, which every person from society should know.

An interesting fact is that not all of the world have introduced capital letters into their spelling. Uppercase and lowercase letters are distinguished only in Greeks, Latins, Armenians, as well as in Cyrillic spelling. Georgians, on the other hand, do not use capital letters, except for cases where certain words are highlighted in the text.

What is a capital letter

The name of the word "capital" (capital) is simply and logically explained as follows (so as not to cramming): considering that there is usually only one capital in a line and it is she who begins the sentence. And we all remember from experience how in elementary school we tried to draw or write the first letter to make it beautiful.

This type of capitalization began to be used as early as the 15th century, but in fact, long before that, people tried to beautifully draw initials and the beginning of a sentence with ornamental letters. This is the capital letter.

Capital letters are written in the text according to certain spelling rules. The most necessary, with which you will have to meet very often, of which we will try to clarify for you.

Uppercase and lowercase letters of the Russian language

In what cases are capital letters written

According to the spelling rules of the Russian language, a capital letter always begins each new sentence, as well as direct speech and quotations. But there are other rules for writing capital letters that you should remember, namely:

1. Own names of cities, villages, names, surnames, etc. (words denoting a specific object or phenomenon) we always write with capital letters (Oksana, Petrov, Moscow and others).
2. Names of islands, countries, firms, companies and others (Russia, Caribbean Islands, etc.).
3. Names of historical events, fateful and important documents, works of art, etc. capitalized (Peace of Versailles). It is worth noting that the capital is written only in those cases in which the event has the meaning of its own name (feudalism, Paleolithic).
4. High positions and titles (President).
5. The pronoun "you" in order to express courtesy and respect for the person in the text (you).
6. Abbreviations (SRSR, PRC).
7. The first word of the names of the holidays must be capitalized: Birthday, New Year.
8. In the names of ministries, main organizations, the first word is capitalized (Ministry of the Interior).
9. There are cases when they are used to highlight the desired text (titles, important words in the book to express emotions, etc.)

What is a lowercase letter

Unlike uppercase, there are much more lowercase letters in the text, because they are much more often used and used by default (the exception is those cases in which capital letters are written according to the rules). All those letters that do not fall under the rules for the use of uppercase are lined up in one line, which is why they are called "lowercase". It is also important to remember about the stress in the word. Despite the fact that we are tempted to say “lowercase”, the dictionary indicates the accent is “lowercase”, and not “lowercase”.

Russian lowercase letters

What is the difference between uppercase and lowercase

• Size. The uppercase (capital) letter is approximately twice as large as the other letters (lowercase). For example, the letter "a" in this case will be lowercase, and "A" will be uppercase.
• Writing. The capital letter has its own spelling features, which we learn so diligently in elementary school.
• Frequency of use. An uppercase letter is found in the text much less often than a lowercase letter (we have already learned the rules for using an uppercase letter).