Lower case letter: usage rules

Uppercase and lowercase letters are letters used daily for writing. The first is the capital letter (large), and the second is smaller than its size (small).

A bit of history

Initially, the letter used only capital letters, in which the boundaries (upper and lower) were clearly defined. Over time, the cursive writing developed, the letters acquired a more rounded form. So the foundations of the so-called minuscule writing of the Carolingians, which was developed by the scientist Alquin, arose. They used it at the court of Charlemagne, and over time this letter spread throughout Europe. So for the first time the single text began to contain lowercase and uppercase letters.

Uppercase and lowercase letters

The use of uppercase and lowercase letters is one of the most difficult problems of modern Russian spelling. Constant change of realities entails a change in the spelling of these letters. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly study new editions of reference books and dictionaries, which must necessarily reflect such innovations.

But, despite this, there are basic principles of using uppercase and lowercase letters. They help to understand the writing of large and small letters, even if some word in the dictionary is missing.

Terms of use of capital letters

Capital letters are written:

• The first word that stands at the beginning of the sentence and the text;
• A name, a patronymic, a surname, a nickname and a pseudonym (Maxim Gorky, Serafim Sarovsky);
• The name of the animal (Ingvar dog, Borka bear, Cat Vaska);
• A common noun who acts as a literary character (Little Red Riding Hood);
• Own geographical name (Europe);
• A nominal noun, the title of titles, professions, titles that make up the geographical name (Sosnovi Bor);
• Service word at the beginning of the geographical name (Los Angeles);
• An individual astronomical name (Mercury, Milky Way, Southern Cross);
• All words that make up the names of political parties, enterprises, institutions, foreign firms, with the exception of official ones (the UN Security Council, the State Council, the European Parliament);
• All the words constituting the official names of states (Chechen Republic, French Republic);
• The first word of the names of cultural institutions and entertainment enterprises (Moscow Operetta Theater);
• Titles of higher honorary titles and senior positions, which are indicated in official documents (Vice President of the Russian Federation, President of the United States);
• The names of historical events and eras (the epoch of Revival, the Renaissance, the July commune);
• Words at the beginning of the names: Central, State, All-Russian, International, Russian, World (International Monetary Bank);
• The words Homeland, Homeland, Man, Hope, Wisdom, Center, etc., being in a special stylistic use;
• The pronoun you (your) as a form of courteous treatment;
• The names of religious books, church holidays (the Bible, Easter, the Trinity);
• Abbreviations, which are formed from their own names (United Nations - UN);
• Possessive adjectives (the question "whose?"), Containing the suffix -in, -ov (-ev) , which are formed from their own names and nicknames of animals (Fedina's books, Raphael Madonna, Odyssey's wanderings);
• The name of the literary work, information agencies, and the press, and they must also be marked with quotation marks (the novel "Crime and Punishment");
• Names and abbreviations of names of production marks of technical products ("Volga", ZIL);
• Individual names of aircraft, ships, trains (the ship "Titanic").

Rules for using lowercase letters

A lower case letter is written if it is a component:

• Articles, prepositions, particles in Western European names and proper names (Ludwig van Beethoven);
• Personal names that pursue a goal of ironic or negative evaluation (newly emerged pools);
• Nouns formed from surnames and personal names (Oblomovism);
• The constituent parts of the Turkic and Arabic names, which indicate a kinship or social position (al, zade, bey, aga);
• Names of units of measure, which were given by the name of the scientist (ampere);
• Words earth, moon, sun, which do not appear astronomical names;
• The names of adjectives containing the suffix -sk- , denoting belonging, formed from their own names (Chekhov's pages);
• Titles and positions (deputy minister, mayor);
• Abbreviations, formed from common names (higher education institution - higher educational institution).

Also the lowercase letter is written in the names:

• Geological epochs and periods, archaeological cultures and eras (Mesozoic era);
• Posts and titles, international organizations, as well as higher foreign elected institutions (the emperor of Japan, Major-General, Ambassador);
• Authorities of the plural (Ministry of Russia);
• Breeds of animals (dog keeshond);
• Institutions whose names are not their own names (school No. 592).

Principles of the use of lowercase and capital letters

Having studied the above rules, it is possible to single out the basic principles on the basis of which lower and upper-case letters are used. So:

• The selection of specific segments of sentences (text) is a syntactic principle.
• Selecting certain words in the text:

1) The lowercase letter is written in common names, capital - in the names of its own - the morphological principle.

2) The capital letter is written in the names of the nominal, endowed with a special symbolism or pathetic (Man, Fatherland), in the names of the holidays (New Year, Victory Day) - the semantic principle.

3) A capital letter is used in abbreviations composed of the first letters.

It is necessary to distinguish

As already mentioned, the lowercase letter is written in the names of adjectives that contain the suffix -sk- , denoting belonging and formed from proper names. Therefore, "Pushkin's prose" is written with a small letter. But the possessive adjectives with the suffix -cs- , which have the meaning of a name in honor of someone's memory, are written with capital letters. For example, "Lomonosov Readings".

Word: lowercase and uppercase letters

In connection with the rapid development of information technology, the widespread popularity of the program Microsoft Office Word, which is almost indispensable in the labor and learning process. But very few people know how to make lowercase letters from capital letters and vice versa by one click of certain keys.

So, write in capital letters the following text:

"STRETCH LETTERS OF RUSSIAN ALPHABET".

Now select the text and press the Schift and F3 keys at the same time. After that, we will get:

"Lowercase letters of the Russian alphabet".

After repeatedly pressing the combination of these keys, we get the following:

"Lowercase Letters of the Russian Alphabet".

And to return to the original text, you must press Schift + F3 again.