English Language Arts
Grade 3
15 min
Capitalizing proper adjectives, nationalities and languages
Capitalizing proper adjectives, nationalities and languages
Tutorial Preview
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Introduction & Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
Define a proper adjective and give an example.
Identify proper adjectives, nationalities, and languages in sentences.
Explain why these specific words need a capital letter.
Correctly capitalize nationalities and languages in their own writing.
Edit sentences to fix capitalization errors related to proper adjectives.
Differentiate between a proper noun (like a country) and its proper adjective (like a nationality).
Have you ever eaten Mexican tacos or seen an American flag? 🌮🇺🇸 Let's learn why those special describing words start with a big letter!
Today, we will learn about special describing words called proper adjectives. We'll discover how to capitalize them, along with the names of nationalities and languages. This is an important rule th...
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Key Concepts & Vocabulary
TermDefinitionExample
Proper NounThe special name of a specific person, place, or thing. It always starts with a capital letter.The country is named Mexico.
Proper AdjectiveA describing word that is made from a proper noun. It also always starts with a capital letter.The food is Mexican.
NationalityA word that tells you the country a person comes from. It is a type of proper adjective.My pen pal is Japanese.
LanguageThe words and grammar people from a certain place use to speak and write.Many people in Brazil speak Portuguese.
Capital LetterA 'big' letter (like A, B, C) used for the first word of a sentence and for proper nouns and proper adjectives.The letter 'E' in 'English' is a capital letter.
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Key Rules & Conventions
The Proper Adjective Rule
Always capitalize adjectives that are made from proper nouns.
If a describing word comes from the name of a specific place (like a country), a person, or a thing, it needs a capital letter. For example, 'America' is a proper noun, so 'American' is a proper adjective.
The Nationalities and Languages Rule
Always capitalize the names of nationalities and languages.
When you are writing about where someone is from (like 'Canadian') or the language they speak (like 'French'), these words are special and must start with a capital letter.
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Challenging
Read the paragraph. How many capitalization errors related to nationalities or languages can you find? "My new friend is from italy. She is teaching me to speak italian. We both love to eat mexican food. Her favorite subject is english."
A.1
B.2
C.3
D.4
Challenging
Which word from the list does NOT always need a capital letter?
A.French
B.English
C.Spanish
D.island
Challenging
A student wrote: "The canadian geese flew south for the winter." What is the best way to explain the error?
A.The word 'south' should not be capitalized because it is just a direction.
B.The word 'winter' should be capitalized because it is a season.
C.The word 'geese' should be capitalized because it is a type of bird.
D.The word 'canadian' should be capitalized because it comes from the proper noun 'Canada.'
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