“Can I use all capital letters in Listening?” This is a question I get asked a lot, so I thought I might as well write a blog post about it since so many of you are interested in this. The short answer to this question is: “Yes, you can,” but let’s look at it a little bit further.

First of all, this is the official answer taken from the British Council IELTS website:

“As you listen, write your answer on the question paper. At the end of the test you will have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet in pencil. You may write your answers in lower case or capital letters.”

So, you can write your answer in all capitals if you wish, no problem. If you choose to write in lower case letters you can still write everything in lower case for example, “europe,” “london”, or “john”. However, if you use them in Writing you should follow the spelling and grammar rules. For example, if you have to write the name of a person or the name of a place the first letter should be capitalised: “John”, “Europe”. So, you still need to know the rules.

More specifically, let’s have a look at some rules that will be helpful not only regarding Writing but also with your studies afterwards!

When do we have to use a capital letter? 

1.) Never use a lower case with the personal pronoun “I”. “I” is always in capitals no matter where it is located in the sentence. For example,

“How can I help you?”

2.) We use a capital letter in the beginning of a sentence; after a full stop; or to imitate oral speech. For example, 

He achieved the IELTS band he needed. Therefore, he’s really happy. He said loudly: “This is great!”

3.) We use capital letters for abbreviations. For example,

U.S.A. – U.A.E. – IELTS – TOEFL – TOEIC etc.

4.) We use a capital letter for holidays and for months and days of the weeks. For example,

Christmas, Sunday, Saturday, May, July.

5.) We use a capital letter for countries of cities, towns, regions, and landmarks. For example, 

France, Milan, Europe, the Thames, the Eiffel Tower etc.

6.) We use a capital letter for people’s names. For example,

John Smith

7.) We use capital letters for nationalities. For example

 Japanese, Irish, Canadian

8.) We use capital letters for religions. For examples,

Christianity, Buddhism etc.

9.) We use capital letters when we refer to famous companies. For example,

Apple, Microsoft, Hyundai, Amazon etc.

10.) We use capital letters for titles or professions. For example,

Sir Harold Pinter, Dr. John Smith, Professor Williams

11.) Last but not least, we also use capital letters for titles or headings. For example:

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyefski

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

Yellow Submarine by Beatles

So, that’s pretty much all you need to know regarding the use of capital letters. You can also watch the video lesson if you like:

I really hope it helps!
What do you find difficult concerning capital letters? Let me know in the comments below! 

 

Hey everyone! I get a lot of questions from students asking me how they can improve in Listening as they are living in non-english speaking environments that everything from movies and TV to everyday life is in their mother tongue. If you live in a place where your exposure to English is limited too, then you just need more exposure to the English language. Now, what can you do?

Well, there is no better and easier time than today to actually improve your listening skills, simply because nowadays the internet offers you the opportunity to listen to the English language in all situations through video. Firstly, I would suggest more practice, but not in terms of IELTS, I don’t want you to see it like exam practice but like a game. So, you can watch videos on youtube based on the things that interest you (cooking, football, gaming, whatever–it could be anything!) only in english.

At first, you can choose to read the subtitles but gradually don’t look at them so much. On youtube you can find anything you are interested in, even mini comedy series or classic movies that are English (or American). Only if you expose yourself to how quickly and in what way native speakers communicate will you get the hang of it. What is more, you will learn while having fun at the same time which–let’s face it–is the ideal way of learning!

If you are ready to take your listening skills one step further, I highly recommend this channel. It has numerous videos discussing all sorts of ideas and these videos can greatly help you improve your academic vocabulary as well (to say the least). I really hope you enjoy it! Let me know how it goes and if you have anything else to suggest that could be helpful  (preferably not strictly educational) be my guest in the comments below!

Good luck!