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Question
Are school subjects proper nouns or common nouns? In my workplace yesterday, we had an argument where I maintained that school subjects are not proper nouns because their initial letters are not capitalized, except when they refer to courses. What's the answer? — Victor, Nigeria
Answer
The names of school subjects are typically common nouns. School subjects that are the names of languages, such as English or German, are proper nouns and should be capitalized. The names of specific courses are proper nouns and should be capitalized. Below are some examples showing what should be capitalized and what should not.
School subjects that are common nouns:
geometry
science
biology
reading
history
anthropology
School subjects that are proper nouns:
English
German
French
Arabic
Latin
Chinese
Names of specific courses (proper nouns):
Discrete Mathematics
English 102: Creative Non-fiction
Physical Anthropology
Philosophy 265: Meaning and Truth
Math 301
American History 1400-1800
I hope this helps.
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