Printable uppercase and lowercase letters.


A-Z Uppercase Lowercase Letter Tracing Worksheets

Learning the ABC and practice writing the alphabet is among the very first things that kids spend a lot of time with teachers and parents exploring, teaching and learning together. At this very early age, learning should be experienced through playing, practicing and repeating to make the whole process fun and easy for kids to absorb and remember.

In previous posts, I presented a lot of alphabet coloring pages to help kids recognize all the letters from A-Z through coloring activities with both uppercase and lowercase letters. In this post, I’m introducing to you series of alphabet manuscript tracing worksheets. Happy playing & learning!

Related worksheets:
NEW! Cursive uppercase and lowercase handwriting practice sheets
Number practice worksheets
Free book report and writing worksheets

  • Blank Handwriting Practice Sheet

  • Blank Handwriting Practice Sheet with Guidelines


  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter A through Z Uppercase

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter a through z Lowercase

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter Aa through Zz Uppercase & Lowercase


  • Letter A Writing Practice Sheet


  • Letter B Writing Practice Sheet


  • Letter C Writing Practice Sheet


  • Letter D Writing Practice Sheet


  • Letter E Writing Practice Sheet


  • Letter F Writing Practice Sheet


  • Letter G Writing Practice Sheet


  • Letter H Writing Practice Sheet

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter A

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter B

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter C

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter D

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter E

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter F

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter G


  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter H

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter I

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter J

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter K

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter L

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter M

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter N

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter O

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter P

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter Q

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter R

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter S

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter T

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter U

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter V


  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter W

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter X

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter Y

  • Alphabet Tracing Worksheet Letter Z

I’ve been using these alphabet tracing worksheets for my kids to practice writing when they were at preschool and kindergarten. If you are a teacher or parent who happen to use the materials on this site and have feedback or suggestions for future materials, please feel free to add your comment using the form located at the bottom of the page. Much appreciated!



Posted in: Learning the alphabet, Tracing pages, Writing worksheets | Tagged: Alphabet tracing sheets, Featured posts | 8 Comments

Worksheets | TPT

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My Nerdy Teacher by Alina V

$100.00

$19.00

⭐⭐⭐ FLASH SALE ⭐⭐⭐Grab The Decodable Readers Passages Mega Bundle for just $19! Hurry up, time is running out! Your students can practice reading in a fun and engaging way using these decodable texts. Science of Reading AlignedLow Prep Required. Simply print and go.These decodable passages will help your students practice the phonics patterns you're teaching them.Perfect for centers, homework, morning work, and more.Printable and Digital (Google Slides™)Perfect for Preschool Kindergarten, 1st gr

Subjects:

Phonics, Reading, Writing

Grades:

K - 2nd

Types:

Activities, Centers, Printables

CCSS:

RF. K.2d, RF.K.3, RF.K.3c, RF.1.2c, RF.1.2d…

by

A Teachable Teacher

$25.00

$20.00

Bundle

All-in-One Reading Passages give your students the opportunity to practice phonics and fluency with these reading comprehension passages and questions. The best part? It requires no prep on your end! Now including original PDF + NEW digital versions of each phonics reading passage for distance learning!Each reading passage gives your students the opportunity to practice a targeted phonics skill in the context of reading. Each phonics passage also builds fluency and comprehension. It’s the bundle

Subjects:

ELA Test Prep, Phonics, Reading

Grades:

1st - 2nd

Types:

English (UK), Guided Reading Books, Printables

by

Dana's Wonderland

This product contains 21 reading comprehension passages with questions that target fluency and comprehension. The 21 reading passages are presented twice, in 2 versions, for easy differentiation. The passages can also be used digitally as an Easel activity.Version 1 asks the kids to answer each question in a complete sentence and color the evidence in the text. Version 2 teaches the kids to look in the text and find the text evidence without writing a sentence.The students will have to:*read the

Subjects:

Close Reading, English Language Arts, Reading

Grades:

1st - 2nd

Types:

Graphic Organizers, Guided Reading Books, Printables

CCSS:

RL.1.1, RL.1.10, RL.2.1, RL.2.10, RI.1.1…

Also included in: Reading Comprehension Passages and Questions BUNDLE

by

The Teacher Next Door

$18.00

$14.25

Bundle

Looking for a way to make teaching paragraph writing so much easier ? Want to help your students write well-crafted paragraphs? This Complete Paragraph Writing Bundle in both print and digital will help you teach each part of the paragraph in a direct way! It combines four of my very popular writing strategy sets: Paragraph Color Coding and Outlining, Topic Sentences, Transitions in Writing, and Conclusion Sentences. Everything you need is here to help your students truly understand how to creat

Subjects:

English Language Arts, Informational Text, Writing-Expository

Grades:

3rd - 8th

Types:

Graphic Organizers, Posters

CCSS:

W.3.2, W.4.2, W.5.2, W.5.2a, W.5.2b…

by

My Nerdy Teacher by Alina V

$100.00

$19.00

⭐⭐⭐ FLASH SALE ⭐⭐⭐Grab The Ultimate Reading Intervention Mega Bundle FOR JUST $19! ($100 VALUE)Are you looking for some fun and engaging Reading Intervention activities aligned with Science of Reading?Grab The Ultimate Phonics Reading Intervention MEGA BUNDLE for just $19! Hurry up, time is running out!  Your students will become fluent readers using these fun activities.Low Prep Required. Simply print and go.These activities will help your students practice the phonics patterns you're teaching

Subjects:

Phonics, Reading, Writing

Grades:

PreK - 1st

Types:

Activities, Centers, Printables

CCSS:

RF. K.1, RF.K.1a, RF.K.1b, RF.K.1c, RF.K.1d…

by

Sailing into Second with Aris

Cursive writing is an important part of a student's writing journey! These cursive handwriting practice activities will not only have your students improving their handwriting skills, they’ll also be learning creative expression and having tons of fun.✏️If you're looking for cursive practice pages, look no further. This pack has over 120 pages full of fun and engaging activities to help your students print cursive beautifully! It's been used by over 12,000+ teachers all over the world and will

Subjects:

Back to School, Handwriting, Writing

Grades:

2nd - 5th

Types:

Activities, Printables, Worksheets

by

Patricia Pat Resources

Is writing complete sentences or sentence structure a struggle for your students? If so, you’ll love how these sentence building worksheets will help you teach how to write complete sentences. ✏️ The many visuals in the worksheet will help your students COMPREHEND and REMEMBER the correct sentence structure. ✏️ This is a no-prep resource that even reluctant writers will love, plus you will save a lot of time with THREE Differentiations and Scaffolding done for you.✏️ These hands-on worksheets wil

Subjects:

EFL - ESL - ELD, English Language Arts, Special Education

Grades:

K - 2nd

Types:

Centers, Homeschool Curricula, Homework

CCSS:

RF.1.1a, SL.1.6, L.K.1f, L.1.1c, L.1.2b

Also included in: Sentence Writing Center | Complete Sentences | Sentence Structure | Small Groups

by

ThatKinderMama

$10.00

This is a four week illustration unit to help kindergarten/first grade writers become confident in their drawing and coloring skills. Primary students will learn how to draw with shapes and people with different facial expressions, hairstyles, and skin tones.This illustration study sets kindergarten students up for success for the rest of the year during writers workshop. Students can reference their directed drawing notebook throughout the year if they forget how to draw an object already taugh

Subjects:

Arts & Music, Back to School, Writing

Grades:

PreK - 1st

Types:

Lesson, Printables

Also included in: Kindergarten Writing Units GROWING BUNDLE | Writers Workshop

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Games 4 Learning

This collection of printable games contains 35 games that review multiplication up to 12 x 12. They are a fun way to help students develop fact fluency. These are PRINT and PLAY games. They require NO PREP. Just print and hand out.Each game requires a different multiplication skill. They are designed to make students apply their facts and also to make them think. PRACTICE THEN PLAY:Each game in this set now has a matching activity in NO PREP Multiplication Activities.This collection of multiplic

Subjects:

Basic Operations, Math, Mental Math

Grades:

2nd - 4th

Types:

Centers, Games

CCSS:

3. OA.C.7

Also included in: Multiplication Worksheets, Games & Activities Bundle Multiplication Fact Fluency

by

Lucky Little Learners

$34.00

$23.00

Bundle

Phonics reading passages, or Phonics Mats, are the perfect no-prep, print and go resource to help students turn isolated phonics skills into reading text! Students practice isolated phonics skills, decoding, fluency, and comprehension all in one resource. *** NEW UPDATE *** This resource has been updated with a brand new 2022 version! The new phonics mats have decodable passages, comprehension questions, word writing practice, and a warm-up page for each skill. Make sure to download the preview

Subjects:

Phonics, Reading, Writing

Grades:

Types:

Printables, Worksheets

CCSS:

RF.2.3, RF.2.3a, RF.2.3b, RF.2.3c, RF.2.3d…

by

Simply Kinder

$972.00

$25.00

The ultimate bundle for kindergarten sight word practice books, games, color by code, and more for 200+ high-frequency words! BEST SELLER on TpT with over 7,000 teacher reviews! Check out this incredible value for everything you need for sight word practice!Your Sight Word Practice just became so much better with this huge file of printables, activities, centers and so much more. Each sight word included has its own separate file with 67 pages of activities! Perfect for kindergarten, first grad

Subjects:

English Language Arts, Reading

Grades:

PreK - 1st

Types:

Activities, Printables, Worksheets

CCSS:

RF.K.2, RF.K.3, RF.K.3c

by

My Teaching Pal

$22.00

$15.00

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This bundle features a HUGE 263 math worksheets for first grade! The worksheets cover addition and subtraction, numbers and place value, 2D & 3D shapes, data and graphing, fractions & partitioning and time. These fun-filled worksheets are great to use all year round and they are perfect for whole-class activities, math stations, fast finisher activities, homework and review. This bundle consists of the following packets:First Grade Addition and Subtraction WorksheetsFirst Grade 2D and 3D

Subjects:

Basic Operations, Math, Numbers

Grades:

Types:

Printables, Workbooks, Worksheets

by

Rachel Lynette

Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots are essential for vocabulary growth, and these worksheets are perfect to have students practice prefix, suffix, and root problems. WHAT’S INCLUDED:✍️ PRINT:40 WorksheetsAnswer KeysDIGITAL:120 Google Slides"Worksheet Style" Google SlidesSelf-Grading Prefix & Suffix Quick Quizzes (Google Forms)Easel ActivityDIFFERENTIATION OPTIONS:Digital or PrintSelf-Checking or Short AnswerMany Different Levels of WorksheetsGreat for 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th grade! CHECK OUT THE PRE

Subjects:

EFL - ESL - ELD, ELA Test Prep, Vocabulary

Grades:

3rd - 6th

Types:

Independent Work Packet, Worksheets

CCSS:

L.3.4b, L.4.4b, L.5.4b, CCRA.L.4

Also included in: ELA Review No Prep Bundle, Grammar and Vocabulary Print and Digital Versions

by

Susan Jones

These number sense activities and games are perfect to help kindergarten and first grade students gain awareness of the numbers 0-20. Students practice ordering numbers, comparing numbers, building numbers, and identifying different ways to make the numbers 0-20.What is number sense?Number sense is the ability to identify and conceptualize numbers. From an early age, we want our students to be able to identify different quantities and understand what those numerals mean. In this unit, students f

Subjects:

Math, Numbers

Grades:

PreK - 1st

Types:

Activities, Games, Printables

CCSS:

K.CC.A.3, K.CC.B.5, K.NBT.A.1, 1.NBT.A.1

by

Miss Giraffe

Secret CVC Words fun where students grab a card and look at the beginning sounds of the pictures to figure out the secret CVC word! 50 words included! Great phonics (short vowels) practice AND letter sounds practice at the same time! :)There are 10 words included for each short vowel sound (short a, e, i, o, and u) for 50 words total. Alphabet letter sounds practice AND amazing phonics practice in 1 activity!These are so fun! They are great for practicing beginning sounds AND reading short vowel

Subjects:

English Language Arts, Phonics, Reading

Grades:

K - 2nd

Types:

Activities, Centers, Printables

Also included in: Secret Words BUNDLE (So Many Fun Phonics Activities!)

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Teaching With a Mountain View

Informational Text Reading Skills and Close Reading Task Cards for Comprehension Skill ReviewEngage your readers with high-interest reading comprehension passages and corresponding questions! This resource includes 32 half-page informational text task cards with 4 comprehension questions and tasks on EACH card for a total of 128 informational text questions! Engage your students in meaningful close reading practice and review key reading skills associated with informational and nonfiction text

Subjects:

ELA Test Prep, English Language Arts, Informational Text

Grades:

3rd - 5th

Types:

Centers, Task Cards

CCSS:

RI. 3.1, RI.3.2, RI.3.3, RI.3.4, RI.3.5…

Also included in: Reading Comprehension Task Card Bundle | Digital and Printable

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Kim Miller

Are you having a hard time teaching your students how to find the main idea and supporting details of a passage? Many students struggle with this skill. They tend to get confused and caught up in all the little details. These reading passages with graphic organizers are perfect for students to use as they practice finding the main idea and supporting details. After years of trial and error, I have found that this solution works time and time again.These PRINT & DIGITAL main idea practice act

Subjects:

English Language Arts, Informational Text, Reading Strategies

Grades:

3rd - 5th

Types:

Printables, Worksheets

CCSS:

RI.3.2, RI.4.2, RI.5.2

Also included in: Main Idea & Supporting Details Activities Graphic Organizers Central Idea Bundle

by

Pathway 2 Success

$14. 00

Use these lessons to get kids' self-control skills in shape! Activities focus on understanding self-control, impulse control, stopping and thinking to make a decision, waiting our turn, following rules and directions, staying motivated, doing our best work, managing emotions, using coping strategies, and practicing self-control to strengthen skills over time. Other skills that impact self-control are also addressed, including planning, time management, and perseverance.Digital VersionUpdated to

Subjects:

School Counseling, Social Emotional Learning, Special Education

Grades:

4th - 8th

Types:

Lesson, Printables

by

Miss Kindergarten Love

$18.00

$15.00

A fun way to help your students develop number recognition! These number practice printables are a fun way to help your little learners practice number formation, number sense, and number recognition. Help your Pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade students with a fun and engaging ways to practice building number sense while identifying, writing, and counting numbers to 50. ⭐️BUNDLE & SAVE⭐️Grab these no prep printables PLUS even more number sense activities with the Number Centers and Number

Subjects:

Math, Numbers

Grades:

PreK - 1st

Types:

Centers, Printables, Worksheets

Also included in: Kindergarten Math Number Sense Activities & Centers Bundle

by

Crystal McGinnis

Sight Word Poems Sight Word Activity- Are you looking for a reading comprehension and reading fluency activity that incorporates sight words for your beginning readers? I created this set of 40 sight word poems to use during my shared reading time in my Kindergarten classroom. Use this set of 40 poems for sight word practice. This set will provide you with one poem for each week of school. These predictable poems are filled with sight words so that your kinders can learn their sight words in "te

Subjects:

Balanced Literacy, Poetry

Grades:

K - 1st

Types:

Activities, Printables

CCSS:

RF. K.1, RF.K.1a, RF.K.1b, RF.K.1c, RF.K.2a…

Also included in: COMPLETE BUNDLE Sight Word Poems for Shared Reading (Beginning Reader Poetry)

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Karen Jones

$10.00

One of TPT's top selling phonics resources! This pack contains over 100 pages of printable phonics worksheets that are ready-to-use! No prep work required, just print and copy! Each page is a stand alone activity that your students can work on independently. They work great for word work practice, morning work, literacy centers, or homework. Each page includes some interactive element of cutting and gluing, coloring, or sorting. A PowerPoint version and Image files are also included for uploadi

Subjects:

English Language Arts, Phonics

Grades:

K - 1st

Types:

Activities, Centers, Printables

CCSS:

RF.K.2a, RF.K.2b, RF.K.2c, RF.K.2d, RF.K.3…

by

My Nerdy Teacher by Alina V

Are you looking for some fun and engaging Alphabet Tracing Worksheets A-Z for your students? This packet is perfect for early finishers, morning work, homework and more. Each worksheet includes 5 different activities that your students can use to learn all about uppercase and lowercase letters. - - - - - - - - - > Check out our ALPHABET ENDLESS BUNDLE and get this resource at a huge discount!! <- - - - - - - - -ACTIVITIES INCLUDED:• Spell It! Write the letters in the boxes• Color it! Color

Subjects:

Phonics, Visual Arts

Grades:

PreK - K

Types:

Activities, Printables, Worksheets

CCSS:

RF.K.1, RF.K.1a, RF.K.1b, RF.K.1c, RF.K.1d…

Also included in: Beginning Sounds Worksheet Letter Practice Free Alphabet Flashcards Updates

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Joanne Miller

Boost engagement and excitement with these interactive game boards using sticky notes. These game boards can be used with any subject or lesson. They are perfect for review or test prep. Students can work as teams, partners, or as a whole class. Use your already printed worksheet or workbook and add these game boards to excite and motivate your students! This is the perfect way to spice up a review lesson or use for test prep. ***PowerPoint and PDF versions included. *These game boards were desi

Subjects:

English Language Arts, For All Subjects, Math

Grades:

2nd - 6th

Types:

Activities, Games, PowerPoint Presentations

Also included in: Interactive Game Bundle | Student Engagement

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Shelly Rees

Interactive Notebooks are a wonderful tool for providing hands-on experiences for learners. This Maps, Continents, and Landforms Interactive Notebook is no exception! The packet is easy to use for both student and teacher. ✅ Click HERE to SAVE 20% on this resource with the Maps, Continents, and Landforms unit and poster bundle!✅ Click HERE to SAVE even more by buying ALL 15 Social Studies Interactive Notebooks and Mini Units in one Year-Long Bundle.Click on the PREVIEW button above to see all t

Subjects:

Geography, Other (Social Studies - History), Social Studies - History

Grades:

3rd - 5th

Types:

Independent Work Packet, Printables, Worksheets

Also included in: 5th Grade Social Studies Activities and Interactive Notebook Bundle 4th Grade

Uppercase and lowercase letters in documents

When compiling documents and checking projects prepared by executors, it is quite often necessary to “take out” errors from them, incl. fight for literacy. And this article will help you with this. You will figure out what letter to write the legal form in the name of the company, as well as the names of government agencies, structural divisions, positions, elements of foreign names of people, names of documents, the word "application", the names of the subject of the Russian Federation, geographical concepts, airports, railway stations, streets , metro stations, events and holidays, when you write with a capital letter, and when with a small letter. The difficulty lies in the fact that sometimes the choice of lowercase or uppercase letter for a particular element can be different. And it depends on the specific circumstances.

The capital letter has 2 roles:

1. Serves to highlight certain sections of text. It is placed at the beginning of the text and after punctuation marks that end the sentence (after a period, ellipsis, question mark or exclamation point). This rule is usually not difficult. Although a lowercase (small) letter after the signs "!" or "?", but in business speech this almost never happens.

2. Allows to distinguish proper names from common nouns. And this rule is very popular in business speech.

For information

Previously, in Rus' everything was written in continuous text, even without spaces between words. Only the very beginning of the text was marked with a beautiful letter, decorating it to make it more noticeable. Such a letter was larger than others, it was called a capital letter or capital letter (meaning spelled out, painted).

When punctuation marks appeared, it was necessary to indicate the beginning of a sentence - here again a capital letter came in handy. True, you can’t save up for every offer of artistic delights. And the uppercase lost its beauty, retaining the name and size, which is larger than that of other letters in the line - lowercase.

Some languages ​​make extensive use of capitalization, for example marking almost all nouns in text. Admirers of the English language strive to impose the same rules in Russian. But you don’t need to mindlessly adopt other people’s rules in your monastery.

Proper names are divided into 2 groups:

  • The first is proper in the narrow sense (they belong to someone or something). These include:
    • names and nicknames of people,
    • animal names,
    • geographical and astronomical names.
  • Second group - item . These are the names of authorities, other institutions and other organizations, associations, historical eras, public events, newspapers, magazines, books, awards, industrial products and much more.

The spelling of proper names is regulated by the rules of the Russian language. And although there are many difficult ones among them, still remember them in order to be guided by a literate person. The general rule is: in proper names (in the narrow sense), all words are capitalized. For example: Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (first name, patronymic and last name of a person), Santa Claus (name of a fairy-tale character), Kashtanka (animal nickname), Sirius (star name), Ursa Major (astronomical name), Kamchatka (geographical name), Krivoy Rog (city name).

In speech, proper names are usually accompanied by words denoting gender . For example: a dog (generic term) Bug (name) was playing in the yard. So generic terms do not belong to proper names, they are common nouns and are written with a lowercase letter.

Names of people, incl. foreign

First name, patronymic and last name are always capitalized.

Double surnames are written with a hyphen and both with a capital. For example, Sukhotina-Tolstaya, Rimsky-Korsakov.

Own function words included in names (prepositions, articles) are written in lower case. They are not in Russian names. And in foreign languages, words denoting social status, family relations, and the like are not uncommon. They can be considered generic terms. The following words are used in Eastern names: yeah, hell, al, al, ar, ash, bey, bek, ben, zade, ibn, kyzy, ogly, pasha, khan, ed, el. According to the general rule, they are all written with a lower case - Kerim-aga, Omar ash-Sharif, Bashar Hafez al-Assad.

But a capital letter is also possible. For example, if the particle ibn precedes the name: Ibn Sina. And also in a number of names, the spelling of which is determined by tradition. Usually prepositions, articles, etc. function words (van, yes, das, de, della, der, di, dos, du, la, le, background, etc.) are written with lowercase (Leonardo da Vinci, Hans von Bülow, Honore de Balzac).

But capitalization is also possible, as in the source language: Charles De Coster, Dos Passos, Leonardo DiCaprio.

Well, DiCaprio may not get a job in a Russian company. But the spelling of Korean, Vietnamese, etc., as well as Chinese names is better to know. These names consist of 2 or more parts, and each (even 1 letter) is capitalized. For example: Deng Xiaoping, Park Su Yong, Le Thanh Ngi.

In Japanese names we meet particle san , which is written with a hyphen and lowercase (Cio-Cio-san).

Capitalized and hyphenated, Ter- is written in Armenian surnames: Ter-Petrosyan, Ter-Akopov.

Geographical names and administrative-territorial names

If a company has a wide geography of sales or a large branch network, then different geographical names are mentioned in documents every now and then. Let's recall the rules for writing them.

In the names of continents, water bodies, mountains, countries, settlements, streets, etc., all words are written with a capital letter.

Functional words and the words “name, year, year” are written in lowercase, if they are included in the name: Zverev Street, Rostov-on-Don.

And, as a general rule, generic terms, being common nouns, are written with lowercase. For example: Northern Hemisphere, Krasnodar Territory, Hokkaido Prefecture, Tverskaya Street, Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge.

There is a nuance regarding foreign proper names. If the generic name in Russian...

Uppercase and lowercase letters in the alphabet

Updated December 12, 2022 Views: 105 693 Author: Dmitry Petrov

Hello, dear readers of the blog KtoNaNovenkogo.ru. All letters of the alphabet, when written, can have two sizes - large or small. True, these are not official names, but more colloquial. In textbooks, they are called uppercase and lowercase. To avoid confusion in the future, we immediately define:

  1. Uppercase are large letters that stand out from the rest. They are also called "caps".
  2. Lowercase are small letters. It's better to say "regular" though, as this size fits most of any text.

Why such names? But here we must turn to the history of the development of writing.

The easiest way to explain is about lowercase letters. These are those that are written to the size of the string. They are all the same size, and do not stand out from each other. And also do not go beyond the size of the lines - hence the name.

The history of capital letters is much more interesting. Previously, capital letters were only at the beginning of the book. And they tried to highlight these letters as much as possible - they were not even written, they were drawn in order to get a real work of art. And they had a corresponding name - DRAWINGS.

Over time, such letters began to be used not only at the beginning of the book, they used to separate chapters and parts of the work. And even when printing appeared, the need for artists and clerks did not disappear.

The fact is that on printing presses all the letters were the same size. Therefore, capital letters were written separately in books. This is where the name "caps" comes from.

By the way, the most common capital letter used was red paint. From here came another well-known expression in Russian - "to write from the red line. "

The difference between uppercase and lowercase letters

There are 33 letters in Russian, and for each there is an uppercase and lowercase version. Moreover, the spelling of some letters is seriously different. For example, "A" and "a", "B" and "b", "E" and "e", "E" and "e".

But for the most part, only the size of the letters of the Russian alphabet changes.

But in the English alphabet there are fewer letters - only 26, but there are much more differences between uppercase and lowercase letters. There are even fewer of those who have the same spelling.

From this point of view, the Greek alphabet can be considered unique. Moreover, in two respects. First, it has a different number of uppercase and lowercase letters, 24 and 25 respectively. The fact is that the 18th letter "Sigma" in lower case can be written in two versions at once. And secondly, almost all letters have a different lowercase and uppercase spelling.

But by the way, not all languages ​​have a division of letters into large and small. For example, Arabs, Koreans, Jews, and Thais all write in the same size. And if you need to highlight something, then just increase the font, but still use lowercase letters.

What are capital letters for? We have already said that at the dawn of the emergence of writing, capital letters were placed only at the beginning of the work. But over time, they decided that they should also be at the beginning of each sentence, and proper names should also begin with them.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the rule was extended. In addition to names in capital letters, it was decided to write the titles and titles of the highest persons (then it was called "dignity"). First of all, this concerned the words "Tsar" and "Patriarch", and after that "Prince", "Voivode", "Boyar" and so on.

Subsequently, all nouns that were borrowed from other languages ​​began to be added to words with a capital letter. For example, "Professor", "Literature", "Grammar", "General" and others. But all this was only conditional. Of course, they could have been punished for the “king” with a small letter, but other words could be written as you like.

It was only at the end of the 19th century that the philologist and professor of the Imperial University Jacob Grot decided to systematize the rules. His work "Russian Spelling" was published in 1885. Since then, it has been updated and reprinted more than 20 times. But the foundations laid by the Grotto are still valid today.

So, words that must be written with capital (capital) letters:

  1. Names, surnames, patronymics and nicknames of people. If the nickname consists of several words, then only the first begins with a capital letter.

    Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, he is the Sun of Russian poetry.

  2. Animal names:

    Beetle, Ball, Kashtanka, Mu-mu.

  3. Characters from fairy tales;

    Mermaid, Cinderella, Puss in Boots.

  4. Place names (countries, cities, regions, seas, rivers, mountains, etc. ). Again, if there are several words, only the first letter is capitalized.

    Russia, Moscow, Pacific Ocean, Sverdlovsk region, Mount Elbrus.
    But there are exceptions: the Russian Federation, Veliky Novgorod, etc.

  5. Names of historical events and eras:

    Battle of Stalingrad, St. Bartholomew's Night, World War I, the Renaissance
    Exception: the Great Patriotic War.

  6. Names of cultural, political and sporting events.

    International Economic Forum, Olympic Games.

  7. The name of organizations - they are still often quoted.

    firm "Orion", party "United Russia".

  8. Abbreviations

    MKAD, USSR, RF, LDPR, YaNAO.

  9. Words related to religion:

    Allah, Bible, Virgin Mary, Christmas.
    But the word "God" - in church books they write with a capital letter, but in secular publications they can write with a small one.

Also, any sentence begins with a capital letter, as well as direct speech.


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