18

I understand the capitalization rule for nouns, proper nouns require a capital letter. Also, I should begin a new sentence with a capital letter.

When & why "mom/dad" requires a capital letter ?

(Reference- ELL- I am at Vapi where mom is hospitalised)

mom:

(n) informal term for a mother/North American term for mum.

Community
  • 1
adityasrivastav
  • 1,471
  • The link is broken. Was it pasted accurately? – Hugh Jun 17 '15 at 17:55
  • 3
    this is an ELL question. why is it here and getting answers? – Fattie Jun 17 '15 at 19:11
  • @JoeBlow Well, this is embarrassing; I'm a native speaker, but I don't write those two words often enough to have thought about their capitalization before. So, to me, it's worth reviewing. However, it's also a duplicate, so it probably should be closed regardless. – Parthian Shot Jun 18 '15 at 01:32

2 Answers2

24

When it is their name, Mom and Dad would be capitalised:

Dear Mom and Dad,
I am just writing to let you know, that although everyone has a mom and a >dad, you are my special mom and dad. So, Mom, I just want to say ‘brava!’; and Dad, ‘bravo!’. I’ve just been telling Sis, that Mom’s new coat is so cool. XX

Here's the commentary from an exercise from BBC English on Line

...to have a roast chicken lunch with my mother. I can't wait! - mother does not need a capital 'M' as it is not being used to replace her name. If I said, "I am going to lunch with Mum", it would need a capital letter, but "I am going to lunch with my mum" does not.

Hugh
  • 8,360
  • 1
    @Hugh, A simple ELL question but I did not think about their capitalization before. But thank you for the clarification which is only possible at ELU. – adityasrivastav Jun 18 '15 at 14:18
15

We should capitalize these words if they are being used as the name of the person. You can capitalize these when referring to your own relatives: Hello, Mother.

Misti
  • 13,774