Capitalization
Capitalization is one of those mechanical elements that writers sometimes use inconsistently. It’s not difficult to understand why. Why must you write “the president of the World Bank” but “President Jim Yong Kim,” or “executive directors” but “Board of Executive Directors”? Whenever you find yourself in doubt, it is best to consult your style guide. In this course, we outline the main rules. For more details, consult the resources provided in the resource list, including the World Bank Style Guide, The Chicago Manual of Style, or The Gregg Reference Manual.
You should always capitalize proper nouns, but there are many words that can also appear in lower case without loss of meaning. Have a look at the following examples that show when to use capitalization.
| Rule | Example |
| When you use words like president, state, administration, government, or ministry generically, or after a person’s name, do not capitalize them. | The delegation met with the president at the White House. |
| However, when you use the same words as part of a proper noun or title before the person’s name, then you need to capitalize. | The delegation was greeted by President Obama at the White House. |
| The same applies for geographic or institutional names: capitalize names of places and proper names of institutions, but use lowercase for general areas, positions, or descriptions. | The recent project involved loan agreements managed by various Latin American central banks. |
| The project for the northern part of the country was conducted in collaboration with the Central Bank of Colombia. | |
| The mission team traveled extensively through southern China. | |
| The mission team stopped first in South Africa. | |
| For writing at the World Bank, you should capitalize names of projects and loans. | The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a US$50 million loan for Brazil to enhance the impact of the Federal Water Resources Management Project (PROAGUA) in the country’s most drought-prone regions. |
Some capitalization styles specific to the World Bank are
- Annual Meetings
- Board meeting
- executive directors (but Board of Executive Directors, U.S. Executive Director)
- the president of the World Bank; President Jim Yong Kim
- the Bank, the Fund
- World Bank headquarters; headquarters
- Country office; the Tanzania Country Office
- Asia Region; the Regional vice president; drought affected several regions of the country (However, when Region refers to an organizational unit of the Bank, it is capitalized to avoid confusion.)