Quick Tip Tuesday: Mom versus mom

A confusion I see a lot of in manuscripts is the capitalization--or not--of Mom/Dad/Mother/Father.

The general rule is that if you can use a proper name to replace the word, then it should be capitalized.

A) “Hey, Mom,” he yelled.
or
B) “Hey, mom,” he yelled.


Try: “Hey, Susan,” he yelled.

So, in this case, A is correct--capitalized.


A) Jenny took her Dad to the grocery store.
or
B) Jenny took her dad to the grocery store.


Try:  Jenny took her Frank to the grocery store.

LOL, nope, that doesn’t sound right at all. In this case, B is correct--not capitalized.


So, for a quick reference whether to capitalize or not, simply read the sentence out loud using a proper name in place of the parental term of choice.