Capitalize dad and mum/mom

The following is a reader submission.

My son had to determine whether or not “dad” was capitalized in this sentence. His first grade teacher wrote the sentence:

Mom and Dad/dad did not scold the kind child.

Thanks for your input!

Cindy

Hi Cindy,

It would be capitalized if it is a proper name.

In this case, I would say it should be capitalized. If it had been “the dad”, however, I would not have capitalized it.

Consider the following:

Mom and dad did not scold the kind child.

The mom and the dad did not scold the kind child.

I hope that helps.

Email me your grammar questions. I’ll be sure to post the question and answer here.

By Kim Siever

I am a copywriter and copyeditor. I blog on writing and social media tips mostly, but I sometimes throw in my thoughts about running a small business. Follow me on Twitter at @hotpepper.