Which items should be capitalized in a formal report?

• A. Past tense verbs.
• B. Proper nouns, the pronoun 'I', and the first letter of each sentence.
• C. Common nouns.
• D. Numbers written in digits.

Answer: (B)

Capital letters in formal writing help readers spot names and sentence boundaries. The best answer identifies three clear cases: proper nouns—the specific names of people, places, organizations, and other unique items; the pronoun I, which is always capitalized; and the first letter of every sentence, which marks the start of a new thought. Proper nouns are capitalized because they designate unique identifiers; the pronoun I is always capitalized in English; and the initial capital letter at the start of a sentence is a standard rule to signal the beginning of a new statement. In contrast, past tense verbs and common nouns are not capitalized simply for tense or general usage, and numbers written in digits aren’t capitalized either.