Practice Typing Caps

Practice typing caps is very important for you the typist. There is a time to type capital letters with spaces, without spaces and also inserting the full stop. In order to do so  you can use the Shift keys or the Caps Lock key on your keyboard.

Another word you can use for capital letters in typing is "caps"  or "upper case." These terms are sometimes used in manuscript handwriting to describe capital letters.

To type capital letters there are two keys that you can use on your keyboard but for different reasons.

Practice typing caps - using the Shift keys

There are two Shift keys. One is located on the right side of the keyboard and the other is located on the left side of the keyboard. To be precise they are in line with the last row of the keyboard.(zxcvbnm,./)

Why Two Shift Keys?

Think for a moment as to why there are two Shift keys. It is not placed there without a purpose. The reason for two Shift keys with one on each side of the keyboard is to type one capital letter using the smallest finger on the left hand or on the right hand according to where the one capital letter is located. That one capital letter is described on the Ribbon in Word as Capitalize each Word or when you are typing from a manuscript it is labelled Initial Caps  It means the first letter in a word or words to be typed in capital letter.

If you practice typing initial caps or capital letters hold down the Shift key with your little finger. Use the little finger from one hand and type the one capital letter with the other hand using the appropriate finger.

You must keep your little finger on the Shift key until you are finished typing the one capital letter . You then lift your finger off the Shift key.

For example if you are typing the word "Computer" using the capital letter "C" you use your smallest finger on your right hand to hold down the Shift key on the right side of the keyboard. You then press the letter "c" on your keyboard using the middle finger on your left hand. You can now lift your smallest finger from the Shift key after you finished typing the c.

Another example is if you type the word "computer" in common letters and you want to now type the letter c in a capital letter you first select the entire word and go to the Ribbon in your Word program under the Font group.  In the second row on the left of the Font group you will see a Capital and common a icon like this Aa. 

When you point to the icon a screen tip appears with he heading Change Case.  It instructs you to change the selected case you selected to

  • Upper case,
  • lower case or
  • other common capitalization.

When you click the down arrow next to the icon you will see a list for you to choose from under the Sentence case heading. The one you are choosing is Capitalize Each Word. It will then capitalized the first letter of the word that you select.   

Below are some drills for you to practice using the Shift key or the Font Group on your Ribbon in your Word Program.. 

Drills to practice typing
Initial Capital Letters 

Type the following sentences using the Shift keys on your keyboard. 

Practice the drill again by going to the Font Group of your Ribbon in your Word program to change the Sentence Cases of the first letter of each word to capital letters for each word that is underlined.

Do not forget to select the word underlined then proceed to the Shift key or go to the Font group on your Ribbon in Word program to make the changes.

  1. I love to type business documents.
  2. My new phone is an android.
  3. I have travelled to france, germany and britain.

CAPS LOCK KEY

There is only one Caps Lock key which is located above the Shift key on the left of the keyboard or next to the key "a". Some typist use the Caps Lock Key to type one capital letter.

This method is incorrect. They press the Caps Lock key using their smallest finger on their left hand pressing once to turn it on. A light is shown on the keyboard to turn it on. The typist then type the one capital letter then press the Caps Lock Key again to turn it off.

When to use the CAPS LOCK KEY

Practice typing all capital letters in a word or word by using the Caps Lock key all in capital letter at once. Press the Caps Lock key to turn it on. A light normally shows up on the top right side of the keyboard. Type the capital letters at once using the correct fingers to the correct keys. When you are finished press the Caps Lock key again to turn it off.

Drills to practice typing CAPITAL LETTERS

Type the following drills to practice using the Caps Lock key to type all the word or words underlined.

Learning to type is very important in order to type your own documents.

Use all eight fingers when you are typing.

The first four letters of the Home row is asdf.

Now that you have learnt to practice typing Initial Caps using the Shift keys or the Font Group of your Ribbon in Word program and CAPITAL LETTERS using the Cap Lock key on your keyboard the correct way I do hope that you will practice typing it this way from now on.

Fingers