Cursive Letters: Uppercase

Cursive capitals, which are their own alphabet

All 26 capitals in PW Cursive — a real connected school hand rather than a decorative script — on the standard four-line ruling, with a dark model row followed by rows to copy onto.

They are harder than lowercase, and for a reason nobody explains

Cursive lowercase letters are recognisably the print letters with entry and exit strokes added. Several cursive capitals are not.

A cursive Q looks like a figure 2 in some traditional hands. G, S and T depart noticeably from their printed forms. A child who has learned print capitals and is shown these will not simply recognise them, which is a different situation from lowercase and needs to be treated as one.

Say plainly that these are new shapes to learn rather than old shapes written differently. Children who are told that stop trying to force the print form.

Capitals mostly do not join

The rule that catches people out. In most school hands a capital connects to the letter after it but nothing connects into it, because a capital only ever starts a word or a name.

Some capitals do not even join forwards — the ones ending high or on an awkward stroke. Which ones varies between teaching schemes, which is precisely why the school's own guidance beats any general rule you will find online.

Where capitals actually get used

Far less often than lowercase, which is worth remembering before spending a fortnight on them.

A page of continuous prose contains perhaps two or three capitals per sentence. What children genuinely need is their own initials, the first letter of their name, and the handful of capitals that start words they write often. Practising all 26 to the same standard is effort spent where it does not pay.

Start with their initials. Then the capitals in their address and their school's name.

Controls and printing

Cut the practice text down to the letters that matter, choose the GB or US cursive face to match the school, and pick a trace style — solid to write over, hollow to fill in, dashed, or arrows showing stroke direction and starting point.

Arrows are worth using here more than anywhere else, because cursive capitals have the least obvious starting points of any letters on this site.

Print at 100% on A4 or US Letter. The lowercase sheet is the one to do first.