A Federal Case

With all the political news in the U.S. lately, a lot of confusion has come up about when it's correct to capitalize "federal." See if you know how to do it.

Which option shows how "federal" should be correctly capitalized in this sentence? "The _______ court, _______ Reserve, _______ government."

1. Federal, Federal, Federal

2. federal, Federal, Federal

3. federal, Federal, federal

4. federal, federal, federal

And the correct answer is the third option, “federal, Federal, federal.” “Federal” may seem like an imposing word, when it’s used as an adjective to distinguish something from a state, county, city, town or private entity, it’s properly lowercased, in Associated Press style: “federal agency,” “federal holiday,” “federal judge.” The word is properly capitalized when it’s used for the architectural style or a government body that uses the word as part of its formal name: “Federal Aviation Administration,” “Federal Bureau of Investigation,” “Federal Communications Commission.” But if someone mistakenly capitalizes "federal," there's no need to make a federal case out of it. 😁