When to use capital letters

When to use capital letters 

 

hen I glanced at The Associated Press Stylebook entry on capitalization, I recalled just how much there is to cover when it comes to the subject. Therefore, I am devoting two posts to capitals and hope they help erase most of the confusion that seems to prevail on when to use capital letters. I can't cover every possible scenario, but this should provide most of the guidelines anyone would need.

The biggest reason for the confusion, I would contend, is what I have dubbed Parrot's Disease, that highly questionable practice of simply copying what we are used to seeing without questioning its accuracy/validity. It seems to apply for this theme more than any other I have written about so far, so this reminder is in order:

PARROT'S DISEASE:  

  Be skeptical and look things up to be sure! Do not trust myths and rumors or repeat things you have seen or heard, no matter how common. This is how such atrocious writing as the examples cited becomes so common. Be uncommon and be sure something you write is correct. Don't just parrot what you read and hear!

Because there is so much to consider when it comes to capital letters, today's post will focus mostly on common errors.

Before I go any further, I want to remind anyone reading this of the great gift we all have been given while on this Earth: choice. Free agency. The right to choose. You have decided for yourself to read this. No one forced you. No gun was put to your head. If you don't like what you read, that's certainly your right. You also have the right to express that displeasure by leaving a comment. But I would hope you would be mature and reasonable enough to focus on the content of the blog and refrain from    childish personal attacks. 

I knew some readers would disagree with things I write but had no idea they'd ridicule me just for writing a blog in the first place. One peevish whiner scolded me and told me to stop sending her spam, as if I personally sent my blog right to her inbox against her wishes. Another objected to the blog on the grounds that it "didn't reinvent the wheel," as if every last communication from one person to another had to consist solely of original ideas. Still another called it a total waste of time, reminding me that "we all took the same courses" or something like that -- as if everyone already knew everything I was saying and was perfect in his or her writing and editing.

Anyone who could possibly reach that conclusion either has never done editing for a major publication or is doing a totally abysmal job of it. All errors I point out are based on ones I spot dozens of times every day while editing, errors    prevalent in articles done by local reporters as well as stories sent on news wires such as AP. I have been an editor for more than 25 years, more than half of that time at some of the biggest daily publications in the nation. I have edited -- and written headlines for -- more than 100,000 articles. I have been in the newsroom on Election Day during the past seven presidential elections. I've worked for newspapers in all four time zones in the continental U.S. I've worked in Mexico City and Europe. I've served as copy editor, editor, sports editor, layout editor, bureau editor, sports reporter and a lot more. I don't think it's boasting at all to say such experience qualifies me to say I am an expert wordsmith who has been exposed to thousands of very common errors in writing.

My goal in writing this blog, of course, as it is with most writers, is to help advance my professional career. But it is also to help others improve their writing and editing by pointing out the mistakes I have seen during 25 years on the job and offering some insight on how to do better. If somehow you find that objectionable, DON'T READ MY BLOG! No one's making you. If you object to my announcing my latest post with a LinkedIn group you belong to, try using your spam filter. But I'm hoping you'll try to be understanding and not blame me or any writer for wanting to promote his/her work and things he/she is passionate about. I'm not hustling you or anyone for money or a job or anything, and I have no ads on the blog to pester you. Thank you.


Back to capitals:

Just because you've seen it capitalized doesn't make it accurate. There has to be a logical, legitimate reason for using a capital letter -- some obvious ones being a word that is a proper noun such as the name of a person, business or place.

It's worth reading part of the    AP Stylebook's entry on capitalization for further clarification on proper nouns. But if you'd rather skip it, it ends right before "Here are some examples":

In general, avoid unnecessary capitals. Use a capital letter only if you can justify it by one of the principles listed here.

Many words and phrases, including special cases, are listed separately in this book. Entries that are capitalized without further comment should be capitalized in all uses.

If there is no relevant listing in this book for a particular word or phrase, consult Webster's New World College Dictionary. Use lowercase if the dictionary lists it as an acceptable form for the sense in which the word is being used.

Some basic principles:

PROPER NOUNS: Capitalize nouns that constitute the unique identification for a specific person, place, or thing: John, Mary, America, Boston, England.

Some words, such as the examples just given, are always proper nouns. Some common nouns receive proper noun status when they are used as the name of a particular entity: General Electric, Gulf Oil.

PROPER NAMES: Capitalize common nouns such as party, river, street and west when they are an integral part of the full name for a person, place or thing: Democratic Party, Mississippi River, Fleet Street, West Virginia.

Lowercase these common nouns when they stand alone in subsequent references: the party, the river, the street.

Lowercase the common noun elements of names in plural uses: the Democratic and Republican parties, Main and State streets, lakes Erie and Ontario. Exception: plurals of formal titles with full names are capitalized: Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald R. Ford.

POPULAR NAMES: Some places and events lack officially designated proper names but have popular names that are the effective equivalent: the Combat Zone (a section of downtown Boston), the Main Line (a group of Philadelphia suburbs), the South Side (of Chicago), the Badlands (of South Dakota), the Street (the financial community in the Wall Street area of New York).

The principle applies also to shortened versions of the proper names of one-of-a-kind events: the Series (for the World Series), the Derby (for the Kentucky Derby). This practice should not, however, be interpreted as a license to ignore the general practice of lowercasing the common noun elements of a name when they stand alone.

DERIVATIVES: Capitalize words that are derived from a proper noun and still depend on it for their meaning: American, Christian, Christianity, English, French, Marxism, Shakespearean.

Lowercase words that are derived from a proper noun but no longer depend on it for their meaning: french fries, herculean, malapropism, pasteurize, quixotic, venetian blind.

 

Here are some frequent examples of words that often get capitalized for no valid reason:

1) From Day One, he figured it was best to lie his way to the top.  

Extremely common, yet always wrong. What about day or one in any possible way makes either word a proper noun worth capitalizing? The answer is nothing. It should be day one. This also applies to these phrases, which are especially prevalent in sports stories: week one (not Week 1) of a season, opening day (the first day of the Major League Baseball regular season being the lone exception, according to AP), game two (not Game 2) of the series and season three (not Season 3) of "The Sopranos." There is absolutely nothing about week, game or season, for example, that makes those words proper nouns. It's nothing more than Parrot's Disease.

2) The Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops were     dinosaurs who ruled the Earth for centuries. 

Why should these animals deserve a special stature given no other species? You don't write Rabbit, Deer, Bear, Dog, etc. Why should dinosaurs be any different just because the names look a little fancier? The only time any part of an animal's name should be capitalized is when that part comes from a proper noun in the first place, such as an Irish setter, Labrador retriever or Rhode Island red.

3) They revered the Moon and the Sun as gods and offered human sacrifices to them in the hopes of going to Heaven and not Hell. 

One might argue that all four words in question are specific places deserving of proper noun status, but AP and many dictionaries say otherwise. I would think of them more as descriptive, generic phrases than formal titles, the way mountain, river, ocean and forest describe a location but by themselves merit no capital letters. There are, for example, other moons that orbit other planets, and other stars qualify as suns. Hell might be considered a generic description for an unpleasant place in the afterlife, whereas Hades gets capitalized as a specific proper name given to that location.  Same with the devil, a generic reference to the entity that controls hell, whereas Satan is a proper name given to such an entity.


4) He wanted to have plenty of Euros    for his trip, so he exchanged all his Dollars.

Money/currency never gets capitalized unless beginning a sentence (or independent phrase after a colon). You would never capitalize pesos, pennies, cents, nickels, dimes, quarters and so on, so euros and dollars are no different.

5) He earned a Bachelor's Degree in History. 

All the highlighted words are generic references. There is nothing proper about them that would elevate them to the status of being capitalized. Take each word by itself, bachelor's, degree and history. I hope you would agree all have frequent generic uses. Why would it be any different here? Whether the subject is history or math or philosophy or journalism, there is no valid reason for capitalizing it nor the degree earned in that subject. 




6) He was staying in Room 222 at the hotel. 

Room occasionally can be part of a formal name when the last word of a phrase, such as the Van Gogh Room in the museum. But by itself, as you see here, it would be merely a formal description, the way you would describe your kitchen or bedroom. Having a number attached to the room doesn't change that one bit. Same thing with suite. About the only exception would be in listing a formal address, such as 123 East 21st St., Suite 222, New York, NY 10001.

7) He is a Public Relations Specialist. His colleague is a Computer Programmer who once worked as a Senior Vice President for Marketing. 

The above examples are all job descriptions, which always are lowercased, or titles, which are uppercased only before the name of the person. For example, computer programmer would be lowercased alone or in front of a person's name. Vice President, a formal title, would be capitalized in such a wording as Vice President Al Gore won the debate but lowercased in a sentence like He is the vice president of the company.


8) Among the dignitaries at the parade were the Governor, Mayor, President and     Dean.  

All titles (other than a few titles that royalty assume that in essence become their actual public name, such as the Duchess of Windsor) are lowercased unless in front of a person's name. So these would all be lowercased as shown. But you would write: New Orleans Mayor Dean Jackson invited Gov. Bill Bones and President Obama to give speeches.

9)  He likes his Mom a lot more than he likes his Dad.

Lowercase when referring to someone as the person occupying a certain role, such as he is my father or her mother died. But uppercase when that title becomes the substitute for a name and the way in which the person is identified: I love my mother ... but I love you, Mother. He told his father, "I will miss you, Dad, but I will be back soon."

10) Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall, all ya gotta do is call ...

Unless they are the first words of a sentence, seasons are never capitalized and are merely winter, spring, summer and fall in all uses. 
 

There are many other examples, but it's time to wrap it up. My next post also will focus on capitals and will offer specific guidelines for such use in such categories as titles, seasons, historical periods, food, plants, religious references, governmental bodies, directions and regions, family names, etc. Stay tuned ...