by Midias » Fri Dec 12, 2008 7:50 am
Here is some extra advice about proper use of capital letters.
Capitalization custom varies with language. The full rules of capitalization for English are complicated. The rules have also changed over time, generally to capitalize fewer terms; to the modern reader, an 18th century document seems to use initial capitals excessively. It is an important function of English style guides to describe the complete current rules, although there is some variation from one guide to another.
Initial capitals and all capitals should not be used for emphasis. For example: "it is not only a LITTLE learning that is dangerous" and "it is not only a Little learning that is dangerous" are both incorrect; use italics instead: "it is not only a little learning that is dangerous".
Pronouns
* In English, the nominative form of the singular first-person pronoun, "I", is capitalized, along with all its contractions (I'll, I'm, etc).
* Many European languages capitalize nouns and pronouns used to refer to God: Hallowed be Thy name. Some English authors capitalize any word referring to God: the Lamb, the Almighty.
* Some languages capitalize the formal second-person pronoun. German Sie the formal second person singular or plural pronoun, is capitalized along with all its declensions (Ihre, Ihres, etc.), but the third person feminine singular and third person plural pronouns are not. The informal pronoun Du (and its derivatives, such as Dein) may also be capitalized in letters. Italian also capitalizes its formal pronouns, Lei and Loro, and their cases (even within words, eg arrivederLa "good bye", formal). This is occasionally likewise done for the Dutch U. In Spanish, the abbreviation of the pronoun usted, Ud. or Vd., is usually written with a capital. Similarly, in Russian the formal second-person pronoun Вы with its cases Ваш, Вашего etc. is capitalized, but only when addressing someone personally (usually in personal correspondence).
* In Danish, the plural second-person pronoun, I, is capitalized, but its other forms jer and jeres are not. This distinguishes it from the preposition i ("in").
* In formally written Polish (the same rules apply also in Czech and Slovak), most notably in letters and e-mails, all pronouns referring to the addressee are capitalized. This includes not only ty (you) and all its declensions (twój, ciebie etc.), but also any plural pronouns encompassing the addressee, such as wy (plural you), including declensions. This principle extends to nouns used in formal third person (when used to address the letter addressee), such as Pan (sir) and Pani (madame) .
Places and Geographic Terms
* In general, the first letter is capitalized for well-defined places (Central Asia)
* This general rule also applies to zones of the earth’s surface (North Temperate Zone, the Equator)
* In general, do not capitalize the points of the compass (north China, southeast London) or any adjectives (western Arizona, central New Mexico, upper Yangtze, lower Rio Grande)
* Capitalize generic geographic terms that are part of a proper noun (Atlantic Ocean, Mt. Muztagata)
* Do not capitalize a generic term that follows a capitalized generic term (Yangtze River valley)
* Use lower case for plurals (Gobi and Taklamakan deserts)
* Only capitalize ‘the’ if it is part of the formal place name (The Bahamas and The Gambia vs. the Netherlands and the Philippines)
* If you are unclear about the capitalization of a specific place-name, then do a search on Google Scholar. The general consensus may not necessarily be correct, but it will help give a clue as to the proper capitalization.
* With scientific writing, keep in mind that the goal of your writing is to clearly express your science. The reason for paying close attention to proper capitalization is not merely for the sake of conforming to some arbitrary set of rules. One specific reason to conform to the accepted capitalization norms is that it will give readers a more precise idea of your collecting area.
Upper case
*
o East Asia
o South-East Asia
o Central Asia
o Central America
o North Korea
o South Africa
o the North Atlantic
o the Middle East
o The Arctic
o The Hague
o The Gambia
Lower case
*
o central Europe
o western China
o southern Beijing
o western Mongolia
o eastern Africa
o northern North Korea
o the central Gobi
o the lower Yangtze River
o the Philippines
Nouns
* In German, all nouns and noun-like words are capitalized. This was also the practice in Danish before a spelling reform in 1948. It was also done in 18th Century English (as with Gulliver's Travels).
* In nearly all European languages, single-word proper nouns (including personal names) are capitalized, e.g., France, Moses. Multiple-word proper nouns usually follow rules like the traditional English rules for publication titles (see below), e.g., Robert the Bruce.
o Where placenames are preceded by the definite article, this is usually lowercased, as in the Sudan, the Philippines.
+ Sometimes the article is integral to the name, and so capitalized, as in Den Haag, Le Havre. However, in French this does not occur for contractions du and au, as in "Je viens du Havre" ["I come from Le Havre"].
o A few English names may be written with two lowercase f's: ffrench, ffoulkes, etc. This ff fossilizes an older misreading of a blackletter uppercase F.
o Some individuals choose not to use capitals with their names, such as k.d. lang or bell hooks. E. E. Cummings, whose name is often spelt without capitals, did not spell his name so; the usage derives from the typography used on the cover of one of his books.
o Most brand names and trademarks are capitalized (e.g., Coca-Cola, Pepsi) although some have chosen to deviate from standard rules (e.g., easyJet, id Software, eBay, iPod) to be distinctive.
* In English, the names of days of the week, months and languages are capitalized, as are demonyms like Englishman, Arab. In other languages, practice varies.
* Capitalization is always used for most names of taxa used in scientific classification of living things, except for species-level taxa or below. Example: Homo sapiens sapiens.
* A more controversial practice followed by some authors, though few if any style guides, treats the common names of some animal and plant species as proper nouns, and uses initial majuscules for them (e.g., Peregrine Falcon, Red Pine), while not capitalizing others (e.g., horse or person). This is most common for birds and fishes. Botanists generally reject the practice of capitalizing the common names of plants, though individual words of plant names may be capitalized by another rule (e.g., Italian stone pine).[citation needed] See the discussion of official common names under common name for an explanation.
* Common nouns may be capitalized when used as names for the entire class of such things, e.g. what a piece of work is Man. French often capitalizes such nouns as l'État (the state) and l'Église (the church) when not referring to specific ones.
* The names of gods are capitalized, including Allah, Vishnu, and God. The word god is generally not capitalized if it is used to refer to the generic idea of a deity, nor is it capitalized when it refers to multiple gods, e.g., Roman gods. There may be some confusion because the Judeo-Christian god is rarely referred to by a specific name, but simply as God (see G-d#Laws of writing divine names). Other names for the Judeo-Christian god, such as Elohim, Yahweh and Lord, are also capitalized.
* While acronyms have historically been written in all-caps, modern usage is moving towards capitalization in some cases (as well as proper nouns like Unesco).
Adjectives
* In English, adjectives derived from proper nouns (except the names of characters in fictional works) usually retain their capitalization – e.g. a Christian church, Canadian whisky, a Shakespearian sonnet, but a quixotic mission, malapropism, holmesian and pecksniffian. Where the original capital is no longer at the beginning of the word, usage varies: anti-Christian, but Presocratic or Pre-Socratic or presocratic (not preSocratic)
* Such adjectives do not receive capitals in German (sokratisch, präsokratisch), French (socratique, présocratique), Swedish (sokratisk, försokratisk) or Polish (sokratejski, presokratejski). In German, if the adjective becomes a noun by using an article or numeral in front of it (das Bunte (the colorful), eine Schöne (a beautiful)), it is capitalized like any other noun. The same applies to verbs (das Laufen (the running), ein Spazierengehen (one / a walking)).
* Adjectives referring to nationality or ethnicity are not capitalized in French, even though nouns are: un navire canadien, a Canadian ship; un Canadien, a Canadian. Both nouns and adjectives are capitalized in English.
Others
Other uses of capitalization include:
* In most modern European languages, the first word in a sentence is capitalized, as is the first word in any quoted sentence.
o In Ancient Greek they are not and sometimes not in Latin, if it is written with miniscules at all.
o For some terms a capital as first letter is avoided by avoiding their use at the beginning of a sentence, or by writing it in lowercase even at the beginning of a sentence. E.g., pH looks unfamiliar written PH, and m and M may even have different meanings, milli and mega.
o In Dutch, ’t, d’, or ’s in names or sayings are never capitalized, even at the start of sentences.
* Most English honorifics and titles of persons, e.g. Doctor Watson, Mrs Jones, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.
o This does not apply where the words are not titles; e.g. Watson is a doctor, Philip is a duke.
* Traditionally, the first word of each line in a piece of verse, e.g.:
Meanwhile the winged Heralds, by command
Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony
And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim
A solemn council forthwith to be held
At Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers. […] (Milton, Paradise Lost I:752–756)
o Modern poets often ignore or defy this convention.
* The English vocative particle O, an archaic form of address, e.g. Thou, O king, art a king of kings.
In English, there even are few words whose meaning (and sometimes pronunciation) varies with capitalization.
Hope some of these rules help you in future posting.
