Chapter 9 Hitting the Big Time: Capital Letters In This Chapter ᮣ Choosing capitals for job and personal titles ᮣ Capitalizing geographical names ᮣ Identifying school and business terms that should be capitalized ᮣ Selecting capital letters for literary and media titles ᮣ Placing capital letters in abbreviations P oetry is something I love, but even I have to admit that poets get away with murder. Specifically, they murder the rules for capital letters whenever they want to. A poet can write “i sent sally to sue,” and no one blinks. Unfortunately, the rest of us have to conform to capitalization customs. Most people know the basics: Capital letters are needed for proper names, the personal pro- noun I, and the first letter of a sentence. Trouble may arrive with the finer points of capital letters — in quotations (which I cover in Chapter 8), titles (both people and publications), abbreviations, and school or business terms. Never fear. In this chapter you get to practice all those topics. Even for nonpoets, the rules for capital letters may vary. The major style setters in the land of grammar (yes, grammar has style, and no, grammarians aren’t immune to trends) some- times disagree about what should be capitalized and what shouldn’t. In this workbook I follow the most common capitalization styles. If you’re writing for a specific publication or a particular teacher, you may want to check which twenty-pound book of rules (also known as a style manual) you should follow. The most common are those manuals published by the Modern Language Association (academic writing in the humanities), the American Psychological Association (science and social science writing), and the University of Chicago (general interest and academic publishing). Bowing to Convention and Etiquette: People’s Names and Titles Unless you’re a poet or an eccentric rock star who wants to buck the trend, you capitalize your name — first, last, and initials. Titles — job or personal — are a different story. The general rules are as follows: ߜ A title preceding and attached to a name is capitalized (Mr. Smith, Professor Wiley, Lord Cummings, and so forth). Small, unimportant words in titles (a, the, of, and the like) are always lowercased. 14_599321 ch09.qxp 4/3/06 11:26 PM Page 113 ߜ Titles written after or without a name are generally not capitalized (George Wiley, professor of psychology or Danielle Smith, director of paper distribution, for instance). ߜ If the title names a post of the highest national or international importance (President, Vice President, Secretary General, and the like), it may be capitalized even when used alone, though some style manuals go for lowercase regardless of rank. Now that you get the idea, test yourself. In the following sentences, add capital letters where needed. Lowercase any extra capitals. (Just cross out the offending letter and substitute the correct form.) Note: In this section, correct only personal names and people’s titles — you can assume that everything else is correct. Q. The reverend archie smith, Chief Executive of the Homeless Council, has invited senator Bickford to next month’s fundraiser. A. Reverend, Archie, Smith, chief, executive, Senator. Personal names are always capital- ized, so Archie Smith needs capitals. Reverend and Senator precede the names (Archie Smith and Bickford) and act as part of the person’s name, not just a description of their jobs. Thus they should be capitalized. The title chief executive follows the name and isn’t capitalized. 1. Yesterday mayor Victoria Johnson ordered all public servants in her town to conserve sticky tape. 2. Herman harris, chief city engineer, has promised to hold the line on tape spending. 3. However, the Municipal Dogcatcher, Agnes e. Bark, insists on taping “Lost Dog — Reward!” signs to every tree. 4. The signs placed by dogcatcher Bark seldom fall far from the tree. 5. The taping done by ms. Bark is so extensive that hardly any paper detaches. 6. Few Dogcatchers care as much as agnes about rounding up lost dogs. 7. The recent champion of the town dog show, BooBoo, was caught last week. 8. Surely Ms. Johnson is wrong when she insists that tape be rationed by Civil Servants. 9. Johnson, who also serves as director of marketing for a well-known thumbtack company, has an interest in substituting tacks for tape. 10. Until the issue is resolved, Agnes, herself the chief executive of Sticking, Inc., will continue to tape to her heart’s content. 11. Sticking, Inc. has appointed a Vice President to oversee a merger with a thumbtack producer. 12. Vice president Finger of Thumbtack, Inc. is tired of jokes about his name. 13. When he was appointed Chief Financial Officer, George Finger asked the previous holder of the position for advice. 14. Alicia Bucks, who is now the President of a major thumbtack conglomerate, had little sympathy for Finger. 114 Part II: Mastering Mechanics 14_599321 ch09.qxp 4/3/06 11:26 PM Page 114 15. With a name like Bucks, she explained, everyone thinks you should work as a Bank President. 16. Finger next asked reverend Holy how he dealt with his unusual name. 17. However, Holy, who has been a Bishop for twelve years, was puzzled by the question. 18. “I feel fortunate compared to my brother, who was General Manager of the New Jersey Devils hockey team,” Bishop Holy remarked. 19. Reginald Holy joined the Devils twenty years ago as a Player Development Director. 20. Holy hopes to be appointed President of the National Hockey League someday. Entering the Worlds of Business and Academia Whether you bring home a paycheck or a report card, you should take care to capitalize properly. Surprisingly, the worlds of business and education have a lot in common: ߜ The place where it all happens: Capitalize the name of the company or school (Superlative Widgets International or University of Rock and Roll, for example). General words that may refer to a number of businesses or academic institutions (university, conglomerate, and so forth) are written in lowercase. ߜ Working units: Business activities (management, advertising, or marketing, perhaps) and general academic tasks, years, and subjects (such as research, sophomore, and his- tory) aren’t capitalized. The name of a specific department (Research and Development Division, Department of Cultural Anthropology) may be capitalized. Project names (the Zero Task Force) and course names (Psychological Interpretations of Belly-Button Rings) are capitalized. In these capitalized terms, articles and prepositions (a, the, for, and so forth) are generally lowercased. Course titles and the names of businesses or institutions are capitalized according to the “headline style” rules of titles, which I describe in “Capitalizing Titles of Literary and Media Works” later in this chapter. Briefly, capitalize the first word, all nouns and verbs, and any important words in the title. Short, relational words such as of, for, by, and from aren’t capitalized, nor are articles such as a, an, and the. ߜ Products: General terms for items produced or sold (widgets, guarantees, consul- tation fee, and the like) aren’t capitalized. Neither are academic degrees or awards (master’s, endowed chair, fellowship, doctorate, and so forth). If a specific brand is named, however, roll out the big letters (Christopher Columbus Award for Round-Trip Travel, Universal Widget Groove Simulator, and so on). Some companies take a tip from poets and change the usual capitalization customs. Sigh. As a grammarian, I’m not happy, but people (and companies) have the right to ruin their own names. So if you know that a company prefers a particular format (eBay or Banjos ’n Strings, for example), bow your head and accept fate. Now that you have the basics, try these questions. I thoughtfully include both busi- ness and school references so that everyone feels at home. If a word needs a capital letter, cross out the offending letter and insert the capital. If a word has an unneces- sary capital letter, cross out the offender and insert a lowercase letter. 115 Chapter 9: Hitting the Big Time: Capital Letters 14_599321 ch09.qxp 4/3/06 11:26 PM Page 115 Q. The eldest daughter of Matt Brady, founder of belly buttons are we, is a senior at the uni- versity of southeast hogwash, where she is majoring in navel repair. A. Belly Buttons Are We, University of Southeast Hogwash. The name of the company is capitalized, as is the name of the school. The year of study (senior) isn’t capitalized, nor is the major. 21. After extensive research, the united nose ring company has determined that most college freshmen prefer silver rings. 22. The spokesperson for the Company commented that “silver rocks their world.” 23. “I wore a gold ring to the curriculum critique committee last semester,” explained Fred P. Stileless, who is the student representative to all university committees. 24. “The gold ring definitely turned off some juniors I was interested in romantically,” explained Fred, who hasn’t had a date, he says, since he was a high school senior. 25. The spokesperson surveyed competing products, including a silver-gold combination manufactured by in style or else, inc., a division of klepto industrials. 26. The silver that the Jewelers use is imported from “four or five big countries.” 27. The company claims that the silver attracts attention and costs less, though the depart- ment of product development has issued a statement denying “any attractive power” for the metal. 28. Stileless says that he doesn’t care about scientific studies because, though he originally majored in chemistry, “introduction to fashion, a course I took in freshman year, opened my eyes to art and beauty.” 29. Stileless expects to receive a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in fashion imperatives. 30. Import-export Companies will have to switch from gold to silver. Capitalizing Titles of Literary and Media Works If you write an ode to homework or a scientific study on the biological effects of too many final exams, how do you capitalize the title? The answer depends on the style you’re following: ߜ Literary, creative, and general-interest works are capitalized in “headline style.” Headline style specifies capital letters for the first and last word of the title and subtitle, in addition to all nouns, verbs, and descriptive words, and any other words that require emphasis. Articles (a, an, the) and prepositions (among, by, for, and the like) are usually in lowercase. All the headings in this book are in headline style. ߜ The titles of scientific works employ “sentence style,” which calls for capital letters only for the first word of the title and subtitle and for proper nouns. Everything else is lowercased. (The title of a scientific paper in sentence style: “Cloning fruit flies: Hazards of fly bites.”) 116 Part II: Mastering Mechanics 14_599321 ch09.qxp 4/3/06 11:26 PM Page 116 Ready to get to work? The following titles are written without any capital letters at all. Cross out the offending letters and insert capitals above them where needed. The style you should follow (headline or sentence) is specified in parentheses at the end of each title. By the way, titles of short works are enclosed in quotation marks. Titles of full-length works are italicized. (See Chapter 8 for more information on the punctuation of titles.) Q. “the wonders of homework completed: an ode” (headline) A. “The Wonders of Homework Completed: An Ode” The first word of the title and subtitle (The, An) are always capitalized. So are the nouns (Wonders, Homework) and descriptive words (Completed). The preposition (of) is left in lowercase. 31. moby duck: a tale of obsessive bird watching (headline) 32. “an analysis of the duckensis mobyous: the consequences of habitat shrinkage on popula- tion” (sentence) 33. “call me izzy smell: my life as a duck hunter” (headline) 34. the duck and i: essays on the relationship between human beings and feathered species (sentence) 35. duck and cover: a cookbook (headline) 36. “the duck stops here: political wisdom from the environmental movement” (sentence) 37. duck upped: how the duck triumphed over the hunter (headline) 38. “moby platypus doesn’t live here anymore” (headline) 39. “population estimates of the platypus: an inexact science” (sentence) 40. for the love of a duck: a sentimental memoir (headline) Placing Geographical Capitals Where am I? I’m in a city (lowercase), popularly known as New York (capitalized), or, as my husband likes to say, on a small island (lowercase) off the coast of New Jersey (capitalized). The island, by the way, is Manhattan (capitalized). Get the idea? Place names are in lowercase when they’re generic, one-term-fits-all (river, canyon, town, street, and so forth). Place names are capitalized when they’re the specific, proper names (Manhattan, North Dakota, Tibet, Amazon River, and such). One more point about places: the compass points are in lowercase when they refer to directions (head south for ten miles, for example) and capitalized when they refer to areas of the country (the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, and so on). Place names that have become so much a part of the common vocabulary that they no longer refer to actual locations aren’t capitalized (french fries, russian roulette, egyptian cotton, and so on). Now that you’re oh-so-savvy about places and capital letters, peer at the underlined words in the following sentences and decide whether a capital letter is appropriate. If so, draw three lines under the letter needing to be capitalized. If not, leave the word alone. 117 Chapter 9: Hitting the Big Time: Capital Letters 14_599321 ch09.qxp 4/3/06 11:26 PM Page 117 Q. Megan often revs up her motorcycle and speeds south, arriving at the shores of the mississippi river around sunset. A. correct, Mississippi River. The first underlined word is a direction, not an area, so lower- case is appropriate for south. The second underlined term is a proper, specific name, so capital letters are needed. 41. Rowing across the hudson river is difficult for Andy, who hates oceans, lakes, and all bodies of water. 42. Andy, who was born in schenectady , new york, pretends to be a ukranian prince. 43. His latest bride, Abby, hails from an island near Andy’s castle, which is just north of the strait of gibraltar . 44. Megan gave a wedding present to the happy couple: two round-trip tickets to a beautiful natural canyon in the southwest. 45. The last time Megan visited new mexico , she was arrested by a constable visiting from eur ope. 46. “The fact that I am not from this continent is no reason to deny my arresting privileges,” said Constable Creary. “The nor th american justice system was modeled after the one in my countr y.” 47. “Do you expect me to honor a trans-atlantic arrest?” queried the judge. 48. The eur opean cop, who was actually from belgium, was so discouraged that he grabbed a turkish towel and sent out for a spanish omelet. 49. Megan did no jail time in santa fe , but she was imprisoned briefly in a small village north of omaha. 50. Her offense was wading in a str eam and trampling on six gardens in the west. AM or p.m.? Capitalizing Abbreviations Abbreviations save you time, but they also present you with a couple of annoying problems, namely whether to capitalize or lowercase and whether a period is needed. The world of abbreviations, I must confess, is prime real estate for turf wars. Some publications and institutions proudly announce that “we don’t capitalize a.m.” whereas others declare exactly the opposite, choosing “AM” instead. (Both are correct, but don’t mix the forms.) So if you’re writing for an organization with a chip on its collec- tive shoulder, you’re wise to ask in advance for a list of the publication’s or school’s preferences. In this section I give you the one-size-fits-most abbreviated forms. These are the general guidelines: ߜ Acronyms — forms created by the first letter of each word (NATO, UNICEF, OPEC, and so forth) — take capitals but not periods. ߜ Initials and titles are capitalized and take periods (George W. Bush and Msgr. Sullivan, for example). The three most common titles — Mr., Mrs., and Ms.— are always capitalized and usually written with periods, though the current trend is to skip the period because the long forms of these words are never used, with the exception of “Mister,” and even that is rare. 118 Part II: Mastering Mechanics 14_599321 ch09.qxp 4/3/06 11:26 PM Page 118 . to be capitalized. If not, leave the word alone. 1 17 Chapter 9: Hitting the Big Time: Capital Letters 14_599321 ch09.qxp 4/3/06 11:26 PM Page 1 17 Q. Megan often revs up her motorcycle and speeds. the President of a major thumbtack conglomerate, had little sympathy for Finger. 114 Part II: Mastering Mechanics 14_599321 ch09.qxp 4/3/06 11:26 PM Page 114 15. With a name like Bucks, she. work as a Bank President. 16. Finger next asked reverend Holy how he dealt with his unusual name. 17. However, Holy, who has been a Bishop for twelve years, was puzzled by the question. 18. “I feel