| We come to the end of a fine series of articles | | | | second world war to come about was WWIIthe |
| on capitalization. We have already been through | | | | Enlightenment, the Renaissance, the Dark Agesthe |
| the most common mistakes I find as an editor, | | | | Fifth Republic, the Ming Dynasty [debated whether |
| and now I will present some not-so-common | | | | to capitalize "dynasty"]the War on Crime |
| mistakes I run across. | | | | Cold War; Cold War era [debated]the forties |
| Titles | | | | [1940s]; but the Roaring Twenties |
| Capitalize titles if they precede a name; use lower | | | | Exceptions and more |
| case if not. | | | | Now that I've given you the rules, it's time to turn |
| General Grant won the Civil War. The general won | | | | it all upside down. There are certain times when it |
| the war. | | | | is acceptable to break them. |
| Professor Day gave a good lecture. The | | | | One of the most classic examples occurs in |
| professor is intelligent. | | | | fantasy novels: Faeries and Dwarves and Orcs, oh |
| We prayed with Rabbi Goldstein. The rabbi prayed | | | | my! Yes, faeries can become Faeries when |
| with us. | | | | fantasy writers turn faeries into a specific group |
| All hail Queen Elizabeth! We saw the queen bow | | | | of people - like Asians or such. Fantasy writers |
| to the king. | | | | also like turning the tower into the Tower and the |
| However, titles of respect remain capitalized:the | | | | forest into the Forest. Sometimes this is okay, |
| First Lady | | | | sometimes not. One of the most powerful rules |
| His Majesty | | | | of capitalization in fiction writing is to not over |
| Mr. President | | | | capitalize. If you over capitalize anything, it loses |
| Your Highness | | | | it's power and becomes another mundane entity. |
| One can also make a case for the following: | | | | Use the exceptions sparingly and don't create |
| All hail the Queen! | | | | your world around them. You don't need to |
| Here, the crowd is referring to a particular queen, | | | | creatively break the rules to get attention, lest |
| not the position of queen. It can also be argued it | | | | you get the wrong kind. |
| is a term of respect from the well-wishers. This | | | | Another area we often find it acceptable to break |
| case is ambiguous; go with the style you prefer. | | | | the rules is in business. Sometimes our bosses find |
| Ethnic and religious groups | | | | themselves on an ego trip and insist on having |
| African Americans (but not black people) | | | | their title capitalized under every circumstance. |
| Caucasian (but not white people) | | | | Business theorists also love to capitalize their |
| Europeans | | | | theories, which contravenes the traditional |
| Latinos/Hispanics | | | | accepted styles. In fact, we often see theories |
| French culture | | | | capitalized regularly: Management Theory, Particle |
| Jews/Jewish | | | | Theory, the Theory of Evolution. McGregor's |
| Christian | | | | theory of motivation, theory x and theory y, is |
| Catholic | | | | most often written in business articles in |
| But:the middle classthe poorthe homelessthe | | | | capitalized format: Theory X and Theory Y states |
| blindthe deafthe disabled | | | | that individuals have more powerful motivation |
| Names of places | | | | triggers than.... |
| Capitalize cities, countries, continents, geographic | | | | There are those who write fiction that believe |
| ranges, bodies of water and regions: Chicago, | | | | you can do no wrong when it comes to |
| Lithuania, Antarctica, the Swiss Alps, Pacific Ocean | | | | grammar, punctuation and general rules for writing. |
| (the Pacific), the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains. | | | | I'm here to tell you that is not the truth. If an |
| One also capitalizes popularnames, even though | | | | editor or agent sees a manuscript full of errors, |
| they may not be the proper names:the Village | | | | whether purposeful/creative or not, they will |
| [Greenwich]the Promised Land [Israel]the Windy | | | | dump it before they finish the first page. |
| City [Chicago] | | | | One of the most comprehensive books to treat |
| Tornado Alley [a zone in the Midwest] | | | | the subject of capitalization in great depth and |
| Organizations and associations | | | | with a plenitude of examples is The Chicago |
| Girl Scouts | | | | Manual of Style (15th ed.). In fact, there are 70 |
| AFL-CIO (but, the union)the Chicago Bears; the | | | | pages of detailed explanation for just about every |
| Bears | | | | question you might have about capitalization. Most |
| Democrat; Democratic Party [party | | | | books only treat the subject cursorily. |
| members]anarchists, socialists, republicans | | | | As always, there is also a wide variety of |
| [ideological movements as opposed to recognized | | | | resources available on the internet. If you want to |
| parties] | | | | be a good writer, invest in some of the tools you |
| Historic events and time periods | | | | need to get the basics right. |
| World War II; the Second World Warbut: the | | | | |