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Unit VII
Lesson III: Grammar and Style
Capitalization, Italics, Hyphenation
Capitalization
In general, capitalization is not a serious issue for most students. There are, however, several problematic and recurring situations in which many struggle with consistency although such situations are rare. Remember that other languages often do not capitalize the same items as does English, so it is not unusual to see a new speaker of English retain some structural habits from his or her own language. Most of these rules are well known and need little review, but the second group of the two listed below represents a higher number of issues, therefore deserving more attention.
1. Capitalize all proper names, their abbreviations, and acronyms: Ernest Hemingway, King Henry VIII, NAACP, NASA, AARP
2. Capitalize all trademarks and brand names: Nike, Ford, Heinz, General Mills, Under Armour
3. Capitalize the names of all peoples and languages: Russians, Asians, Incas, Chinese, Spanish, Swahili
4. Capitalize all geographical names—a huge category: Europe, Bermuda, Niagara Falls, Hawaiian Islands, Mt. Vesuvius, Humboldt Current, Volga River, Atlantic Ocean
5. Capitalize all organizations, government agencies, institutions, and companies: Florida State University, Congress, Microsoft, IBM, American Cancer Society, Medicare, Blue Cross Blue Shield
6. Capitalize the days of the week, months, and all calendar holidays: Monday, March, Groundhog Day, Arbor Day, Christmas, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
7. Capitalize historical documents, periods, events, and movements: Magna Carta, Renaissance, Romanticism, Treaty of Versailles, Middle Ages, Russian Revolution, Inquisition
8. Capitalize all religions, adherents to any religion, holy books and days, and all words for the Supreme Being: Judaism, Koran, Allah, God, Torah, Ramadan, Easter, Mecca, Branch Davidians, Jesus, Mohammed
9. Capitalize words used in personification (attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object): “Death, be not proud . . . ,” “Spring arrived early in her . . . ,” “Old Man Winter was severe . . .”
10. Capitalize all words derived from proper names: Stalinism, Leninism, Confucianism
11. Capitalize abbreviations, acronyms, and short forms of capitalized words: AMA, AF of L, TX, NCIS, JAMA, EU, UK
12. Capitalize titles of persons when the title precedes the name: Lieutenant Jones, Professor Nguyen, Doctor Zhivago, Prime Minister Thatcher, Admiral Samuel. E. Morrison, President George Washington
13. However, do not capitalize a title without a name: The corporal was sick. The doctor is not in. What professor is teaching this course? Usually a general runs this base. The president has signed the bill.
14. Capitalize the first word and all important words in titles and subtitles: Of Mice and Men, As the World Turns, The Siege of Stalingrad, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Birds, Nightmare on Elm Street
The following group of very familiar words often presents some special challenges and deserves special attention and emphasis:
1. Mother, Father, Sister, etc. are not capitalized when preceded by a possessive noun or pronoun—and most of the time they are: His mother . . . Their father . . . John’s sister . . . Our father . . .(not a reference to the deity, which would be capitalized)
2. Do not automatically capitalize earth, sun, and moon—as heavenly bodies they would be capitalized, but in general reference they would not: The moon was bright last night. The desert sun was unbearable. He had earth on his hands. (but) Mars is very near Earth.
3. Capitalize compass points only when they refer to a specific geographical region, never for direction: New Orleans is in the South. He was from the Northwest. (but) To get there, head south along highway 90. Drive east for six miles.
4. Capitalize all school courses followed by any number, Roman or alphanumeric, but otherwise not unless the word is a proper noun: Anatomy II, World Literature 1101, Biology II, (but) I hated algebra. This is my third time in biology. I never liked history.
5. Do not capitalize the name of a product after a brand name unless the product is a proper noun: Snickers candy bar, Heinz catsup, Ford truck (but) Ford Mustang, Bayer aspirin, Nike basketball shoe (but) Nike LeBron XIII basketball shoe
6. Do not capitalize breed names of animals, generic names of plants, or the names of diseases unless a proper noun is involved in the particular name: beagle, sea bass, live oak, roses, mumps, (but) Lou Gehrig’s disease, Siamese cat, Arabian horse, American roses
7. Do not capitalize the names of the seasons unless used with personification or proper nouns: I love an early spring. The fall was bitter this year in Iowa. (but) Welcomed by all because of her beautiful flowers and mild temperatures, Spring arrived early this year (personification). We were looking forward to the annual Spring Frolics at the University of Florida (proper noun).
Check for Understanding (on Capitalization)
(See Answer Key at bottom of document.)
Choose the option with the correct capitalization to complete the sentence:
1. It was not hard to tell that Dee was from the (south, South).
2. Every morning I ate a big (snickers candy bar, Snickers candy bar).
3. I was upset that I had to take (professor, Professor) Kim this term.
4. The people in the small town did their best to attract a (doctor, Doctor).
5. We crossed the Mississippi (river, River) at Vicksburg.
6. Tom was upset when he saw that his (mother, Mother) was in his class.
7. Yesterday on the river, Bill caught (bass and catfish, Bass and Catfish).
8. I was surprised how much it took to stay hydrated being in the (sun, Sun) all day.
Italics
Most students come to an English class aware that titles of created works are punctuated in one way or another, but often this knowledge is limited to a vague realization that titles will be in italics or quotation marks. Many times, even after a composition class, this knowledge is still not precise, having been gleaned randomly from a chapter on italics, perhaps one on the use of quotation marks, or perhaps even more from an assignment requiring outside sources with citations and a reference page. Most often, the result of an inadequate familiarity will cause students to use italics or quotation marks randomly for a variety of titles with little concern about accuracy.
Italics and underlining represent the same punctuation, but quite simply italic type was not available for many years for the average typist. Underlining was used instead as the only option. Italics should be used only for very specific titles: books, magazines, newspapers, plays, films, recordings, works of art, long poems, genera and species, the names of ships (air, sea, space), and software: Harry Potter, Psychology Today, The Washington Post, Othello, Pulp Fiction, The Thinker, The Divine Comedy, odocoileus virginianus borealis, The Titanic, The Enterprise, The Millennium Falcon, Microsoft Word.
There is an entirely different set of items that are by tradition set off by quotation marks rather than italics. Quotation marks are addressed later in this lesson in detail and are always good to compare to the items that go in italics. Most of the time students know that titles are punctuated, but the dilemma comes when a decision has to be made whether quotation marks or italics would be the correct choice. In general, larger media items—novels, plays, books, magazines, journals, periodicals, newspapers—have their titles in italics, while subdivisions of these items—articles, chapters, stories, shorter poems—are the titles that go in quotation marks.
Another common use for italics (or underlining) is to call attention to words from a foreign language used in English sentences:
· He did not know that the Spanish word for scorpion was el alacran.
However, once a foreign word has been assimilated to the point that it is well known, it no longer uses italics:
· I bought two pizzas for five dollars. He loves a good taco with hot sauce.
Another practice is the use of italics for legal cases:
· Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark civil rights case.
Both APA and MLA call for italics being used to indicate words, letters, and figures spoken of as such:
· Many never heard that an o comes in front of the word many people spell as possum.
· For many the word bureau is tricky to spell.
Video: Italics
Check for Understanding (on Italics)
(See Answer Key at bottom of document.)
Select the correct punctuation for the item in parentheses:
1. We read the novel (“Moby Dick” Moby Dick) although I never figured out why.
2. I never really learned how to spell (“Mississippi” Mississippi) correctly even though I lived there for five years.
3. I liked the poem (“Trees” Trees), probably because it was so short.
4. Why some people read (“Psychology Today” Psychology Today) I never figured out until I had my first psychology class.
5. At one point in the Pacific, the (“Enterprise” Enterprise) was our only carrier left afloat.
Hyphenation
The hyphen is made by using one stroke of the key on the top row, right side of the keyboard where you can also make the underscore mark as well. Usually, you must hyphenate two or more words when they appear in front of a noun or pronoun as modifiers, especially when the words are used together as one word and not as individual modifiers. This structure is called a compound adjective. Sometimes when a compound adjective follows the noun or pronoun it is modifying, the hyphen might not be necessary. Another use of the hyphen is the compound noun. Oftentimes, the compound noun does not require a hyphen. Your best bet is to look up the word when in doubt. If you are writing, try to use a structure you are comfortable with. However, some classic compound adjectives must always be hyphenated (see below). One interesting fact is that with –ly adverbs, the hyphen is not used (see below).
Notice that heavily monitored does not have a hyphen:
· Her heavily monitored vital signs were of great concern to Intensive Care.
The following are examples of hyphenated words:
· She was taking an on-campus course.
o She was taking a course on campus this term. (This clear example shows how the above example uses the hyphen but in this second example, no hyphen can be used.)
· We had lived in a run-down house.
· The apparatus has a bell-like appearance.
· Our great-grandfather had been living on South Beach.
· Conrad could be considered a colonial or post-colonial writer.
· The anti-nuclear demonstrations were increasing after the Fukushima incident.
One is not likely to be able to understand the hyphen unless he or she has knowledge of the dash or dashes as well. In many ways, dashes are used just like commas, the semicolon, the colon, parentheses, and even the ellipses for the same purposes: to add emphasis, to indicate a sudden change, to signal an interruption, or perhaps to indicate a shift or sudden change in thought. Dashes can have a dramatic effect on tone and the content as well as context of a message, so their deployment must be handled with the full knowledge of how they affect the sentence and context.
Note the difference here:
· She is the suspect, the only suspect, in all three murders.
· She is the suspect—the only suspect—in all three murders.
Unless you realize your own intentions in a piece of writing, do not arbitrarily use dashes
As a general rule, spaces are never used before, during, or after the hyphen or dash. Consult the APA manual for any questions regarding the use of this or any other mark of punctuation.
Check for Understanding (on Hyphenation)
(See Answer Key at bottom of document.)
Select the correct use of the hyphen in the following sentences:
1. The (anti-war, anti war) sentiments were growing daily.
2. Several (government-mandated, government mandated) programs were bankrupting the state of California.
3. The Taliban were in (heavily-fortified, heavily fortified) bastions in the mountains of Pakistan.
4. We had been to court about a (right-of-way, right of way) on our grandfather’s farm.
5. After she was married, she adopted the name Marie (Anderson-Schmidt, Anderson Schmidt).
Answer Key
Capitalization
1. South
2. Snickers candy bar
3. Professor
4. doctor
5. River
6. mother
7. bass and catfish
8. sun
Italics
1. Moby Dick
2. Mississippi
3. “Trees”
4. Psychology Today
5. Enterprise
Hyphenation
1. anti-war
2. government-mandated
3. heavily fortified
4. right-of-way
5. Anderson-Schmidt