Capitalization and Abbreviations - Go to the Head of the Class

Capitalization: A Capital Idea In addition to enabling us to fit more letters on a page, a system of capital and lowercase letters serves a far more important purpose: It allows writers

Chapter

Capitalization and

Abbreviations: Go to

the Head of the Class

In This Chapter

• Get the capital idea

• Learn to abbrev the rgt wds

The next time you're in Rome, stop by an ancient building or two and check out the inscriptions You might notice that on the oldest of the old buildings, every letter is capitalized Eventually, however, the scribes real-ized that they could fit more on a building (or a page) if the letters were smaller Their realization became the basis for our capital/lowercase letter system of writing So we have the ancient Romans to thank for this chapter

Capitalization: A Capital Idea

In addition to enabling us to fit more letters on a page, a system of capital and lowercase letters serves a far more important purpose: It allows writers

to point out specific words within a sentence (such as proper nouns) and to signal the start of a new sentence

2 2 * 1 P a r t <»: Tools of the Trade

Capital Punishment

How much do you already know about capital letters? I'll bet it's a lot more than you suspect Take the following simple quiz to see where you stand On the lines provided, write the words that should be capitalized Some lines will have one word or more than one word; other lines won't have any words

(1) There was an orioles fan with really lousy seats (2) at camden yards for the recent playoffs Looking with (3) his binoculars, he spotted an empty seat right behind (4) the orioles' dugout, thinking to himself, "what a (5) waste," he made his way down to the empty seat (6) when he arrived at the seat, he asked the man (7) sitting next to it, "is this seat taken?" the man replied, (8) "this was my wife's seat, she passed away, she was a big (9) orioles fan." (10) the other man replied,

"i'm sorry to hear of your (11) loss, may i ask why you didn't give the ticket to a (12) friend or a relative?" (13) the man replied, "they're all at the funeral." Answers

(i)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)

(13)

Answers

1 Orioles

2 Camden Yards

C h a p t e r 1 7 : Capitalization and Abbreviations: Go to the Head of the (lass 2 2 5

3 none

4 Orioles, Thinking, What

5 none

6 When

7 Is, The

8 This, She, She

9 Orioles

10 The, I'm

11 May, I

12 none

13 The, They're

Danger, Will Robinson

When you quote a fragment of dialogue, don't capi-talize it, as this example shows: The boss told us the stock per-formed "like gangbusters."

Rules to Capitalize By

Time to review the rules for clear capitalization The envelope, please

• Capitalize the first word of:

• A sentence: It rains on the Spanish plain

• A complete sentence after a colon: The fans all realized the same astonish-ing fact: No NFL team that plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Super Bowl

• A quotation, if it is a complete sentence: The child said, "Blood circulates through the body by flowing up one leg and down the other."

But:

"Blood," the child said, "circulates through the body by flowing up one leg and down the other."

• A line of poetry: I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree

• The greeting of a letter: Dear Ms Ramirez:

• The first word in the complimentary close of a letter: Sincerely yours, Yours very truly,

2 2 6 Partit: Tools of the Trade

• Capitalize the first word of each item in an outline:

I Introduction

A Topic sentence

B First major point

C Second major point

• Capitalize the titles of books, plays, newspapers, and magazines:

• A book title: The Complete Idiots Guide to Grammar and Style, Second Edition

• A play: If Pigs Could Fly

• A newspaper: The New York Times

• A magazine: The Atlantic Monthly

• Capitalize titles before a person's name: Dr Frankenstein, Ms Steinem

Take My Word for It

When should you capitalize

compass points such as north,

south, east, and west? Here's

the scoop Capitalize a

com-pass point when it identifies a

specific area of the country, as in

this example: "We live in the

South." Don't capitalize a

com-pass point when it refers to

direc-tion: "The breeze comes from the

east."

Strictly Speaking

Should you always capitalize the

names of countries and

lan-guages? Should it be french fries

or French fries? Spanish omelet or

Spanish omelet? Dictionaries vary;

no one's in agreement Here's

your rule of thumb: Pick one style

and stick with it

Capitalize abbreviations that appear after a per-son's name: Dr Martin Luther King Jr., Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D

Capitalize titles used in direct address: Doctor,

I have a pain in my side

Capitalize titles of parents and relatives not pre-ceded by a possessive word: We saw Mother kissing Santa Claus I saw my father with my mother

Capitalize geographical places and sections of the country: Europe, Asia, United States of America, Lake Erie, Mars, the South Capitalize the names of specific historical events, eras, and documents: The Civil War, the Renaissance, the Magna Carta

Capitalize the names of languages, nationalities, countries, and races:

Languages: French, German, Russian Nationalities: American, Japanese Countries: America, England Races: African American, Asian

C h a p t e r 1 7 : Capitalization and Abbreviations: Go to the Head of the Class 2 2 7

Capitalize religions and references to the Supreme Being, including the pro-nouns referring to the Supreme Being:

Religions: Judaism, Catholicism

References: the Creator, Him, He, Heaven, His name

• Capitalize each part of a person's name:

William Jefferson Clinton, Barbra

Streisand

• Capitalize proper nouns and proper

adjectives:

Proper nouns: Shakespeare, Mexico

Proper adjectives: Shakespearean,

Mexican

In a hyphenated proper adjective,

capi-talize only the adjective: French-speaking

residents

• Capitalize brand names and trademarks:

Jell-O pudding, Kleenex tissues

• Capitalize the names of organizations,

institutions, courses, and famous

build-ings:

Organizations: The Girl Scouts

of America

Institutions: The United Nations

Courses: French 101, Mathematics

203 (but not mathematics)

Buildings: The Empire State

Building

• Capitalize days, months, and holidays:

Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Months: February, March, April

Holidays: Thanksgiving

Danger, Will Robinson

Don't capitalize the pre-fix attached to a proper adjective unless the prefix refers to a nationality For example: ail-American, Anglo-Saxon

Danger, Will Robinson

Don't capitalize the

words god or goddess when

they refer to ancient mythology,

as these examples show: "the goddess Athena, the god Poseidon."

<J )X^_Jy Quoth the Maven

L«V If a last name begins with

Mc, O', or St., capitalize the

next letter as well: McAAannus,

O'Neill, St Claire If the name

begins with la, le, Mac, van,

von, de, or D', the capitalization

varies: le Blanc and Le Blanc are

both correct, for example Ask the person with that name for clarification

2 2 8 P a r t * : ïools of the Trade

• Capitalize abbreviations for time: 6 A.M., 6 P.M

• Capitalize the words "I" and "O": Quickly, I turned around O! Did you see that?

Capital Investment

Now that you've learned the rules, take a few minutes to apply them to the following sentences On the lines provided, write all the words that need to be capitalized Correct the words that have been incorrectly capitalized

1 how many dolly clones does it take to screw in a Lightbulb? as many as you'd like, as many as you'd like

2 how many microsoft Executives does it take to screw in a lightbulb? none—bill gates will just redefine darkness as the Industry Standard

3 how many Baby Boomers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? ten—six to talk about how great it is that they've all come together to do this, one to screw it in, one to film it for the News, one to plan a Marketing Strategy based on it, and one to reminisce about the mass naked bulb-screwing of the '60s

4 how many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? fish

5 how many communists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? one, But it takes him about 30 years to realize that the old one has burned out

6 how many Ukrainians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? they don't need light bulbs—they glow in the Dark

7 the graduate with a Science degree asks, "why does it work?"

Quoth the Maven ,

Capitalize the names of

spe-cific animals: Rin Tin Tin, Lassie,

Morris the Cat

C h a p t e r 1 7 : Capitalization and Abbreviations: Go to the Head of the (lass 2 2 9

8 the graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "how does it work?"

9 the graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "how much will it cost?"

10 the graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, "do you want fries with that?"

Answers

1 How, lightbulb As, As

2 How, Microsoft, executives, None, Bill, Gates, industry standard

3 How, baby, boomers, Ten, news, marketing, strategy

4 How, Surrealists, Fish

5 How, Communists, One, but

6 How, Ukrainians, They, dark

7 The, science, Why

8 The, engineering, How

9 The, accounting, How

10 The, liberal, arts, Do

Abbreviations: Good Things Come in Small Packages

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase Abbreviations start with a

capital letter and end with a period They're a handy way to save time and space when

you're writing, but only if you use commonly accepted abbreviations Otherwise,

you'll just confuse your readers Here's how to use abbreviations correctly

• Abbreviate social titles and titles of rank,

both before and after a person's name:

Mr.; Mrs.; Ms.; Dr Laurie Rozakis, E I 1 1 J B 1 & You Could Look It Up

Ph.D fsmmmmm^

• Abbreviate academic degrees: Ramon

Torres, B.A (Bachelor of Arts); Hester

Lewis, M.F.A (Master of Fine Arts)

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase

2 J O P a r U : Tools of the Trade

The following list shows some of the most commonly abbreviated degrees

Abbreviations for Academic Degrees

Degree Abbreviation

Bachelor of Science B.S

Bachelor of Arts B.A

Bachelor of Business Administration B.B.A

Master of Arts M.A or A.M

Master of Science M.S or S.M

Master of Business Administration M.B.A

Medical Doctor M.D

Doctor of Philosophy Ph.D

Doctor of Divinity D.D

Doctor of Dental Surgery D.D.S

Registered Nurse R.N

Abbreviate time: A.M or a.m (before noon; ante meridian); P.M or p.m (after

noon; post meridian)

Note: These abbreviations are acceptable with and without periods

Danger, Will Robinson

Never combine the

abbreviations Mr., Mrs., or Ms

with an abbreviation for a

profes-sional or academic title For

example: Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D.,

not Ms Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D

Take My Word for It

Because of their Latin roots,

abbreviations for many degrees

can be written in either

direc-tion: M.A or A.M for Masters

of Arts, for instance

• Abbreviate some historical periods In most—

but not all—cases, the abbreviation is placed after the date:

Ancient times (2,000 years in the past) B.C (before the birth of Christ) B.C.E (before the Common Era) Modern times (within the last 2,000 years)

CE (Common Era)

A.D (Anno Domini, "in the year of the Lord,"

an abbreviation that comes before the date) Here's how these abbreviations are used:

Emperor Augustus lived from 63 B.C (or B.C.E.)

to A.D 14 (or CE.)

C h a p t e r 1 7 : Capitalization and Abbreviations: Go to the Head of the Class 2 3 1

Danger, Will Robinson

The ZIP Code abbrevia-tions for states are not followed

by periods There's a list of all

50 abbreviations in your tele-phone book

• Abbreviate words associated with

addresses or location: I live on Sunset

Ave

• Abbreviate states Use the official U.S

Postal Service (that's the official name

of the good oP "Post Office") ZIP Code

abbreviations: NY (New York), CA

(California)

• Abbreviate some Latin expressions: e.g (for example), et al (and others)

• Abbreviate measurements: in (inches), ft (feet)

The following list shows some of the most common abbreviations for measurements:

Abbreviations for Measurements

Item

yards

miles

teaspoon

tablespoon

ounce

pound

pint

quart

Fahrenheit

Celsius

grams

kilograms

millimeters

liters

centimeters

meters

kilometers

Abbreviation

yd

mi

tsp or t TB., Tbsp., or T

oz

lb

pt

qt

F

C

g

kg

mm

L

cm

m

km

2 3 2 P a r U : Tools of the Trade

Danger, Will Robinson

Metric abbreviations

are not followed by a period

You Could Look It Up

An acronym is an

abbreviation formed from the first

letter of each word in the title

Abbreviate the titles of some organizations and things These abbreviations are not followed by

a period: UN (United Nations); FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Use acronyms to abbreviate some organizations

An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the

first letter of each word in the title Because acronyms are used as words, they never take periods: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organi-zation); NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

The Least You Need to Know

• Capital letters help determine meaning

• Most abbreviations start with a capital letter and end with a period Use only commonly accepted abbreviations