Mignon Fogarty - Grammar Girl presents the ultimate writing guide for students

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Table of Contents

Although writing is a solitary practice, no book is written alone. My thanks go to my editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, Sally Doherty, for unflagging patience and encouragement; Laura Godwin for early enthusiasm about the project; Susan Wallach for extensive help with the manuscript; Bonnie Trenga, a frequent guest writer for the Grammar Girl podcast; April Ward for creative design; and the many teachers who have written to me over the years to let me know how much my other books, podcasts, newsletters, and quizzes help them, and who encouraged me to write a book specifically for students.

Finally, language study has a long history, and I owe a debt of gratitude to the many academic linguists, lexicographers, and usage and style guide writers who have come before me. I dont just make this stuff upwithout their work, my work wouldnt be possible.

A-1 SPECIFIC CAPITALIZATION RULES

WHAT IS IN A NAME?

Nicknames are capitalized, but terms of endearment are not. A nickname is a specific, alternative name for someone. A term of endearment can be used for anyone; its not specific to an individual.

Everyone calls my little sister Honey because shes so sweet.

Its you and me, honey.

The same rule holds true for family names such as mother , mom , father , and dad.

Say hi to your mother for me. ( Mother is a generic descriptor.)

Say hi to Mom for me. ( Mom is like her name in this sentence.)

Youre driving me crazy, Mother . ( Mother is used as her name in this sentence.)

Aunt , uncle , and cousin are also usually lowercase unless they are part of someones name.

Did you call Aunt Mathilda ?

My aunt , Mathilda, always hiccups during dinner.

I know relatives can be difficult at times, but at least now when youre complaining about your siblings or parents, you can do it in a grammatically correct way! Isnt that always a plus?

PLACES, EVERYONE

Capitalize the names of cities, states, countries, counties, and other specific places such as oceans, streets, rivers, and parks.

The creek behind my house runs from New Jersey to New York . Mississippi River has too many vowels in it.

Planets

Planet names, such as Mars and Jupiter, are always capitalized because they refer to specific places.

For some reason, most people treat earth differently and dont capitalize it. Sometimes youll see earth capitalized when its listed with all the other planet names or when its referred to in an astronomical way. For example, it will likely be capitalized in a sentence talking about space travel: We plan to leave Earth in January and arrive at Mars in October. But it is likely to be lowercased in a sentence where it is used more generically: Im wishing for peace on earth and goodwill to men.

Of course, when you are using the word earth to refer to dirt, its lowercased.

Lets not forget the sun and moon. They are not capitalized. Lots of planets have suns and moons, so the words are generic (common nouns) like bridge and expert .

DIRECTIONS: WANDERING THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH

Direction names are lowercase when they describe a direction and uppercase when they describe a specific place (just like other proper nouns).

Go southeast until you reach the mall, then head west .

He moved from the South to the Midwest .

The Cannes Film Festival is held in southern France .

Almost everyone in South Korea buys ringtones.

TIME TO CAP: DAYS, MONTHS, HOLIDAYS, AND SEASONS

Days of the week, names of months, and holidays are capitalized, but seasons are lowercased (unless they are part of a proper name).

Last November we had the winter dance on a Friday .

The 2010 Winter Olympics were in Vancouver.

Thanksgiving is my favorite fall holiday.

AWARD NAMES

Formal award names (such as Oscar, Grammy, and Nobel Prize) are capitalized because they are proper nounsthe names of specific things. General award terms are not capitalized when they are used descriptively.

Who will win a Pulitzer Prize this year?

Amy Winehouse won five Grammys .

Doris Lessing won a Nobel Prize in 2007.

Doris Lessing won a literature prize .

Squiggly won the school writing award .

RELIGIONS AND NATIONALITIES: BEING POLITE

When referring to people of a specific religion or nationality, the words are capitalized: Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, African Americans, Native Americans, Dutch, Germans, etc.

When a country graciously gives its name to a specific thing, such as a type of food or an illness, you usually use capsGerman measles, Spanish rice, and Japanese noodles.

The same is true for most words derived from proper nouns such as Kafkaesque (from the name of the author Franz Kafka) and Darwinian (from the name of the scientist Charles Darwin)they are capitalized. Check a dictionary, though, before you automatically capitalize such words.

RELIGIOUS TERMS: GOD BLESS GRAMMAR GIRL

Following the rules for any other proper noun, capitalize god when it is the name of one specific god in any religion. When the word refers to multiple gods or is a description, it is lowercased.

Different religions have different names for a supreme being, including Jehovah, Allah, Yahweh, and God.

Stories about the Greek gods provide great inspiration for modern fiction.

The god Apollo is often shown playing the lyre.

The names of religions such as Christianity and Islam are also capitalized; the names of religious texts such as the Bible and the Koran are often capitalized.

DEGREES AND DEPARTMENTS

People often think there is a typo on my About Grammar Girl Web page because it says I have an undergraduate degree in English (capitalized) and a graduate degree in biology (lowercased).

Although Ive never claimed to be perfect, that isnt a typo. English is capitalized because it is derived from a proper noun ( England ), and biology is lowercased because it is not derived from a proper noun. Similarly, Spanish , Italian , and German are capitalized and chemistry , math , and visual arts are not.

Department is capitalized when it is part of the exact name of a specific department, but not when it is used generically as a common noun.

The Department of Computer Gaming issued an announcement.

The department chairperson just won the World of Warcraft pumpkin-carving contest.

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