Capitalization in English

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Capitalization or capitalization in English grammar is the use of capital letters at the top of the word. The use of English varies from capitalization in other languages.

Video Capitalization in English

History of the capitalization of English

Old English has no distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters, and the best has embossed or decorated letters indicating sections. The British capitalization in manuscripts is still haphazard, and is often done for more visual aesthetics than grammar; in poetry, the first letter of each paragraph line is often capitalized. With the advent of printing in Europe and the UK, the capitalization of the initial letters and proper nouns became more orderly, perhaps partly to distinguish new sentences in a time where punctuation was rare and irregularly used. In the time of Shakespeare, his works showed both capitalization of sentences and new sentences, proper nouns, and some significant nouns and common verbs.

With the influence of continental printing practices, after English Restoration in 1688 the printing began to support more capitalization of nouns, following German typography. The first line of the US Constitution of 1787 shows the major capitalization of most nouns: "We are the United States People, in order to form a more perfect Union, establishing Justice, ensuring domestic Tranquility, providing for common defense, promoting General Welfare, and secure the Liberty Blessing for ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and make this Constitution to the United States. "But at the end of the 18th century, with the growth of prescriptive dictionaries and style manuals for English use, the practice faded in England, early 19th century common nouns only occasionally use capital letters, as in advertising. But this style lasted until the end of the Civil War era in the United States, as some of Emily Dickinson's poems still utilize many common nouns.

Maps Capitalization in English

When to capitalize

Uppercase used:

1. at the beginning of the sentence. This in printing is known as a case sentence, where the first letter of the sentence is capitalized, and the other is lowercase with the exception of the proper noun. In normal sentence printing can be replaced with UPPER CASE or "all caps", and Case Title (where the first letter of each word is capitalized). Capital is usually not used after colon, although they are in some quote system like APA style when starting independent clause.
2. with multiple nouns and adjectives, usually if the noun denotes the correct noun.
   • pronoun "I". One theory for this unusual use is that in the initial print of lowercase i confused with words using i as a marker of participle past or first letter.
   • personal names and places: "John", "Mr. Smith", "Amsterdam", "Europe", "Mount Everest", "Ganges River".
   • the direction of the compass when referring to the geographical area: "Western Canada", "I grew up in the South", but not to the point on the compass: "London is west of Berlin".
   • national and regional adjectives: "an American" (noun), "an American man" (adjective).
   • religion: "Catholic church" (adjective), but not "catholic movement" in the sense of "universal."
   • god and personification: "God", "Fame".
   • pronouns: "Him, He" when referring to God or Christ, though in modern practice it is less common.
   • days and months: "Monday", "January", but not a season like "autumn".
   • brand names: "Toyota", "Nike", "Coca-Cola", unless the brand itself is not capitalized: "iPhone", "eBay".
   • the title of kingdom: "King George III" but "king and queen of England", but only occasionally 'sir' or 'madam'.
   • other planets and celestial bodies: "Jupiter", "Crab Nebula", but not "earth", "sun", or "moon".
   The words
   • that change the meaning between capitalization and not, such as "liberal" and "liberal", are called capitonyms: Compare "A liberal-tasting man" and "Liberal Party Leader" (as "catholic") "above).
   • in legal documents, where the full name of the individual or body is then referred to in short form, to avoid ambiguity: "John C. Smith (Plaintiff)", "Exxon-Mobil Corporation (Company)".

Capitalization of place name, institution, and title of work

The use of English is inconsistent, but generally the prepositions and articles are not capitalized: "Forest of Dean", "Gone with the Wind", "University of Southampton". With some publications "The" form part of the title: "read The Times". For a more detailed explanation, see Capitalization Ã,§ Title.

Capitalization of acronyms and initialisms

Generally acronyms and initialisms are capitalized, for example, "NASA" or "SOS." Sometimes minor words like preposition are not in acronyms, such as "WoW", "World of Warcraft". In English English, only the initial letter of the acronym is capitalized if the acronym is read as a word, for example, "Unesco."

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See also

• Capitalization of "Internet"
• Title and title of publication

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References

Source of the article : Wikipedia