Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Capitalization Rules

This is topic Capitalization Rules in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Mark Chase (Member # 1815) on :

When to capitalize and when not to capitalize specific common nouns is a subject of much confusion for me, especially when it comes to titles (is it "the Captain" or "the captain") and forms of address ("Your Highness" or "your Highness").

From the style guides and grammar books that I have read, the definite or indefinite article generally negates capitalization. That is, to say: "Good morning, Captain" is correct, but: "I saw the Captain this morning" is wrong. Instead, "I saw the captain this morning" is correct, according to English grammar rules.

However, is there some exception in literature when referring to certain characters (that is, "big wigs"), or to a specific major character? In a story or novel, would: "I saw the Captain this morning" be proper if there was just one captain? Or, if there were several captains, would it be proper to consistently use "the Captain" to tell the reader we are referring to "Captain Kirk" as apposed to some other "captain" (lowercase).

So my questions are as thus:

Military common nouns: Should one write "the Captain" or "the captain" (or "the Admiral" or "the admiral"). To me, it seems to be understating the importance of a character to write: "Captain Kirk entered the briefing room. Looking around, the captain saw the other captains had gathered." Rather, "Looking around, the Captain saw the other captains had gathered," would emphasis Kirk's importance. Reviewing a number of books, I see "the captain" (lowercase) consistantly used, so I shall assume this correct -- unless there really is some exception to the rule.

Royal titles: I've seen some style guides say "his Majesty" and "your Majesty" are correct, and others that say it should be written "His Majesty" and "Your Majesty" (same for Highness, etc.). I believe "His Majesty" is correct, but I just want to be certain.

Royal common nouns: Would one say: "I saw the king this morning" or "I saw the King this morning"? I have seen both, and thus, remain vexed on this point. What about prince or princess? Duke, baron, viscount?

Fantasy races: When referring to the people of a nation (such as "the British") capitalization is clearly used. But what about fantasy races? Folk such as dwarves, and elves, and orcs. Reading Tolkien only confuses matters for me, because though he capitalizes "Elves" most of the time (and even "Men"), I've seen other authors use lowercase. Again, the difference may simple be in the definite article ("the magic of Elven-kind" verses "the magic of the elves"), but I am unclear as to the precise rules governing this.

Thanks.

Posted by BudHAHA (Member # 1812) on :

No problem

Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :

quote:
From the style guides and grammar books that I have read, the definite or indefinite article generally negates capitalization. That is, to say: "Good morning, Captain" is correct, but: "I saw the Captain this morning" is wrong. Instead, "I saw the captain this morning" is correct, according to English grammar rules.

According to my Oxford Manual of Style, that is wrong. "Titles are usually capitalized" it says in one section.

In another; "Titles used as identification after a name normally are not capitalized, especially in Us usage" - an example in the case you give would be "Kirk, the captain, ...".

It continues: "Titles used before are name are normally capitalized [...] this extends to all vocatives" - an example would be referring to Kirk as "the Captain" in the text (the example given in the guide is "Good morning, General").

quote:
Royal titles: I've seen some style guides say "his Majesty" and "your Majesty" are correct, and others that say it should be written "His Majesty" and "Your Majesty" (same for Highness, etc.). I believe "His Majesty" is correct, but I just want to be certain.

According to the same source, you are correct.

quote:
Royal common nouns: Would one say: "I saw the king this morning" or "I saw the King this morning"? I have seen both, and thus, remain vexed on this point. What about prince or princess? Duke, baron, viscount?

Would be just a specific case of the 'vocative' case given before... I would certainly capitalize all of them. Although note that you wouldn't do so in all cases - if you were not referring to a specific individual you would use lower case:

"You would need to talk to someone of high rank, at least a baron, to get authorisation for that..."

As for the question of races, I am uncertain. You wouldn't, for instance, capitalize the name of most familiar species, except perhaps in the rarest of cases. Thinking about the word 'human', I can't really see any occasion when you would capitalize that...

Posted by Lord Darkstorm (Member # 1610) on :

It is my understanding that if a word is used in place of a name as a substitute it would still get capitolized.

"Human," said the dwarf, "come this way."

Human could be used to address a person instead of thier name. Of course it would require another race to use it for it to fit well.

Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :

Yes, that seems reasonable. It would tie in with the rules on use of titles, too.