March 21, 2014--Capitalization Woes

Miss Flynn, my high school freshman English teacher, if nothing else, was about rules.

As a Jewish kid who had at most two Italian friends, from what they reported about Catholic school, Miss Flynn for me was as close as I was ever going to get to understanding, feeling what that experience must have been like for Tony Gato.

What Tony reported was not to my liking. Not because I was so creative and free-spirited, straining the boundaries of convention to chart a remarkable life for myself. Or anything approaching that. Quite the contrary--I wasn't really anything or anyone special. I was just inept when it came to grammatical rules. Actually, to following any rules.

Diagraming sentences was Miss Flynn's special form of torture. Even today, all these years later, I break out in sweats when it comes to thinking about the difference (or differences?) between dependent and independent clauses. What I do remember, though, is that if the clause is independent, there is no need for a comma to introduce it. In fact, it is incorrect, forbidden to do so; whereas if the clause is dependent, a comma is required. And Miss Flynn meant required.

Do I have even these punctuation rules right? Or, is it, "Am I correct in regard to these punctuation rules"? And, while I'm at it, where does the question mark go--before or after the quotation mark?

You see my problem? (I think, under certain circumstances, I could have left this question mark off. Or, should I be saying, I could have left off this question mark. What contortions.)

Recently, I've been having trouble with capitalization. Capitalization both within sentences and in titles and headlines.

Miss Flynn would have lots to say about this. Of that I am certain (or sure?); but, alas, I have moved on and, I assume, since she was easily in her 50s at the time, she too has moved on (I am tempted to write, Moved On) and so I am on my own to figure it out.

In a quandary, I thought, let's see where Google would lead me.

Here from the Website grammar.ccc.commnet.edu are a few rules for capitalization within sentences (note how the rules are enumerated very much in Miss Flynn's voice--as commandments):

Capitalize this!

1. The first word of every sentence.

1. The first-person singular pronoun, I.

1. The first, last, and important words in a title. (The concept "important words" usually does not include articles, short prepositions (which means you might want to capitalize "towards" or "between," say), the "to" of an infinitive, and coordinating conjunctions. This is not true in APA Reference lists (where we capitalize only the first word), nor is it necessarily true for titles in other languages. Also, on book jackets, aesthetic considerations will sometimes override the rules.)

1. Proper nouns

• Specific persons and things: George W. Bush, the White House, General Motors Corporation.

• Specific geographical locations: Hartford, Connecticut, Africa, Forest Park Zoo, Lake Erie, the Northeast, the Southend. However, we do not capitalize compass directions or locations that aren't being used as names: the north side of the city; we're leaving the Northwest and heading south this winter. When we combine proper nouns, we capitalize attributive words when they precede place-names, as in Lakes Erie and Ontario, but the opposite happens when the order is reversed: the Appalachian and Adirondack mountains. When a term is used descriptively, as opposed to being an actual part of a proper noun, do not capitalize it, as in "The California deserts do not get as hot as the Sahara Desert."

• Names of celestial bodies: Mars, Saturn, the Milky Way. Do not, howver, capitalize earth, moon, sun, except when those names appear in a context in which other (capitalized) celestial bodies are mentioned. "I like it here on earth," but "It is further from Earth to Mars than it is from Mercury to the Sun.

• Names of newspapers and journals. Do not, however, capitalize the word the, even when it is part of the newspaper's title: the Hartford Courant.

• Days of the week, months, holidays. Do not, however, capitalize the names of seasons (spring, summer, fall, autumn, winter). "Next winter, we're traveling south; byspring, we'll be back up north."

• Historical events: World War I, the Renaissance, the Crusades.

• Races, nationalities, languages: Swedes, Swedish, African American, Jewish, French, Native American. (Most writers do not capitalize whites, blacks.)

• Names of religions and religious terms: God, Christ, Allah, Buddha, Christianity, Christians, Judaism, Jews, Islam, Muslims.

• Names of courses: Economics, Biology 101. (However, we would write: "I'm taking courses in biology and earth science this summer.")

• Brand names: Tide, Maytag, Chevrolet.

1. Names of relationships only when they are a part of or a substitute for a person's name. (Often this means that when there is a modifier, such as a possessive pronoun, in front of such a word, we do not capitalize it.)

• Let's go visit Grandmother today. Let's go visit my grandmother today.

• I remember Uncle Arthur. I remember my Uncle Arthur. My uncle is unforgettable.

1. This also means that we don't normally capitalize the name of a "vocative" or term of endearment:

• Can you get the paper for me, hon?

• Drop the gun, sweetie. I didn't mean it.

There's more. But hopefully you get the point. And, perhaps, understand my anxiety.

On the other hand, Miss Flynn emphasized the importance of vivid introductory sentences. Like the one I tried to write today. (See above.)