LEARNING OBJECTIVES Recognize standard capitalization conventions. Utilize capitalization in proper situations. With the advent of new social networking structures, such as text messaging, IM (instant messaging), and Facebook, the reliance on traditional standard capital letters has been relaxed in informal settings. This laxity got its start as a means of expediency since the use of capital letters required additional efforts for people using only a couple of fingers or thumbs for typing words. Rather quickly, the use of abbreviations and lack of capital letters became fashionable—almost like a status symbol indicating a person’s social networking awareness. Despite this now common exclusion of capital letters in personal situations, capital letters are still the proper choice in professional and academic settings. If you are someone who writes far more often on a cell phone than on a computer, you are likely to benefit from a brush up on capitalization rules for those occasions when you are composing more official documents. Proper Nouns, Trade Names, I, and O Some words are capitalized whenever they are used. Proper nouns, trade names, the pronoun “I,” and “O” when used as an interjection make up this category of words. Proper nouns include names of specific persons, places, or things. Words that are typically common nouns can become proper nouns when they are used as part of a name. People Proper Nouns Mike Smith Mrs. Fenora Judge Halloway Slick (used as a name) President Abraham Lincoln Mom (used as a name) Methodist Kelly Common Nouns (Not Proper) girl teacher mom (my mom) friend judge president
LEARNING OBJECTIVES Recognize standard capitalization conventions. Utilize capitalization in proper situations. With the advent of new social networking structures, such as text messaging, IM (instant messaging), and Facebook, the reliance on traditional standard capital letters has been relaxed in informal settings. This laxity got its start as a means of expediency since the use of capital letters required additional efforts for people using only a couple of fingers or thumbs for typing words. Rather quickly, the use of abbreviations and lack of capital letters became fashionable—almost like a status symbol indicating a person’s social networking awareness. Despite this now common exclusion of capital letters in personal situations, capital letters are still the proper choice in professional and academic settings. If you are someone who writes far more often on a cell phone than on a computer, you are likely to benefit from a brush up on capitalization rules for those occasions when you are composing more official documents. Proper Nouns, Trade Names, I, and O Some words are capitalized whenever they are used. Proper nouns, trade names, the pronoun “I,” and “O” when used as an interjection make up this category of words. Proper nouns include names of specific persons, places, or things. Words that are typically common nouns can become proper nouns when they are used as part of a name. People Proper Nouns Mike Smith Mrs. Fenora Judge Halloway Slick (used as a name) President Abraham Lincoln Mom (used as a name) Methodist Kelly Common Nouns (Not Proper) girl teacher mom (my mom) friend judge president
Handbook%20for%20Writers.docx