OST164 Text Editing Applications

Section 3 – CapitalizationPart III: Paragraphs 346-364

Capitalize formal titles of acts, laws, bills, treaties, and amendments, but do not capitalize common-noun elements that stand alone in place of the full name.

the First Amendment – the amendmentPublic Law 480 – the law

Do not capitalize generic or informal references to existing or pending legislation except for proper nouns and adjectives.

an environmental protection billthe Brady gun control law

“Laws” that make humorous or satirical observations about human and organizational behavior are capitalized to suggest that they carry the same authority as an actual piece of legislation.

Murphy’s Law (if something can go wrong, it will) The Peter Principle (incompetent people get promoted)Parkinson’s Law of Data (data expands to fill space available)

Acts, Laws, Bills, Treaties ¶346

Programs, Movements, Concepts ¶347

Do not capitalize the names of programs, movements, or concepts when they are used as generic terms.

social security numbers

the civil rights movement

medicare payments

The Social Security Administration

The Civil Rights Act

The Medicare Act

Races, Peoples, Languages ¶348 Capitalize the names of races, peoples, tribes, and

languages.

Caucasians Hispanics

the Japanese Native Americans

Do not hyphenate terms like African Americans or French Canadians when they are used as nouns.

Do hyphenate these terms when they are used as adjectives.

(noun) The French Canadians visit every year.

(adjective) The African-American voters….

Religious References ¶349 Capitalize all references to a supreme being.

God the Lordthe Holy Spirit the MessiahAllah the AlmightyYahweh

Capitalize personal pronouns referring to a supreme being when they stand alone.Offer thanks unto Him.Ask the Lord for His blessings.

Religious References ¶349

Capitalize references to persons revered as holy.the Prince of Peace Buddhathe Good Shepherd the Prophet

the Blessed Virgin John the Baptist

Capitalize the names of religions, their members, and their buildings.Mormons MethodistsZen Buddhism Temple Beth SholomBaptists Reform Judaism

Capitalize references to religious events.the Creation the Exodusthe Second Coming the Resurrection

Capitalize (but to not quote, italicize, or underline) references to works regarded as sacred.

the King James Bible the Koran the Torah the Hebrew Bible the Ten Commandments Hail Mary the Apostles’ Creed the Lord’s Prayer

Religious References ¶350

Celestial Bodies ¶351

Capitalize the names of:

Planets - Jupiter, Mars, etc

Stars - Polaris, the North Star, etc.

Constellations – the Big Dipper, the Milky Way

Do not capitalize the words “sun”, “moon”, and “earth” unless they are used in connection with the capitalized names of other plants or stars.

We need to take care of the earth we live in.

Compare the orbits of Mars, Venus, and Earth.

Course Titles and Subjects ¶352

Capitalize the names of specific course titles and numbered courses. American History 101 meets on Tuesdays.

My favorite class is Introduction to Art.

However, do not capitalize names of subjects or areas of study (except for any proper nouns or adjectives in such names.)

My accounting class meets on Wednesday nights.

We offer over 20 history courses.

How many students are in the business English class?

Academic Degrees ¶353 Do not capitalize academic degrees used as general

terms of classification. She earned a bachelor of arts degree.

He is working towards a master’s degree.

Jo was awarded a bachelor of science degree.

However, capitalize the degree used after a person’s name.

Ann Drew, Doctor of Divinity, will be here this afternoon.

Academic Years ¶354

In references to academic years, do not capitalize the words freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior.

Joseph will be a sophomore in high school

I can’t believe Ashley is a senior this year.

In references to grade levels, capitalize the word “Grade” when a number follows but not when a number precedes.

My son is in Grade 6.

My son is in the sixth grade.

Commercial Products ¶355

Capitalize trademarks, brand names, proprietary names, names of commercial products, and market grades.

The common noun following the name of a product should not ordinarily be capitalized; however, manufacturers and advertisers often capitalize such words in the names of their own products to give them special emphasis.

Elmer’s glue Krazy Glue NutraSweet

TiVo PlaySkool toys NordicTrack

TraveLodge MasterCard DieHard battery

Trademarks ¶356Capitalize all trademarks except those that have become clearly established as common nouns.

Zerox (versus photocopy)Scotch tape Post-it notes (versus sticky notes)Jacuzzi (company product)Kleenex (versus facial tissue)

Trademark holders typically use raised symbols such as © and ® after their trademarks in all of their correspondence, promotional material, and product packaging.

If a mark of punctuation (such as a period or a comma) falls at the same point as a trademark plus a raised symbol, insert the punctuation after the symbol.

Legal Documents ¶358 Although it has been traditional in legal documents to

capitalize many words that would ordinarily be written in lowercase, there is no agreement on one uniform style for these documents.

The prevailing practice currently is to capitalize key terms (Buyer, Seller, Tenant, Landlord, Plaintiff, Defendant) and spelled-out amounts of money, such as One Hundred Dollars ($100) or One Hundred (100) Dollars.

The terms like ORDERED, GRANTED, and DENIED may or may not be capitalized.

NOTE: Leading authorities for the plain language movement advocate eliminating capitalization.

Nouns With Numbers or Letters ¶359

Capitalize a noun followed by a number or a letter that indicates sequence.

Account 6066 Act 1Building 4 Exhibit AColumn 1 Lesson 20Diagram 4 Exercise 15

Exception: Do not capitalize the nouns: line, note, page, paragraph, size, step, and verse.

line 25 note 4page 100 paragraph 3size 10 step 17verse 99

Titles of Literary and Artistic Works ¶360-361 In titles of literary and artistic works and in displayed headings,

capitalize all words with four or more letters.

Do not capitalize:Articles – a, an, the

Conjunctions – and, as, but, if, or, nor

Prepositions – at, by, for, in, of, off, on, out, to

Articles, conjunctions, and prepositions should be capitalized under the following circumstances:First or last word of a title

First word following a dash or colon

Awards and Medals ¶364Capitalize the names of awards and medals.

Pulitzer Prize winners the Nobel Prize Oscars and Emmys the Tonys the Medal of Honor the Purple Heart a National Merit Scholarship the Distinguished Service Medal