User:Tony1/MOS comparison: Capital letters
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THE FIRST IS THE OLD; THE SECOND THE PROPOSED REVISION
[edit] Capital letters
American English and British English sometimes differ in their inclination to use capitals. If possible, as with spelling, use rules appropriate to the cultural and linguistic context. In other words, do not enforce American rules on pages about Commonwealth topics or Commonwealth rules on pages about American topics. In regard to pages about other cultures, choose either style, but be consistent within the page itself.
Initial capitals and all capitals should not be used for emphasis. For example, “aardvarks, which are Not The Same as anteaters” and “aardvarks, which are NOT THE SAME as anteaters” are both incorrect. Where wording cannot provide the emphasis, use italics (“aardvarks, which are not the same as anteaters”).
[edit] Capital letters
There are differences between the major varieties of English in the use of capitals (uppercase letters). Where this is an issue, the rules of the cultural and linguistic context apply, as for spelling. Consistency is maintained within an article.
Capitals are not used for emphasis.
- Incorrect: Against common belief, aardvarks are Not the same as anteaters.
- Incorrect: Against common belief, aardvarks are NOT the same as anteaters.
Where wording cannot provide the emphasis, italics are used.
- Correct: Against common belief, aardvarks are not the same as anteaters.
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[edit] Titles
Titles such as president, king, or emperor start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name): “President Nixon”, not “president Nixon”. When used generically, they should be in lower case: “De Gaulle was the French president.” The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence: “Hirohito was Emperor of Japan.” Similarly, “Louis XVI was the French king” but “Louis XVI was King of France”, King of France being a title in that context. Likewise, capitalize royal titles: “Her Majesty” or “His Highness”. (Reference: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed., 7.16; The Guardian Manual of Style, “Titles” keyword.) Exceptions may apply for specific offices.
In the case of “prime minister”, either both words begin with a capital letter or neither, except when the term begins a sentence. When using the term generically, do not capitalize it: “There are many prime ministers around the world.” When referring to a specific office, generally use uppercase: “The British Prime Minister is Tony Blair.” (A good rule of thumb is this: when the modifier is the definite article the, use “Prime Minister”; when the modifier is the indefinite article a, use “prime minister”. When there is no article, some style manuals recommend, for example, “British prime minister”.)
For the use of titles and honorifics in biographical articles, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies)#Honorific_prefixes.
[edit] Titles
- When used as titles (that is, followed by a name), items such as president, king and emperor start with a capital letter: President Nixon, not president Nixon. The formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun: “Hirohito was Emperor of Japan” and “Louis XVI was King of France” (where King of France is a title). Royal titles are capitalized: Her Majesty and His Highness; exceptions may apply for particular offices.
- When used generically, such items are in lower case: “De Gaulle was the French president” and “Louis XVI was the French king”. Similarly, “Three prime ministers attended the conference”, but “The British Prime Minister is Gordon Brown”. (A rule of thumb is this: when the modifier is the specific article the, we use Prime Minister; when the non-specific a applies, we use prime minister).
- For the use of titles and honorifics in biographical articles, see Honorific prefixes.
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[edit] Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines, and their adherents
Names of religions, whether as a noun or an adjective, and their followers start with a capital letter. The Latter Day Saint movement has particular complications—see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Latter Day Saints) and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Latter Day Saints).
Names of deities begin with a capital letter: God, Allah, Freya, the Lord, the Supreme Being, the Messiah. (Note that articles such as “the” are not capitalized.) The same is true when referring to important religious figures, such as Muhammad, by terms such as the Prophet. Transcendent ideas in the Platonic sense also begin with a capital letter, as in Good and Truth. Pronouns referring to deities, or nouns (other than names) referring to any material or abstract representation of any deity, human or otherwise, do not begin with a capital letter. Thus, while it is accepted correct usage to say, “He prayed to Wotan”, since Wotan in this case is a proper name, one would not say “He prayed to the God Wotan”, but instead “He prayed to the god Wotan”. The following sentence would be correct usage: “It was thought that he prayed to God, but it turned out he prayed to one of the Norse gods”.
Do not capitalize the names of types of mythical creatures, such as elves, fairies, nymphs and genies. The exception is some works of fantasy, such as those of JRR Tolkein, where initial capitals are used to indicate that the different categories of mythical creatures are being treated as ethnicities or races.
Philosophies, theories, doctrines, and systems of thought do not begin with a capital letter, unless the name derives from a proper noun: lowercase republican refers to a system of political thought; uppercase Republican refers to a specific Republican Party (each party name being a proper noun).
[edit] Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines, and their adherents
- Religions and their followers, and the related adjectives, start with a capital letter. The Latter Day Saint movement has particular capitalization and naming conventions.
- Deities start with a capital letter: God, Allah, Freya, the Lord, the Supreme Being and the Messiah (articles such as the are not capitalized). The same is true when referring to major religious figures, such as Muhammad, by terms such as the Prophet. Transcendent ideas in the Platonic sense start with a capital letter, as in Good and Truth. Pronouns referring to deities, or nouns (other than names) referring to a material or abstract representation of a deity, human or otherwise, do not begin with a capital letter. Thus, while it is correct to say “He prayed to Wotan”, since Wotan in this case is a proper name, “He prayed to the God Wotan” should be “He prayed to the god Wotan”. Thus, the following sentence is correct: “It was thought that he prayed to God, but it turned out that he prayed to one of the Norse gods.”
- Mythical creatures, such as elves, fairies, nymphs and genies, do not start with a capitil letter. There are exceptions in some works of fantasy, such as those of JRR Tolkein, where initial capitals are used to indicate that the mythical creatures are regarded as ethnicities or races.
- Philosophies, theories and doctrines do not begin with a capital letter, unless the name derives from a proper noun: lowercase republican refers to a system of political thought; uppercase Republican refers to a specific Republican Party (because each party name is a proper noun).
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[edit] Calendar items
The names of months, days, and holidays always begin with a capital letter: June, Monday, Fourth of July (when referring to the U.S. Independence Day, otherwise July 4 or 4 July).
Seasons, in almost all instances, are lowercased: “this summer was very hot”; “the winter solstice occurs about December 22”; “I’ve got spring fever”. When personified, season names may function as proper nouns, in which case they should be capitalized: “I think Spring is showing her colors”; “Old Man Winter”.
Dates normally should be followed by commas: “In 2001, Bob got married”; “On April 10, I will be having a party”. An exception is when they are used to modify other terms: “The 1993 edition has several errors”.
[edit] Calendar items
- Months, days and holidays start with a capital letter: June, Monday, the Fourth of July (when referring to the U.S. Independence Day, otherwise July 4 or 4 July).
- Seasons, in almost all instances, are lowercase: “this summer was very hot”; “the winter solstice occurs about December 22”; “I’ve got spring fever”. When personified, season names may function as proper nouns, where they should be capitalized: “I think Spring is showing her colors”; “Old Man Winter”.
- Dates are often followed by a comma: “In 2001, Bob got married”; “On April 10, I will be having a party”, but not when they are used to modify other terms: “The 1993 edition has several errors”.
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[edit] Animals, plants, and other organisms
Capitalize the name of a genus, but not the name of a species (and italicize both names): for example, the tulip tree is Liriodendron tulipifera.
Editors have hotly debated whether the common names of species should start with a capital letter, and this remains unresolved. As a matter of truce, both styles are acceptable (except for proper names), but create a redirect from the alternative form.
[edit] Animals, plants, and other organisms
- Scientific names. Scientific names for genera and species are italicized, with a capital initial letter for the genus but no capital for the species. For example, the tulip tree is Liriodendron tulipifera, and humans are Homo sapiens. Taxonomic groups higher than genus are generally roman, with an initial capital; for example, gulls are in the family Laridae, and we are in the family Hominidae.
- Common (vernacular) names. Editors have hotly debated whether the common names of species start with a capital, and this is unresolved. As a matter of truce, both styles are acceptable (except for proper names). Where used in an article title, a redirect from the alternative form is created.
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[edit] Celestial bodies
Names of other planets and stars are proper nouns and begin with a capital letter: “The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux.” In cases where the name has multiple words, it is treated like other proper nouns where each leading letter is capitalized: “Alpha Centauri” and not “Alpha centauri”.
The words sun, earth, and moon are proper nouns when the sentence uses them in an astronomical context, but not elsewhere: so “The Sun is a main sequence star, with a spectral class of G2”; but “It was a lovely day and the sun was warm”. Note that these terms are proper nouns only when they refer to specific celestial bodies (our Sun, Earth and Moon): so “The Moon orbits the Earth”, but “Pluto’s moon Charon”.
[edit] Celestial bodies
- Sun, earth, and moon are proper nouns in an astronomical context, but not elsewhere: thus, “The Sun is a main sequence star, with a spectral class of G2”; but “The sun was peeking over the mountain top”. These terms are proper nouns only when they refer to specific celestial bodies (our Sun, Earth and Moon): so “The Moon orbits the Earth”, but “Pluto’s moon Charon”.
- Other planets and stars are proper nouns and start with a capital letter: “The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux.” Where a name has multiple words, it is treated like other proper nouns where each leading letter is capitalized: “Alpha Centauri” and not “Alpha centauri”.
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[edit] Directions and regions
Regions that are proper nouns, including widely known expressions such as Southern California, start with a capital letter. Follow the same convention for related forms: a person from the Southern United States is a Southerner.
Directions (north, southwest, etc.) are not proper nouns and do not start with a capital letter. The same is true for their related forms: someone might call a road that leads north a northern road, compared to the Great North Road.
If you are not sure whether a region has attained proper-noun status, assume it has not.
[edit] Directions and regions
- Regions that are proper nouns, including widely known expressions such as Southern California, start with a capital letter. Follow the same convention for related forms: a person from the Southern United States is a Southerner. Rregions of uncertain proper-noun status are assumed not to have attained it.
- Directions such as north are not proper nouns and are therefore lowercase. The same is true for their related forms: someone might call a road that leads north a northern road, compared with the Great North Road. Composite directions may or may not be hyphenated (northeast and north-east, Southeast Asia and South-east Asia).
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[edit] Institutions
Proper names of specific institutions (for example, Harvard University, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, George Brown College, etc.) are proper nouns and require capitalization.
However, the words for types of institutions (university, college, hospital, high school, etc.) do not require capitalization if they do not appear in a proper name:
- Incorrect:
- The University offers programs in arts and sciences.
- Correct:
- The university offers… or The University of Ottawa offers…
[edit] Institutions
- Proper names of institutions (for example, the University of Sydney, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, George Brown College) are proper nouns and require capitalization. Where a title starts with the, it typically starts with lowercase t when the title occurs in the middle of a sentence ("a degree from the University of Sydney"); usage on the webpage of the institution may confirm whether this is the case.
- Generic words for institutions (university, college, hospital, high school) require no capitalization:
- Incorrect (generic): The University offers programs in arts and sciences.
- Correct (generic): The university offers …
- Correct (title): The University of Ottawa offers …
