Use Of Punctuation In A Post And What Is Annoying or Confusing

[Rachel Lim]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

What class teaches this in school?

I don't remember if I learned this in class or if it was something I just researched because I was bored, but I did learn the various ways to capitalize titles at some point. Just digging up what I found is one of the most confusing school-related things I've had to do in a long time (and it reminded me why I prefer math...why does English need to make everything so confusing?)

1. Sentence case:
- Capitalize the first word of the title
- Capitalize all proper nouns

1.1. APA style:
(In addition to sentence case)
- Capitalize all words of 4+ letters
- Capitalize all verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns
- Capitalize both words in hyphenated compounds
- Capitalize words after colons or dashes
- Capitalize all major words, which do not include conjunctions (words that join clauses), articles (a, an, the), or short prepositions (explains the connection of a noun/pronoun to the rest of the sentence, e.g. like, toward, from, before)

1.2. Title case:
(In addition to sentence case)
- Capitalize the last word of the title
- Capitalize all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (join a dependent clause to a main clause, e.g. if, because, as)

1.2.1. Associated Press Stylebook:
(In addition to title case)
- Capitalized if they have 4+ letters: all principal words (including prepositions and conjunctions)

1.2.2. Other:
(In addition to title case)
- I've read somewhere that says to only capitalize prepositions if they have 5+ letters

1.2.3. MLA:
(In addition to title case)
- Lowercase unless they are the first/last words: articles, coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor), and prepositions unless used as adjectives, and the word "to" if used before a verb

1.2.3.1. Chicago Manual of Style:
(In addition to MLA)
- Lowercase the second part of species names even if they are the last word in the sentence

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

How obsolete is the use of capitalization in a title?

Not obsolete. But the rules don't make it easy to capitalize "correctly."

[VioletElizabeth]

Fun fact: In Spanish, all the capitalization rules are different--you don't capitalize anything except the first word of the title of a novel or poem plus any proper nouns. (And a few days before the AP Lit test is 100% the right time to learn this )

I learned capitalization long before any class taught it, with the basic rule of "little words don't get capital letters", by reading a lot, and possibly my mom telling me. (I have this dim memory of being very small, at Costco in the parking lot, reading something and thinking or maybe asking about it.) Grammar tends to be taught in elementary school and then forgotten until higher-level English in high school, which is sometimes too late, in my experience. (U.S. public schools, California Bay Area)

[gblake]

Some people day lite beer tastes great, others say it is less filling.

Some style guides say titles with more capital letters look great, others say titles with fewer capital letters look better.

YMMV.

[Mykey]

This is more of a verbal issue than a written one. However, it is one that is specific to the FIRST community and came from the wonderful message of gracious professionalism.

Where it seems to have misfired:
During alliance selections the representative of the chosen team often states "Team <insert team number> graciously accepts."

Is it not more appropriate to say "Gratefully accepts"?

Saying "graciously accepts" makes it sound (to me) like saying "we condescend to allow you to pick our team and being polite will accept."

Being grateful to be picked is a better sentiment.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Mykey

This is more of a verbal issue than a written one. However, it is one that is specific to the FIRST community and came from the wonderful message of gracious professionalism.

Where it seems to have misfired:
During alliance selections the representative of the chosen team often states "Team <insert team number> graciously accepts."

Is it not more appropriate to say "Gratefully accepts"?

Saying "graciously accepts" makes it sound (to me) like saying "we condescend to allow you to pick our team and being polite will accept."

Being grateful to be picked is a better sentiment.

If you search, you will find other threads about this. Please confine any further discussion on "Gracious/Grateful" to them.

[SamCyanide]

Originally Posted by Mykey

This is more of a verbal issue than a written one. However, it is one that is specific to the FIRST community and came from the wonderful message of gracious professionalism.

Where it seems to have misfired:
During alliance selections the representative of the chosen team often states "Team <insert team number> graciously accepts."

Is it not more appropriate to say "Gratefully accepts"?

Saying "graciously accepts" makes it sound (to me) like saying "we condescend to allow you to pick our team and being polite will accept."

Being grateful to be picked is a better sentiment.

I think that this is more a "coopertition"-esque mannerism.