capitalization rules

Quick Links: 5 Sentences Demonstrating Whether to Capitalize and Punctuate Quotations

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Sometimes when you haven’t thought about something for a long time you don’t quite remember it the way you should. So today we bring you the Daily Writing Tips‘ article on capitalization within quotations.

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5 Sentences Demonstrating Whether to Capitalize and Punctuate Quotations

By Mark Nichol

Because everyone can use a refresher!
Because everyone can use a refresher!

When the syntax of a sentence containing a quotation is not straightforward, it can be difficult to determine whether the first word should be capitalized and which punctuation marks, if any, should attend the quotation. The following sentences illustrate some of the pitfalls, and discussions and revisions point to their solutions.

1. After years of finger-pointing, Smith says “enough is enough” and is filing suit against Jones.

The statement may seem insignificant, but it is a complete sentence and should be treated as one; it should also be preceded by a comma following the attribution (“Smith says”): “After years of finger-pointing, Smith says, “Enough is enough” and is filing suit against Jones. (Note, too, that no punctuation follows the quotation, because what follows is not an independent clause; it would be one if it included a noun or pronoun after and: “After years of finger-pointing, Smith says, “Enough is enough,” and he is filing suit against Jones.”)

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How to Treat Geological and Astronomical Terms

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This post by Mark Nichol originally appeared on Daily Writing Tips.

Determining whether to refer to geological and astronomical terms with initial uppercase or lowercase letters can be a challenge, because various publications and publishers differ on capitalization style. The following guidelines, however, appear to predominate:

 

Names of geological time spans are capitalized, but the terms for the magnitude of duration (eons, eras, periods, epochs, and stages, in descending order of length), are not; in scientific and nonscientific prose alike, these terms can be omitted:

“The Mesozoic is also known as the Age of Dinosaurs.”

“Mrs. Wattle has been teaching Freshman Composition since the Mesozoic.”

 

Whether modifying terms such as early, middle, and late are capitalized depends on whether they are themselves modified:

“Tyrannosaurus rex lived during the Late Cretaceous.”

“The Deccan Traps erupted in the very late Cretaceous.”

“Ice age” is considered a generic term because multiple such events have occurred.

 

Click here to read the full post on Daily Writing Tips.