Capitals?

[Hex]

I know people have told me this a million times (sorry) but I still get confused. Can I just check here about capitalising words-used-instead-of-names?

So 'miss' should have a capital in situations like: "Hey, Miss, your ankles are showing."

And 'king'? "The reason for the fall of the King."?

"He'd been King for decades"??

help...

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I don't think Miss should be capitalized in the first, as it's not being used as her name, It's a bit like, "Hey, you, your ankles are showing."

The King one I'm not sure about it, but when you think of our present Queen, when we refer to her, the person, it's capitalized, but if we said the role of the queen of england has changed over the years, i don't think so.
GAGh, too early in the morning, Hex...

 

[The Judge]

I think this is one of those things which largely comes down to personal style, and it certainly won't cause an agent to throw down the m/s in disgust, so stop panicking!

I'm in two minds over both, and would probably spend a day changing from one to the other and back again until I got dizzy. The most important, thing, though, is to be consistent -- if you "Miss" in one sentence, don't "miss" in another, as that does look sloppy.

At the moment of writing I'd probably go for lower case for both, but throughout my SF books I capitalise all the police ranks when they are both addressed and being talked about (eg "Please move away, Lieutenant" and "The Colonel entered the room") so that's blown that...

 

[Hex]

But it's sort of being used as her name -- instead of her name...

Anyway -- thanks both. I can cope with it being taste and with being consistent. Thank you for saving me changing everything backwards and forwards all morning.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Just don't do what I did in one story, Hex. I capitalised so many things my critiquers were dragged right out of the story.

Now, who was that fool who decided the two gods of the alien arcati race should be The Mother Of All Life and The Eater Of All Life?

 

[Coragem]

Hex, check here: http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node27.html

I think a word like "king" would work like parliament. So, an abstract parliament would have no capital and an abstract discussion of the role of a king would have no capital. When discussing specific Parliament or King you would use a capital.

Coragem

 

[Glen]

I still struggle with directions - he was heading south, but he lived in South Yorkshire.

WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T USE CAPS ALL THE TIME IT WILL SEEM LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING!

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I am, with my rewrite, taking the rule if a person's name can replace the term I use it, if it can't I don't.

 

[goldhawk]

I know people have told me this a million times (sorry) but I still get confused. Can I just check here about capitalising words-used-instead-of-names?

So 'miss' should have a capital in situations like: "Hey, Miss, your ankles are showing."

And 'king'? "The reason for the fall of the King."?

"He'd been King for decades"??

help...

If it's part of a title, it should be capitalized. Otherwise, not.

"Hey, Miss, your ankles are showing." (a salutation is part of a title, as in Mr. Smith or Dr. Who)

"The reason for the fall of the King." (meaning a specific king, not just any king)

"He'd been king for decades" (again not clear whether this means a specific king)

I don't think Miss should be capitalized in the first, as it's not being used as her name, It's a bit like, "Hey, you, your ankles are showing."

The King one I'm not sure about it, but when you think of our present Queen, when we refer to her, the person, it's capitalized, but if we said the role of the queen of england has changed over the years, i don't think so.
GAGh, too early in the morning, Hex...

The king one I'm not sure about it, but when you think of our present queen, when we refer to her, the person, it's capitalized, but if we said the role of the Queen of England has changed over the years, i don't think so. (Queen of England would always be capitalized.)