Capitalisation of rank in military stories.

Tyburn

Tyburn

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Thank you all for the help in the critiques section, I assure you I am taking it all on board and doing my best to rewrite and rejig stuff and hope the end result will be much better.

One point I had noticed was that a couple of people when quoting had highlighted parts where I'd capitalised a character's rank so I wanted to know - what are the rules regarding capitalising rank titles?

Do you only capitalise the rank when referring to the character by name?
[i.e. - In walked Space Captain Flight]
(and) When referring to them by rank, the rank is in lower-case - would that be correct?
[i.e. - the captain saluted sharply]

Thanks for the help chaps and chappesses, very much appreciated.
 
I believe you are correct. Rank would be capitalized when using the character's name, or when addressing them directly as that rank.

i.e. - "Good morning, Lieutenant." or something of that nature.

I think besides that (such as merely describing or referring to a character's rank), there is no capitalization. i.e. - Fluffly McFlufferson was a respected lieutenant in the Coalition Corps. or When the screams began, no one could find the captain.

I'm 96% certain that's correct, but I'm sure someone here with 100% certainty will chime in. :D
 
All of what has been said is true. But (for the sake of complicating things) sometimes, a rank is the closest thing that we have to a character name in a story. In Glen Cook's Black Company novels, the mercenary company's leading officers are 'the Lieutenant' and 'the Captain'. So I think there's some room there, and in military situations, sometimes rank does become your proper title. Usually implying that the narrator uses the capital letter because of profound respect mixed with some fear. ;)

I seem to remember some parallel with noble titles--e.g., The Queen is ill with the flu.

But in general usage, lower-case would be the rule. :)
 
Capitals are for when it relates to a specific person.

Therefore you could have a room full of captains attending a meeting chaired by the Colonel, but Captain Blackadder is absent. You can have a several princes attacking the King including Prince Rupert.
 
Surely though "Captain", or "Major", is a title as well as a rank and so should be capitalised all the time (someone who leaves the Army can use "Captain" as their title instead of Mr.

Remember though that "Captain" in a navy is a role, and not just a rank (a Commander could be the captain of a naval ship)
 
Gramm838 said:
Surely though "Captain", or "Major", is a title as well as a rank and so should be capitalised all the time (someone who leaves the Army can use "Captain" as their title instead of Mr.

Remember though that "Captain" in a navy is a role, and not just a rank (a Commander could be the captain of a naval ship)
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Well , if we are using it as a title then it is relating to a person; we wouldn't say 'Mr. entered the room' we would say 'Mr.Smith entered the room' or 'the man entered the room', therefore we wouldn't say 'the Captain' if there was more than one.

A commando is a role , there is only one unit called the Commandos so they are capitalised, Captain Joe of the Commandos is both his title, his role and his rank and all apply to a specific individual and so are capitalised.

I may be wrong, but that has always been how I have used capitals.
 
I don't wish to speak for Gramm, but there is the usage of the Captain walked onto the bridge, where nobody, but nobody, refers to the captain of the ship by their name, only calls them the Captain*, a bit like God (although God's's actually the Chief Petty Officer). ;) They might refer to the Captain as Captain Smith to outsiders, but on board, his name and his role are one.

And, certainly the commander of a vessel would often be referred to as the Captain (or the captain), as per Gramm's post.

*Of course, in the captain's day cabin, a select few such as the Chief Engineer and the First Officer, might have the privilege of using the captain's name privately.

As to leaving the army, it's still considered bad form to retain your rank for personal use after retirement, unless you're a Major/equivalent or above, at least in UK forces.
 
I'm presently going through the 'script and have found a single line which is puzzling me with this exact question -

"I hear you've finally made Captain yourself."

I know it's just referring to the rank, but at the same time he's referring to it as an exalted position. Would it be okay to leave it capitalised in this case? It doesn't quite seem right or wrong either way I look at it.
 
Abernovo said:
I don't wish to speak for Gramm, but there is the usage of the Captain walked onto the bridge, where nobody, but nobody, refers to the captain of the ship by their name, only calls them the Captain*, a bit like God (although God's's actually the Chief Petty Officer). ;) They might refer to the Captain as Captain Smith to outsiders, but on board, his name and his role are one.

And, certainly the commander of a vessel would often be referred to as the Captain (or the captain), as per Gramm's post.

*Of course, in the captain's day cabin, a select few such as the Chief Engineer and the First Officer, might have the privilege of using the captain's name privately.

As to leaving the army, it's still considered bad form to retain your rank for personal use after retirement, unless you're a Major/equivalent or above, at least in UK forces.
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If there is only one, then the captain would be referred to as the Captain. if there were several captains aboard, then reffering to one person as the Captain would be incorrect. In the same way that Everest has a capital because there is only one, but there are lots of mountains
 
Good points, Marvin. But the narrator could refer to his or her captain as the Captain always, as in a scene where the POV character is going through a court-martial.

"The Captain stood before the entire panel, defending my character from accusations of incompetence. The other captains seemed skeptical at first, but he won most of them over."

Say this is from chapter 37 of a forty-chapter novel relating to a naval lieutenant who has messed up royally.
 
Tyburn said:
I'm presently going through the 'script and have found a single line which is puzzling me with this exact question -

"I hear you've finally made Captain yourself."

I know it's just referring to the rank, but at the same time he's referring to it as an exalted position. Would it be okay to leave it capitalised in this case? It doesn't quite seem right or wrong either way I look at it.
Click to expand...

For me, no. Really, I think consistency is the key. No manuscript will be rejected for this: a publisher will instruct as to house style.
 
BetaWolf said:
Good points, Marvin. But the narrator could refer to his or her captain as the Captain always, as in a scene where the POV character is going through a court-martial.

"The Captain stood before the entire panel, defending my character from accusations of incompetence. The other captains seemed skeptical at first, but he won most of them over."

Say this is from chapter 37 of a forty-chapter novel relating to a naval lieutenant who has messed up royally.
Click to expand...


I see what you're saying, but I'm not sure that works. Captain Pearce, the defending captain or maybe even my captain would work but otherwise it might get confusing. Unless of course you refer to him as The Captain all the way through the story, in which case it is your character's name as well as his rank and title.
 
That's what I meant. A single first-person narrator, for whom this one man has been 'the Captain' for the preceding 400 pages.
 
paranoid marvin said:
A commando is a role , there is only one unit called the Commandos so they are capitalised, Captain Joe of the Commandos is both his title, his role and his rank and all apply to a specific individual and so are capitalised.
Click to expand...

A Commando is a person who is a member of the Royal Marine Commandos (although they would be called Private, not Commando, as their title) - a Commander is a naval rank (but he may not command anything other than a desk).

Anyway, wasn't it Dr Johnson who said "tis a dull man indeed who can find but one way to spell a word"

Edit - in any case, whatever their rank, the lower ranks would almost certainly have an unflattering nickname for any officer, especially if he's not liked, which would be used continually when that person is out of earshot
 
Speaking of military terms (it's kind of shame to tell that I've skipped the active duty in AFRF), how would it sound for an English/American reader if I would use the term Fleet instead of Navy? My story featured with Expeditionary and Home Fleets. There are an interstellar warfare involved.
 
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