21st Century Grammar Handbook (8 page)

Built.
See
build.

Burn, burned, burned.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Burned.
See
burn.

Burst, burst, burst.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

But.
The
coordinating conjunction
“but” links two more or less equivalent things, people, or parts of a
sentence:
“I watered the flowers but not the plant.” “The flowers bloomed, but the plant eventually died.” When two
nouns, pronouns,
or
phrases
are joined by “but,” no
comma
comes before the conjunction. When two independent
clauses
connect with “but,” as in the second sentence in the example, a comma comes at the end of the first clause.
Series
of more than two things or clauses joined by “but” should have a comma before “but”: “I came, I saw, but I didn’t conquer.”

Buy.
See
by.

By, bye, buy.
Don’t confuse the
preposition
of agency or time “by” (“The work is being done by Chris; it will be finished by ten.”) with its
homonyms
“bye” (a short version of “good-bye,” or not having to take part in a
round of competition: “The high-ranking tennis players get a bye in the preliminaries and don’t have to play.”) and “buy” (purchase). Note that “buy” has irregular forms in the
past tense
and past
participle:
“buy, bought, bought.” See
irregular verbs.

Bye.
See
by.

Ca.
This
abbreviation
of the word “circa” means “almost,” “about,” or “approximately.” It is properly used primarily in footnotes or endnotes or highly technical writing and is best avoided in the main text of
standard English
writing or speaking. Replace it with one of the words that define it or one of their
synonyms.

Came.
See
come.

Can, may.
Distinguish carefully between “can,” which refers to physical ability or opportunity to act, and “may,” which suggests permission or potential to act: “J. R. can act (has the ability to do so) and may appear in the next production (it is possible J. R. will appear).” “If J. R.’s parents allow it, J. R. may appear (if J. R. gets permission).”

Can’t.
The
contraction
of “can” and “not” or “cannot” is “can’t.” It shouldn’t be used in most formal writing.

Capitalization.
As with so many grammar
rules,
those for capitalization are both simple and complex, both rigid and flexible, and subject to the demands of
audience
or circumstances.

The complexity stems from the large number of possible applications of
upper-case
letters; the flexibility comes from
the use of larger upper-case letters for
emphasis
as well as to mark the many standard properties of
nouns
that require capitalization; and the adjustments to the expectations of your readers lead to choices among, as well as careful application of, the rules that follow. The standards below are comprehensive, but more variants and possibilities can be found in
style
manuals and writing guides designed for specific circumstances like scholarly writing, business documents, government papers, and so on. Consult the guide that is appropriate to your needs.

English
sentences
normally begin with a capital letter. So do sentences of quoted speech: “The poet said, ‘This is fine.’ ” First words of lines of poetry often also start with capitals, although the fact that lines of poetry are not all sentences may lead writers to start some lines with
lowercase
letters. Personal taste or preference can also lead to a decision not to capitalize first lines of poetry.

First words of whole sentences that follow a
colon
are often capitalized: “We can summarize the rule as follows: There is no need to capitalize every line of poetry.” Whole sentences contained within other sentences and set off by
dashes
or
parentheses
are not capitalized: “State the capitalization rule—the rule is clear—and follow it.” Whole sentences set off on their own within parentheses are capitalized: “That is the rule. (Some authorities disagree.)”

Titles,
captions, headings, and similar clusters of words used to label things or to display or emphasize words also usually start with capitals. There is more flexibility about
whether words that follow in such displays are capitalized, with elements of type design and other considerations of
style
coming into play. The larger size of capital letters is also often a way to contribute to the display property of word clusters that stand apart from other text, and therefore, capitalization is a common device in such text fragments.

When people’s
names
include
titles,
both are usually capitalized: President Bush, Terrence Cardinal O’Connor, Professor Harner, Dr. Slade, Aunt Sue. But the titles alone are commonly not capitalized: “In Washington I saw the president.” To show respect for the offices represented by titles, some writers capitalize the titles whether used with a name or not, while other writers use
lower-case
letters.

Rules and variations for capitalization of such parts of names as “de,” “von,” “ap,” “ter,” “bin,” “ibn,” and the like are too complex to review here. Check sources for the language from which such names come as well as personal preferences.

Capitalization of things or abstractions is used at times when personification is intended: “when Nature brings her warm rains” or “as Death unleased his fury.” However, personification may assign stereotypical characteristics to common words (as in the examples above). Guard your writing against such biases, however subtle. See also
sexist language.

TRADEMARK NAMES
. Many objects or products have trade names that are usually capitalized: Chevrolet, Honda,
Coke, and Xerox, for example. While it is not uncommon to refer to colas or photocopies in general as “cokes” or “xeroxes,” the trademark holders aren’t very pleased with such usages because they think a capitalized use suggests the trademarked product and might lead to sales. In more formal writing, especially when rights to products and their names can be an issue, it is necessary to preserve commercial capitalization. When in doubt as to whether a name is trademarked, refer to a style manual that lists brand names.

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES
. Places, geographical or topographical features that are named, and large segments of the world are usually capitalized: Denver, the Mall (in London, not the local shopping center), Morton Street, Lake Naivasha, the Rift Valley, the Western Hemisphere, the West. When you refer to places without a proper
name,
use
lower case:
“When I was at Lake Naivasha, I noticed that the lake is becoming polluted.” Similarly, city, state, or county names are usually capitalized in official form and order but use lower case in less formal order: “the Republic of France” “the French republic.” And compass directions are not capitalized when they do not stand for a region: “The rider headed west.” “The rodeo rider lit out for the West.”

SCIENTIFIC NAMES.
Latin
scientific names of animals and plants have the genus, the first word of the name, capitalized (and are usually in
italics): “Bucephala clangula clangula”
However, for common names of creatures and plants, capitalize only those parts of the names that are
proper nouns
in their own right: “Barrow’s goldeneye.”
Astronomical bodies with specific names are capitalized: “the Milky Way,” “Mars.” But generic terms such as “planet,” “galaxy,” and the like are
lower case:
“comet Kohotek,” “the Spider nebula.”

ETHNIC NAMES
. Names of groups of people with established cultural or geographical identities are usually capitalized: “Yanomama,” “French,” “Asian,” “Native American,” “Portuguese.” Words referring to more generic populations are usually
lower case:
“black,” “white.”

NAMES OF ORGANIZATIONS
. Like place names, these
proper nouns
are capitalized in formal use and
lower case
in less formal or less complete usage: “New York City Council,” “city council,” “the council” “Touchstone Company,” “the company.” National governmental bodies often retain capitals: “United States Congress,” “the Congress” “the House of Commons,” “Commons.” Political parties and movements usually capitalize only the specific name and not the words “party,” “movement,” “bloc,” and the like: “Democratic party.”

NAMES OF PERIODS OR TIMES
. Calendar
dates
are capitalized but not seasons: “November,” “fall.” Larger segments of time that are named are capitalized, but centuries are not: “the Middle Ages,” “the thirteenth century.” Many such periods that include words like “era,” “age,” or “period” are not capitalized unless they include a proper name: “colonial period,” “Victorian era,” “nuclear age.” Some widely recognized periods are often capitalized: “Stone Age.”

NAMES OF EVENTS
. Usage varies widely, although capitalization of important events is common: “Industrial Revolution,” “Battle of Britain.”

RELIGIOUS NAMES
. Names of the deity, saints, holy persons and their titles, holy writings and their major divisions, rites or services, important religious concepts or events, churches and synagogues, and denominations and sects are usually capitalized, especially by participants in specific religions.

NAMES OF VEHICLES
. Specific names of airplanes, ships, trains, and other vehicles are usually capitalized (and in
italics
or underlined):
“Enola Gay,” “Challenger,” “Bis-mark.”
Makes, brands, classes, and types of such vehicles are usually just capitalized: “Polaris submarines,”
“T
-10 tanks.”

WHOLE WORKS.
Titles
of whole books, magazines, newspapers, plays, musical works, paintings, sculptures, long poems, radio and television programs, and movies are usually capitalized (and in
italics): “War and Peace,” “Los Angeles Times” “Goodfellas,” “Mona Lisa”
Within such titles
coordinating conjunctions, prepositions, articles,
and the “t?” of
infinitives
are in
lower case
if they are not the first word of the title:
“A Moon for the Misbegotten,” “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

WORKS THAT ARE PARTS OF LARGER WHOLES
. Chapters of books, articles in periodicals, acts or movements of plays or
musical works, and the like follow the same capitalization rules as whole works, but they are usually set off in
quotation marks
or simply by capitalization alone: “Chapter 2,” “‘People in the News’ in the New
York Times
” “Act 4.” Terms like “chapter,” “act,” and so on are not capitalized when they are not specific parts of a specific work: “I read Chapter 2, the chapter on grammar.” “It is a good chapter.”

The fi
rst-person
singular
pronoun
“I” is normally capitalized. Other pronouns are usually
lower case.

Despite all the rules just set out, virtually any word can be capitalized to give it added weight or
emphasis.
Current usage favors the use of
lower case
where possible, so overuse of this flexibility should be avoided.

The
interjection “O”
adds emphasis in the somewhat archaic
phrase
“O gentle Queen!” and is capitalized. Note that the interjection
“oh”
is not.

When hyphenated words are capitalized, special problems arise. Formal usage requires that the second element in a hyphenated
compound word
be
lower case
if it is of lesser weight than or modifies the first word: “French-speaking Population.” Both words are capitalized when the two
elements are essentially equal (or if the second is a proper noun or adjective): “Post-Impressionism.” Defining equality of weight or
modifiers
versus nonmodifiers is a tricky business. See
hyphen.

It is often acceptable to capitalize both elements of hyphenated compounds. This is particularly so when capitalization is used for
emphasis
or display, as in captions or headlines. (When hyphenated words are not compounds but parts of a single word—“self-reliant”—capitalize only the first element: “How to Build Self-reliance.”) The examples that follow are neither exhaustive nor set in concrete—interpretations vary. Each could be considered correct as shown, depending on its use and the writer’s intentions. No one reading these examples as they are written or with different combinations of capital and lower-case letters could misunderstand them: “Non-Western,” “Worker-Management Alliance,” “Nineteenth-Century History,” “Junior-College Courses,” “Caring for Two-year-olds,” “Buying a Medium-size Car,” “Toxin-carrying Train Derailed.”

Cardinal number.
The common forms of
numbers
are called “cardinals”: “There are three people here.” Depending on style, cardinals can be spelled out, as in the previous example, or written in figures: “Look, 222 bassett hounds!” See also
ordinal numbers.

Case.
The grammatical category “case” names the functions of
nouns
and
pronouns
in
sentences
and the forms such words take when they change to reflect their grammatical roles. It is not especially important to know what case
means or what the various cases are, but it is critical to use cases correctly, particularly for pronouns, which commonly change form as they change case. Many of the most common
grammar
and
usage
errors are mistakes with case. (Other languages have much more elaborate case systems.)