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Transcript

Use of Capitalization

By: Matthew Galinski, Vasili Karaplanos, and Sam Loose

What is capitalization and how is it used?

The beginning of a sentence should always be capitalized. In general the use of capitalization in technical writing should be confined to the following two criteria:

Overview

Proper nouns, titles, places, languages, and organizations:

Ex: John Doe. Chief Executive Officer. Doctor Johnson. San Jose, California. English.

Rule One

Headings and labels

Ex: Chapter One. Section Five. Energy Consumption 1900-1927.

Rule Two

What is the error and how is it identified?

Errors and Examples

Every word that starts off a sentence must be capitalized.

Seasons are commonly believed to need to be capitalized. They should not be.

It is incorrect to capitalize the word "city" or "town" if it appears before a proper noun.

Ex. The city of New York. vs. New York City.

You should capitalize geographical regions, but not cardinal directions.

Capitalize people’s titles ONLY when they appear before the name.

Example One

Incorrect: He was unable to erase the Whiteboard because someone had written on it with a sharpie.

Correct: He was unable to erase the whiteboard because someone had written on it with a Sharpie.

Explanation: Whiteboard should not be capitalized as it is not a proper noun. Sharpie, however, refers to a specific brand and type of marker and should be capitalized.

Examples of Errors

Example Two

Incorrect: John Muir headed North on the Colorado River.

Correct: John Muir headed north on the Colorado River.

Explanation: Cardinal directions should not be capitalized.

Examples of Errors

Example Three

Incorrect: Roosevelt divided the Grand Canyon into the north and south regions.

Correct: Roosevelt divided the Grand Canyon into the North and South regions.

Explanation: Names of geographical regions should be capitalized.

Examples of Errors

Quiz instructions

We will be using Kahoot for the quiz. Sign in to Kahoot and join the quiz on screen.

https://play.kahoot.it/v2/?quizId=8dc4fc33-f126-4139-91b5-a09e65730b10

Quiz

References

Homan, C. (2011). Capitalization. San Jose State University Writing Center. https://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/docs/handouts/Semicolons%20Revised.pdf.

Markel, M. H., & Selber, S. A. (2021). Technical communication (12th ed.). Bedford/St. Martin's.

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