concordia-memories.org Forum Index concordia-memories.org
Recalling Concordia's Past
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Capitalizing words

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    concordia-memories.org Forum Index -> Random thoughts or imponderables
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
roger.pape
Site Admin


Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 414
Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:22 pm    Post subject: Capitalizing words Reply with quote

Why are certain words in a sentence capitalized while others are not? In English, the rules are somewhat irregular. The first word in a sentence makes sense simply to delineate the start of a new thought. Proper names and their prefixes/suffixes (titles, etc.) appear to be capitalized out of respect. Similarly, references to God including their pronouns, such as Thy and His, also start in upper case. Directions are not capitalized unless they are part of a name, e.g. ‘We live in the Northeast.’ vs. ‘We live in the northeast section of the U.S.’ Some words derived from proper names, such as ‘herculean’ task, are usually no longer capitalized. Trademarks can set their own rules, like iPhone. Most of the words in the title of a book, song, or other publications (other than some prepositions) are usually capitalized, including the ‘the’ in a newspaper title like ‘The Concordian’.

When reading German records, what impresses me is that all nouns are capitalized. Also, the formal 2nd person singular or plural pronoun Sie is capitalized along with all its case-forms (Ihre, Ihres, etc.) as well as the informal 2nd person singular pronoun Du (and its derivatives, such as Dein), although the latter seems to have been dropped more recently. In practice, this makes letters or documents easier to read, especially when the writing is hard to decipher.

But, is it necessary? Search tools in most computer software treat all letters as lower case. On the other hand, some operating systems like Unix distinguish between lower and upper case letters in filenames. (Have you ever had trouble locating a file in a Unix based systems because you didn’t use the correct capital letters or didn’t use some capital letters in certain command?) In this case, capitalization appears to be used to make words that are strung together in a single name more understandable. Passwords can also be case sensitive. This increases the number of combinations making the password harder to crack.

Capitization rules seem to change over the years. If you look at the original copy of the U. S. Constitution, most nouns are capitalized in it. But why does German continue to capitalize all nouns while English does not?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    concordia-memories.org Forum Index -> Random thoughts or imponderables All times are GMT - 6 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You cannot download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group