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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

Capitalizing nouns

Hello all,This is not written to start a flame war or a ball-busting session (ah well, I tried) I am just wondering about something. I have noticed in my many email exchanges with people from the UK that they tend to capitalize nouns. At first I wrote it off (no pun intended) to lack of education (i.e. leaving school at 16) but then in applying for a job in England I was having trouble writing a European style CV and the woman at the agency I'm working with sent me 5 examples.

These were all CVs written by teachers and they almost all capitalized random nouns-and not as titles. My brother who has several degrees in English and worked as a journalist said that maybe it's because they are closer to Germany and have been influenced by the German language. Is it correct to capitalize nouns in England? I don't have any examples handy but things like "I am a Teacher." "Our Head(teacher)made the following announcement..." etc.

"I must call my Mum." Thanks
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Hello all, This is not written to start a flame war or a ball-busting session (ah well, I tried) I ... " etc. "[/nq] Put it down to a liberal education.

  • [nq:1]Hello all, This is not written to start a flame war or a ball-busting session (ah well, I tried) I ...
  • " etc.
  • "[/nq] Put it down to a liberal education.
  • There isn't much emphasis on rules in the teaching of English here, hence the freeform writing style.
  • Having said this, I would not write such words with a capital letter, nor would I suggest that anyone else do so.
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16 Answers
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[nq:1]Hello all, This is not written to start a flame war or a ball-busting session (ah well, I tried) I ... examples handy but things like "I am a Teacher." "Our Head(teacher)made the following announcement..." etc. "I must call my Mum."[/nq]
Put it down to a liberal education. There isn't much emphasis on rules in the teaching of English here, hence the freeform writing style. Having said th
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[nq:1]I don't have any examples handy but things like "I am a Teacher." "Our Head(teacher)made the following announcement..." etc. "I must call my Mum."[/nq]
If Teacher and Head(master/mistress) are job titles, and Mum is the name the writer gives her mother, I have no serious problem with any of these capitalizations.

John Varela
(Trade "OLD" lamps for "NEW" for email.)
I apo
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"Adrian Bailey" (Email Removed) wrote on 05 Mar 2004:
[nq:2]Hello all, This is not written to start a flame ... Head(teacher)made the following announcement..." etc. "I must call my Mum."[/nq]
[nq:1]Put it down to a liberal education.[/nq]
Mortimer Adler(1) and Robert Maynard Hutchins are now rolling over in their graves. One may accurately chalk it up to the liberality of license but
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[nq:1]I have noticed in my many email exchanges with people from the UK that they tend to capitalize nouns.[/nq]
So did everyone 250 years ago, and for Comic Effect some recent writers (e.g. Robertson Davies especially when writing as Samuel Marchbanks.)
[nq:1]At first I wrote it off (no pun intended) to lack of education (i.e. leaving school at 16) but then ... journalist said that maybe
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[nq:2]Hello all, This is not written to start a flame ... Head(teacher)made the following announcement..." etc. "I must call my Mum."[/nq]
[nq:1]Put it down to a liberal education. There isn't much emphasis on rules in the teaching of English here, hence ... this, I would not write such words with a capital letter, nor would I suggest that anyone else do so.[/nq]
Looking at the examples, I
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[nq:2]I don't have any examples handy but things like "I am a Teacher." "Our Head(teacher)made the following announcement..." etc. "I must call my Mum."[/nq]
[nq:1]If Teacher and Head(master/mistress) are job titles, and Mum is the name the writer gives her mother, I have no serious problem with any of these capitalizations.[/nq]
In general I don't either, but with the 'a', the 'Our', and
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[nq:1]handy but things like "I am a Teacher." "Our Head(teacher)made the following announcement..." etc. "I must call my Mum."[/nq]
Those could all be seen as Signs of Respect, as with identifiers like *** (often even by atheists).
I think some people sometimes capitalize phrases as I did above in a kind of mock sign of respect towards the phrase. I tiny bit of bad humor, maybe. I'm not su
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[nq:1]Hello all, This is not written to start a flame war or a ball-busting session (ah well, I tried) I ... examples handy but things like "I am a Teacher." "Our Head(teacher)made the following announcement..." etc. "I must call my Mum."[/nq]
The practice of capitalising nouns began to drop out of English about 200 years ago, though it still persists in German, as you observe.

The tr
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[nq:1]I think people in the USA are more likely to write NATO (or the older N.A.T.O.) than Nato.[/nq]
We are, possibly because, since Hispanics abound here, looks more like Spanish , approximately rhyming with and meaning 'born, by nature or birth'.
[nq:1]The trend in English to use fewer capitals continues, and in my observation is actually more advanced in the UK than in the USA.[/nq]
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A prime minister, but the Prime Minister. A queen, but the Queen. We capitalise (or at least I do) when a specific person is referred to. There are those who insist on The Queen, but this is both a special case and a minority taste.

Don Aitken
Mail to the addresses given in the headers is no longer being read. To mail me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com".

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