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How to Write a Novel – 3 Quick Tips
Capital Letters
Capitalization may appear to be extremely simple in principle but it can actually be quite messy in practice. While most professional writers have an excellent grasp of basic grammar and punctuation rules, capitalization errors do still occur more frequently than one would think. Therefore, this brief review of capitalization basics will hopefully prove to be beneficial to even the most seasoned writer.
The rule for capitalizing nouns is very simple. All common nouns need to be written in lowercase, and all proper nouns need to be capitalized. A common noun may be defined as a person, place, or thing. A proper noun is a specific, individual person, place, or thing. The distinction between the two is clear enough. For example, the common nouns person, city, and language can be easily turned into their proper noun counterparts George Bush, Las Vegas, and Spanish. However, determining what counts as a proper noun is not always as straightforward as it may first appear. The names of specific groups of people (linguistic, racial, religious, tribal, etc.) are usually capitalized. While all the parts of names of persons born of English descent should always be capitalized, the same is not always true for those of foreign origin. For example, Charles de Gaulle and Ludwig van Beethoven do not follow this rule. When civil, military, professional and religious titles immediately precede a name and are used as part of that name, they should always be capitalized. Examples of this would be President Barack Obama, General Douglas MacArthur, Professor Stevens, and Pope Benedict XVI.
If titles are used in place of a name when you are speaking directly to a person it should be capitalized. However, if it is used when referring to someone, it should not be capitalized. Furthermore, if a title is used after a name, it should not be capitalized. Names of specific buildings, cities, countries, lakes, mountains, rivers, etc., should always be capitalized. Regions are usually capitalized as well, but there are exceptions to this rule. Popular names of places are usually capitalized as well. Generic topographical terms like lake, river, and valley are normally capitalized if they are part of a standard place name, for example, Lake Michigan, Hudson River, Napa Valley. However, when these terms are used descriptively, instead of as part of a name, they are not capitalized. The first word in a sentence is always capitalized, as is the first word of each line of poetry. Capitalization may also be used to show emphasis, humor, or irony in some writing.
The thing to remember with your work is that correct capitalization, good grammar and correct punctuation will keep your reader focused on the story.
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