Example (right):<\/em> President and Commander in Chief Barack Obama came to visit us.<\/p>\n But, if you aren\u2019t referring to a specific president, but rather the fact that Obama is a president, you use capital letters like this:<\/p>\n Example (right):<\/em> Barack Obama, president and commander in chief, came to visit us. (I didn\u2019t make the rules\u2014blame the style guides.)<\/p>\n The beginning of sentences<\/strong> \u2013 Here is where I pose the thinking question: Why do you think capital letters are used to begin sentences? Bonus question: Why are sentences that fall after a colon capitalized?**<\/p>\n The pronoun I<\/strong> \u2013 Since we are referencing a specific person, ourselves, it probably makes sense that we capitalize it. One does wonder, however, what that says about us and our culture\u2026<\/p>\n Generalizations, such as specialties listed in a sentence or paragraph:<\/strong><\/p>\n Example (wrong):<\/em> The doctors at U of U Health Care specialize in Radiology, Neurosurgery, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.<\/p>\n All of these specialties are general specialties (not that they aren\u2019t still special); they don\u2019t refer to a specific person, a trademarked company, or patent, so they should not be capitalized.<\/p>\n Titles after names: <\/strong><\/p>\n Example (wrong):<\/em> Joe Jones, MD, Dean of the Department of Punctuation, requested that students express greater respect for the use of uppercase.<\/p>\n While the Department of Punctuation, since it refers to a specific if fictional department, can be capitalized, the word dean, since it falls after the current dean\u2019s name, refers to the general position of dean, not the Dean Joe Jones himself.<\/p>\n This is a more recent use of capitalization stemming from our ever more frequent messaging with typed symbols to express ourselves as opposed to talking on the phone or in person where our body language can express tone or attitude.<\/p>\n Take a quick browse back over those paragraphs above. Which are easiest to read? Which are More Difficult to Make Out or Skim (a technique we frequently use in reading and not just on the web)?<\/p>\n The use of uppercase is a practice to be respected, particularly in formal or business writing. While legalese and, occasionally, bureaucratese can get away with almost everything, we regular peeps must abide by writing style guides to be respected as professionals in whatever sphere we adhere to.<\/p>\n Oh, and if you have a bit of time, read this highly entertaining article about the origins and use of caps lock: I TURNED CAPS LOCK ON FOR A WEEK AND EVERYONE HATED IT via @thisisfusion<\/a>. It might change the way you type.<\/p>\n *I invite you to enjoy the dramatization\u2014I think it adds to this piece. At least I hope you laugh.<\/p>\n **A: The use of a colon generally indicates an independent clause or sentence (the colon acts as the equivalent of an equals sign); independent sentences are almost always capitalized, except after a semi-colon. (Don\u2019t you love English with all these exceptions and rules and best practices?)<\/p>\n Previously published on Pulse, University of Utah Health Care; used with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Kosher Use of Uppercase: A Brief Case Study Capitalization has a long and sordid history, but generally a well-known meaning: the use of a Capital Letter places Emphasis on a Word. The stylistic guidelines regarding when it\u2019s proper to use upper case and when not to differ widely from language to language and culture … Continue reading WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING AT ME?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-branding","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":660,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}THE WRONG TIME TO USE CAPITAL LETTERS<\/h3>\n
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TEXT MESSAGING OR EMAILING IN ALL CAPS WITH YOUR CHILDREN\/FRIENDS\/CO-WORKERS, EVEN IF YOUR KEYS GET STUCK<\/strong>\u2014THEY WILL THINK YOU ARE SHOUTING AT THEM.<\/p>\nConclusion \/ CONCLUSION<\/h3>\n