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When do you capitalize someone’s title?

One of the most persistent sources of confusion about capitalization is the issue of capitalizing someone’s title. These days, most style books have taken the journalistic approach to capitalizing titles. When the title comes before the name and is used as part of the name, it is capitalized. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Navajo Tribal Chairman Joe Shirley. Law Professor James Jones.

When the title comes after the name, it is not capitalized. Hillary Clinton, secretary of state. Joe Shirley, tribal chairman of the Navajo Nation.

Note that the organization should be capitalized if the name is used in full as in Navajo Nation. However, if you wrote, Joe Shirley, chairman of the tribe, you would not capitalize tribe.

Tell the grammar bully where to get off...

...it is OK to use a preposition at the end of a sentence!

Somewhere deep within all of us there lurks a “grammar bully” -- the stern guardian of the language who will never let us forget a comma or allow us to meander into a run-on sentence. She means well, but sometimes you need to tell her where to get off.

If it were up to her, we would never end a sentence with a preposition, such as at, off, with or for.  Instead, we’d be twisting our words into tortured phrases to avoid it and we’d all be the worse for it. It’s time to quell the grammar bully on this subject and to do what makes sense. As Winston Churchill reportedly said when someone rewrote his words to correct his use of a preposition at the end of a sentence: “This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.” Happily, none of us have to put up with it. Despite what your grammar bully is telling you, it is generally fine, and sometimes preferable, to end a sentence with a preposition.

The original rule was derived from a Latin linguistic prescription to end a sentence with a strong word, and while that is good advice, you don’t have to go to extremes. A preposition at the end of a sentence is acceptable if it helps you to avoid an awkward sounding and poorly constructed sentence.

“Which table did you eat at,” sounds better to Americans than “At which table did you eat?” “He gave the audience the performance for which it longed,” is not better than “He gave the audience the performance it longed for.” If you say, “At what are you driving?” instead of “What are you driving at?” you’ll avoid the preposition at the end of the sentences, but all your friends will think you’re weird.

There is a time when you shouldn't use a preposition at the end of sentence and that is when you don’t need to. If the sentence makes sense without the preposition leave it off. “Where will you be meeting her at?” is wrong, not because it ends in a preposition, but because the preposition is not necessary. 

TriSec 17 Photos

We are excited to announce that pictures from TriSec 17 are finally here! To see the rest of the photos, please check out our online album. The same pictures are also uploaded on Facebook.

When the Two Become One – Ever-Evolving Compounds

Two words brought together to express a new concept create a compound. A compound can be written as two words, one word, or it can be connected by a hyphen.

Many times compounds will evolve over time. For example, a compound may start out as child care, morph into child-care and finally it’s more commonly written as childcare.  

The use of hyphens in compounds can sometimes be confusing. Here are some general guidelines for using hyphens in compounds:

• Use a hyphen when two or more words are used as an adjective before a noun.

                        over-the-counter drugs                         

                        six-year-old boy

                        one-way street

• Do not use a hyphen when the compound modifier comes after the noun.

                        The boy is six years old.

                        I bought the drugs over the counter.

                        The street is one way.

• Use a hyphen with compound numbers.

                        Sixty-five

                        Twenty-one

• Use a hyphen to avoid confusion.

An old-furniture salesman means the man sells old furniture. However, “an old furniture salesman” could be an old man who sells furniture.

On the other hand, the phrase “used car salesman” might not generate as much confusion, therefore, a hyphen between “used” and “car” might not be necessary.

As you can see, sometimes there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to compounds. Since word usage often evolves, it’s always best to consult the latest version of a good, standard dictionary.