I need to be schooled

In general you only capitalize proper nouns, which names a unique and specific thing. So, none of the words that you listed would be capitalized.

Homeroom is one word.

Boys room and girls room would not need to have an apostrophe.

I always tell people: Don't feel like you're *supposed* to know all this stuff. First off, it's mainly the editor's job to know about stuff like capitalization. Second, editors often have to look up to see whether "homeroom" is one word. Third, in a lot of cases, style guides completely disagree.

For example, one of the publications I copy edit has recently dictated that "healthcare," in our pages, is now one word, even though our parent publication's style guide still says it's "health care." There's no rule or guideline for "spacing," as you called it. It's just a question of whether it exists as one word. So for "homeroom" and "studyhall," just check a dictionary.

However, if there's one area you touched on that a writer probably should know, it's the basics of forming possessives. A room belonging to one boy is the "boy's room." A room for more than one boy is the "boys' room."

Some style guides now allow stuff like "workers compensation" and "teachers union" without the apostrophe. Their argument: that the first word is really more an adjective than a possessive. But I haven't seen that for bathrooms. It's always: boys' room, girls' room, men's room, women's room, ladies' room -- with the apostrophes.

And re capitalization: All day long I change stuff like "Master's of Business Administration" to lowercase. It's my job as the copy editor. I never expect the writer to know it, which is lucky, because they pretty much never do.

A style guide is what you need. The Chicago is different from the AP. The AP tends to smash compound words together. They all have their values. MLS is different too. In other words, the answers you will get will depend on the person's or company's personal favorite style guide. Proper nouns are capitalized. Titles are capitalized unless they are used in general. Fiction generes are capitalized I believe unless they are used as general terms. Boy's Room, and Girl's Room are capitalized if they are signs, but not if used in general. Yes, they are possessive, but generally that is not seen on sinage.

Titles: Mayor Hanafan, as opposed to Tom Hanafan, mayor of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The same rule is true with titles of classes: Biology 101, as opposed to "I took biology this year."

Math 101 as opposed to "math sucks, dontcha think?"

"I think study hall sucks," as opposed to "you will be required to attend one hour of Study Hall 101 every semester."

If you are referring to a class by using it as a title. Math 101. Not, I hate math.

"Science Fiction Author Meg Cumberbun will be giving a lecture at the library." as opposed to; "Wow, did you read Cumberbun's latest sci-fi masterpiece? It sucks, man."

President George W. Bush (title, specific) as opposed to George W. Bush, the suckiest president (genera one of many) America has ever seen.

Jockey John Smedly, (title, specific) as opposed to "Smedly was a pretty good jockey, when he wasn't telling everyone they sucked." (general, one of many)

"Madam Isis, Witch," rather than, "Isis is certainly taking being a witch seriously." This would be different if it was Wicca, "Isis is learning the Wiccan way" which would be capitalized. Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines and their adherents all but angles, faeries, divas. Consistency is the key.

"The Men's Room will be closed as of Thursday March 27th," as opposed to "While you're in the store, find out if there is a men's room we can use."

See the trend? I don't know everything. What I don't know, I google, and even then I know very little.

June Casagrande said:

First off, it's mainly the editor's job to know about stuff like capitalization. Second, editors often have to look up to see whether "homeroom" is one word.

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But if you're an unpublished author you won't even get the work to the editor's desk if you have too many errors of this type.

For some publishers you can ask for the style guide and avoid some divergences from their requirements. You can also look at some books they have published for specific 'grey areas' if you can't find out elsewhere.

Mumut said:

You could also consider boys' room and girls' room.

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Hmm. Plural possessive. Didn't think of that.

laidback said:

Would I be opening up a big can of worms if I asked which style manual would be most appropriate for fiction writing?

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Yes.



... Seriously, it doesn't much matter which manual you go with so long as you are consistent. Chicago's pretty popular, and reasonably uniform, but we (I wok for a small publisher) have clients who use something else. As mentioned above, that's the job of the editors to worry about - unless it's specified in advance.

You'll find that there's often debates about the finer points of English grammar and punctuation.

Probably the first book I'd suggest for you is a really good dictionary if you don't already have one. Then maybe The Elements of Style. You might also enjoy Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which, wonder of wonders, became a best-selling book on punctuation.

laidback said:

Would I be opening up a big can of worms if I asked which style manual would be most appropriate for fiction writing?

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Chicago is what the big US publishers use.

Yup, the Chicago Manual of Style is the one you want (unless you write for newspapers, in which case you want the AP Stylebook). No publications or publishers I know of use Elements of Style as an official guide. Eats, Shoots and Leaves is not a style guide.

I agree, Mumut, that too many errors make you look bad. I just run into so many people who think they should be ashamed they don't know ALL this stuff inside and out. And, as I said, not even editors commit all this stuff to memory.

For anyone who has a relatively good grasp of punctuation and grammar, worrying too much about stuff like capitalization can be a waste of precious time and energy. Better to worry about story and character development than to wonder whether to write "the Beatles" or "The Beatles" since the editor will likely have to look it up anyway.

All about striking a balance, I guess.

June Casagrande said:

Yup, the Chicago Manual of Style is the one you want (unless you write for newspapers, in which case you want the AP Stylebook). No publications or publishers I know of use Elements of Style as an official guide. Eats, Shoots and Leaves is not a style guide.

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I didn't mean they were style guides (if that's the way it was taken); I meant those would probably be good starter books for the original poster, along with a good dictionary. The Chicago Manual is probably more than they need at this point. It wouldn't be my choice if I were just starting to learn punctuation.

When it comes to these issues I do two things.

1. If something comes up that is questionable to me I look it up (Get a good dictionary and thesaurus they are our friends). Still no appropriate answer? Look it up on the net (Google Wikipedia etc...) Still no definitive answer then move on to point 2.

2. When in doubt be consistent if you are going to write "The Beatles" and not "the Beatles" then do this consistently - You'd be surprised sometimes if you write something often enough and enough people read it then it may become the rule (If there isn't a rule then create your own!)

I know this isn't exactly the most literary correct way of doing things, but time is short, we only have one life to live and some of us are here to create others here to edit, a few to criticize and the majority to enjoy others creativity. So don't let the fear of the editors and critics deprive your audience and readers of your creativity!