mom, dad, aunty et al

http://www.libraryonline.com/default.asp?pID=48

Page down to Names/Persons.

Well, I'm definitely not wise, but dad, mom, mum, and aunt aren't proper nouns, so they shouldn't be capitalized. Unless you're addressing that person(ETA: just looked that up).

If aunt is used in a sentence such as: My aunt lives in Texas. Then no capitalization, however if it's used like this: My Aunt Joan went to the market. Then it's part of the name and should be capitalized.

I think that's right, but I could be wrong.

night-flyer said:

My Aunt Joan went to the market. Then it's part of the name and should be capitalized.

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I can certainly see the confusion in the example above. Technically, however, putting "my" in front of "aunt" makes it a common noun.

Those exact words might be more correctly punctuated:

My aunt, Joan, went to the market.

To keep the name intact, as well as the capitalization, you'd need to write:

Aunt Joan went to the market.

or

You'd still keep the capital in the middle of a sentence, such as Grandma and Aunt Joan went to the market.

Chase said:

I can certainly see the confusion in the example above. Technically, however, putting "my" in front of "aunt" makes it a common noun.

Those exact words might be more correctly punctuated:

My aunt, Joan, went to the market.

To keep the name intact, as well as the capitalization, you'd need to write:

Aunt Joan went to the market.

or

You'd still keep the capital in the middle of a sentence, such as Grandma and Aunt Joan went to the market.

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Nooooot exactly. There is nothing grammatically wrong with saying, "My Aunt Joan went to the market." This, technically, is identifying Joan as, "Aunt Joan" as in a proper name. It may be confusing to the uninitiated but it is still correct. Generally speaking, just remember that titles of address should be lower case unless being used as part of a proper name.
"Mum cooked dinner."
"My mum likes tart cherries."
"Cousin Clara thinks he's silly."
"My cousin, Clara, will be going to Germany."

Chase said:

I can certainly see the confusion in the example above. Technically, however, putting "my" in front of "aunt" makes it a common noun.

Those exact words might be more correctly punctuated:

My aunt, Joan, went to the market.

To keep the name intact, as well as the capitalization, you'd need to write:

Aunt Joan went to the market.

or

You'd still keep the capital in the middle of a sentence, such as Grandma and Aunt Joan went to the market.

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I would keep the capital on Aunt in "My Aunt Joan went to the market." After all, you might also have an Aunt Mary and an Aunt Guinevere and an Aunt Hildegard, etc. The change proposed here works only if there is only one possible aunt.

TheWordsmith said:

Nooooot exactly. There is nothing grammatically wrong with saying, "My Aunt Joan went to the market."

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Welllll, yeeeees it is written incorrectly in your example. While it's true one can say, "My Aunt Joan went to the market" without problem, to be correctly written, it must be "My aunt, Joan, went to the market."

You seemed to think so, too, when your correctly wrote:

TheWordsmith said:

"Cousin Clara thinks he's silly."
"My cousin, Clara, will be going to Germany."

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Lil said:

I would keep the capital on Aunt in "My Aunt Joan went to the market." After all, you might also have an Aunt Mary and an Aunt Guinevere and an Aunt Hildegard, etc. The change proposed here works only if there is only one possible aunt.

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I really do see the slight difference and am nit-picking for discussion. I'm blessed with Aunt Grace, Aunt Dorothy, Aunt Vera, Aunt Ethel, Aunt Syble, Aunt Bonita, and Aunt Stella Jean.

They're my aunts. Another way of calling roll in writing: I regularly visited my aunts Grace, Dot, Vera, Ethel, Syble, Bonnie, and Jean (who kills if called Stella).

It's only capitalized if it's used with their name or in place of their name. For example, "you're my father, Father," or "I went to the store with my aunt, Aunt Sue."

"Aunt Joan went to the market."
"Wait... your Aunt Joan or my Aunt Joan?"
"My Aunt Joan. Yours is napping."

Uncle! I give.

If 'Aunt' is used in place of a proper name, it should be capitalized.
"Is Aunt coming for dinner?"

Chase said:

Welllll, yeeeees it is written incorrectly in your example. While it's true one can say, "My Aunt Joan went to the market" without problem, to be correctly written, it must be "My aunt, Joan, went to the market."

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If the speaker has only one aunt, then you are correct that the commas are necessary. However, if the speaker has more than one aunt, the name is a necessary part of the sentence and should not be set off by commas. Then you'd say:

My aunt Joan went to the market.


This is a matter of style and not grammar. I'm basing my capitalization on the Chicago Manual of Style (8.35, 16th edition; 8.39, 15th edition):

Kinship names are lowercased unless they immediately precede a personal name or are used alone, in place of a personal name. Used in apposition, however, such names are lowercased.

She adores her aunt Maud.

RIFF said:

If 'Aunt' is used in place of a proper name, it should be capitalized. "Is Aunt coming for dinner?"

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Hmmm. The capitalization above seems as riffraffed as the use of quotation marks.

absitinvidia said:

My aunt Joan went to the market.

This is a matter of style and not grammar. I'm basing my capitalization on the Chicago Manual of Style (8.35, 16th edition; 8.39, 15th edition):

Kinship names are lowercased unless they immediately precede a personal name or are used alone, in place of a personal name. Used in apposition, however, such names are lowercased.

She adores her aunt Maud.

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I like your style.

Lil said:

I would keep the capital on Aunt in "My Aunt Joan went to the market." After all, you might also have an Aunt Mary and an Aunt Guinevere and an Aunt Hildegard, etc. The change proposed here works only if there is only one possible aunt.

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saying 'My Aunt Joan went to the market.' Is like saying 'My Sally went to the market.'
If the character the speaker is addressing also has an Aunt Jone this would be appropriate. My X as opposed to your X, or his X.

If there is only one Aunt Jone in question I would use 'My aunt, Jone. or Aunt Jone. Either makes it perfectly clear that Jone is an aunt and not Guinevere or Hildegarde.

Correct. According to various manuals here which I pulled out to be sure.
Aunt Joan, Aunt Fred.... both capitals on a proper name.
and "Is Uncle an axe-murderer?" implies same so caps it is.

Rhubix said:

saying 'My Aunt Joan went to the market.' Is like saying 'My Sally went to the market.'

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Not quite, and there's no problem with the saying; the problem arises in the writing). Your comparison should be it's like writing "My sister Sally went to the market."

As I said before, I see the fine lines, but there's more than one way to skin a cat . . . in this case, an aunt.

RIFF said:

Correct. According to various manuals here which I pulled out to be sure.
Aunt Joan, Aunt Fred.... both capitals on a proper name.

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Of course we'll find the general capitalization of Aunt Joan and your weird Aunt Fred as we've written. The discussion is capitalization in special circumstances.

RIFF said:

Correct. According to various manuals here which I pulled out to be sure.
Aunt Joan, Aunt Fred.... both capitals on a proper name.

"Is Uncle an axe-murderer?" implies same so caps it is.

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The example above only implies the speaker has one uncle, whom everyone calls "Uncle," just as the speaker calls his or her father "Dad." If the "my" is used, then it's: "Is my uncle an axe-murderer?" and caps it isn't.

Right. Just like in this book...written by a guy with a bunch letters behind his name.
He has various universal degrees, it's in a book, has to be right, Uncle.

Geeze. Nevermind.

Heza, if you can't decide if we're saying the same thing, then the discussion is indeed moot. As with lots of capitalization, it seems to depend on the specific context and circumstances. One size doesn't fit all. Thanks for your research and lively discussion. It all makes good sense.

Unlike gradeschool documentation and discussion: "in this book...written by a guy with a bunch letters behind his name" and "it's in a book, has to be right." Hilarious, you guys and your unnamed books with all the answers.

BUK

Dispose of the commas and we can just sweep it under the table. Just like that.)
My professor Smith has disappeared. Or is it-
My, professor, Smith has skarpered. Or-
My, aunt Joan has entered.

I want those commas in there, somewhere.
I'm of the opinion that if understanding doesn't suffer, you can leave out superfluous commas).
Okay, all righty, yes, fine, I agree, I concede- but you can always leave out superfluos commas, by definition.
Are these commas truly superfluos, or are they just masquerading, in an attempt to increase the rampant spread of bad grammar?

RIFF said:

I'm of the opinion that if understanding doesn't suffer, you can leave out superfluous commas.

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This just gets curiouser and curiouser. Of course superfluous commas should be left out. Superfluous means "not needed, unnecessary, irrelevant."

The first grammar manual I pulled from the shelf, the Harbrace Handbook, devotes Chapter 12 to defining the five necessary commas. Then Chapter 13, "Superfluous Commas," covers the way too many unnecessary commas.

Sometimes preaching over-simplistic basics merely ticks off the choir.