Capitalize or not?

I see seasons both ways. Pick one and be consistent. It's inconsistency that drives editors nuts.

School years should not be capitalised. Sam was in tenth grade (or fifth year). Mary was in high school. James went to City Heights High School. The latter is a proper noun.

According to the AP style guide seasons are lowercase. If you say someone is in high school you use lower case but if he went to La Salle High School you would capitalize it. If he was in eleventh grade you would use lower case but he would be a Junior with upper case, because it's a title.

I have a query about this sort of thing too, so can I hop aboard this thread?

RJK has used the example of 'Junior' because it's a title. In my YA fantasy I've been calling the king of the land 'the King' (when I'm not referring to him by name) but don't do the same for the prince. Should I capitalise both or neither?

(Thanks in advance!)

RJK said:

If he was in eleventh grade you would use lower case but he would be a Junior with upper case, because it's a title.

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Not according to Merriam-Webster. 'Junior' is no more a title than 'mother', 'doctor', or 'first-grader'. None of these are capitalised when not used as a proper noun.

In general, capitalize if it's used as a name or title; otherwise, use lowercase:

We saw Prince William the other day. Someone asked the Prince for an autograph.

We saw Prince William the other day. He was quite a prince.

Terie said:

Johnny is a first-grader, and his big sister, Mary, is a junior in high school.

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But it would be capitalized if a senior called after her, "Hey, Junior, come over here," right?

maestrowork said:

In general, capitalize if it's used as a name or title; otherwise, use lowercase:

We saw Prince William the other day. Someone asked the Prince for an autograph.

We saw Prince William the other day. He was quite a prince.

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What would you suggest in the following cases:

"I saw my prince the other day."

"May I have an autograph, my prince?"

I've also seen the seasons capitalized but most often when personified, as in "old man Winter bowed to Spring's colorful dress." I'd follow AP and Chicago to keep them lower case.

The problem with capitalization of titles is deciding when it's really a title or a common noun.

Rallying his troops at Nottingham, King Charles gave Prince John command of the archers. Those are properly capitalized titles.

The king gave the prince a command. Those aren't titles any more than the horseman and the caretaker are titles.

heza said:

But it would be capitalized if a senior called after her, "Hey, Junior, come over here," right?

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Well, not really, not in that context. You wouldn't say, 'Hey, Kid, come over here', or 'Hey, Pooch, come here'. It would be, 'Hey, kid, come over here,' or 'Hey, pooch, come here'.

Now, if 'Junior' was the nickname someone went by, then it would be capitalised.

heza said:

What would you suggest in the following cases:

"I saw my prince the other day."

"May I have an autograph, my prince?"

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Lowercase. "My prince" is not a title or a name. It's kind of a term, like "my sweets" or "my mom." You wouldn't capitalize them.

What would you suggest in the following cases:

"I saw my prince the other day."

"May I have an autograph, my prince?"

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I capitalize Sir and Ma'am when used to address somebody directly, so by extension I might be inclined to capitalize Prince in that second instance. The rules aren't really clear to me, but off the cuff I think anything a speaker intends as an honorific ought to be capitalized.

I capitalize the seasons on the same principal as names of months. No personification needed. They're just names.

I vote for don't capitalize the seasons or the high school years. Either way you decide, make sure you're consistent with it.

Remembereth always the Word of Douglas Adams:

"The door was the way to....to....The Door was the Way. Good. Capital letters were the best way of dealing with questions you don't have a good answer to."

I've found that the importance of making something capitalized lies in the impact you want that word to have. To me, capitalizing a word like "The Prince" and making it into a definite article implies someone more grandiose, more central, more definitve than "The prince", which could be anyone, really.

In my manuscript, I capitalize words which take on almost talismanic properties for the society, like saying people have "a Purpose" instead of a "a purpose". Of course, as the Adams quote implies, that can look pretentious and pompous if you do it too much, but my society's already full of itself anyway.

honeybaby said:

I capitalize the seasons on the same principal as names of months. No personification needed. They're just names.

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On your principle, sir or ma'am, as the case may be, we should capitalize all nouns, as in written German. Not a bad plan, but not the same plan as the majority of writers published in the U.S.

Chase said:

we should capitalize all nouns, as in written German.

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Not to mention revolutionary-period writing like Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson.