the Plague or The Plague?
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Why do you need to capitalize "Plague"? To what does it refer? What is the context of its usage?
caw
caw
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Blacbird's question is valid. According to Merriam-Webster, it's the plague, the bubonic plague, or black death. None of it really needs to be capitalized any more than whooping cough or the measles.
In general, names of diseases are not capitalized unless they contain a proper name, such as Crohn's disease. So, it's the plague.
This seems a little odd to me, though, because depending on the context, "plague" can mean several different things. It can also refer to either the illness the bubonic plague or a historical pandemic.
Also, I've seen the Black Death capitalized as well. If you're using it as another term for bubonic plague, then I guess "black death" would make sense, but if I was talking about the pandemic in the 1300s, my instinct would be to capitalize it.
My instinct is that it depends on if you're talking about the illness ("Mary caught the plague") or the historical pandemic in Europe ("The population of Europe plummeted during the Plague" or "The Black Death was a horrible time in history").
When you see "the Plague" (capital P) it's usually a reference to the Black Death of the 1300s, & the reference is normally clear from the context.
It can also, I suppose, refer to some fictional incident, which would also have to be clear from the context.
Re the original question - no, you don't capitalize "the" unless it's actually part of the name. If "The Plague" is the title of a book you capitalize The when you're mentioning the book by name.
It can also, I suppose, refer to some fictional incident, which would also have to be clear from the context.
Re the original question - no, you don't capitalize "the" unless it's actually part of the name. If "The Plague" is the title of a book you capitalize The when you're mentioning the book by name.
If you are referring to a specific outbreak, capitalize the name: The Great Plague for example. If you are calling a specific outbreak "The Plague", then use caps on both words. Capitalizing the name of the disease is optional.
Not if it's an informal noun, used in a generic context. You could never capitalize "cold" or "flu", for example, if you were using it generically. Ditto "plague".
My questions, still unanswered by the originator of this thread, were intended to get to the issue of whether or not the word was being used in an informal generic or formal specific sense.
caw
Yes, as others have said, if it's any old plague, don't capitalize at all. Generally, if you capitalize the Plague (I'd never capitalize "the"), you're referring to the plague that decimated Europe in the 1300s (actually it was worse than decimation, which technically denotes ten percent losses, but whatever).
It's kind of like the Reformation or the Revolution, which are not capitalized unless specifying particular events.
It's kind of like the Reformation or the Revolution, which are not capitalized unless specifying particular events.
The reason I'm asking is regarding a fictional period of history in my book so"
the Civil War
or
the Great Depression
correct?
the Civil War
or
the Great Depression
correct?
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Those are formal nouns referring to specific events. Note first that you do not capitalize the article in either case.
As for capitalizing the noun, you need to establish that the reference is to a particular individual event, like "the Plague of 1348." There have been lots of "plagues" in human history.
And if you're referring to the 1348 catastrophe, it's generally called, in formal terms, "the Black Death". If you establish that name, afterwards you can simply refer to "the plague" in the informal, and your reference will be clear to any reader.
But you have to establish context, which you did not do in the OP.
caw
caw
"The" may or may not be part of the name, analogously with book titles, or names of other things, that start with "The" or are simply called "the Black Death". Contrast that with "The Plague of 2014".