This question has been sent in by jake, and posted by the grammar exchange. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing book. Writers should replace a construction like any manwoman with any man or woman in their finished work. When listing items one by one, one per line, following a colon, capitalization and ending punctuation are optional when using single words or phrases preceded by letters, numbers, or bullet points. If only one sentence follows a colon, it is up to the writer or editor whether to capitalize the first word of the new sentence. When you use a semicolon in a sentence, is the word after. Anytime you start a new paragraph, you would capitalize the first word.
Most of the grammar books i own only partially address vertical lists. Ask the editor frequently asked style questions ap stylebook. In chicago style, you capitalize the first letter after the colon only when the colon introduces two or more sentences. Its no accident that a semicolon is a period atop a comma. Should you capitalize the first word of a sentence after a. When a colon is used within a sentencethe first word following the colon is lowercased unless it is a proper name. Should the first word after a colon be capitalized.
Semicolon, when to capitalize after a colon posted in blog no comments. Finally, lets talk about whether you capitalize the first word after a colon or a. The most frequent use of a colon is at the end of a sentence to introduce lists, tabulations, texts, etc. For that, i prescribe a pair of em dashes to set off the elements instead. However, they do agree that one should not capitalize the first letter after the colon. If the items in the list are complete sentences, put a period or a question mark at the end of each of themand capitalize the first wordjust as you would do with any sentence.
Olive or coconut oil can be substituted for butter in a vegan cake that is, one made without animal products. Prepositions, articles, and conjunctions arent capitalized unless theyre the first word. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. Capitalization after colons grammar and punctuation. If the first word after a colon in a sentence is a proper name, the pronoun i, or the start of another sentence, capitalize it. If two or more sentences follow the colon in the same paragraph, capitalize the first word of each sentence following. When to capitalize after a colon grammar underground. Semicolons, colons, and parentheses purdue writing lab. But if, for whatever reason, youd like to know when to capitalize after a colon and when not to, heres all you need to know. Youre going to capitalize the first word of the second and third sentences, so you capitalize the first one too so they all look the same. There are many ways to flavor a cakefor example, with vanilla, with lemon or orange zest, or with cinnamon. The virgule is a mark that doesnt appear much in firstrate writing, says bryan a.
When a colon introduces a phrase or an incomplete sentence that is meant to add information to the sentence before it, do not capitalize the first word after the colon unless it is a proper noun. I anticipated this book for weeks while i waited on the library reserve list. It seems that they say a colon may be used after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation. Some writers, editors, and publishers choose not to capitalize words following hyphens unless they are proper nouns or proper adjectives exmarine but exhusband. Experts have raised valid concerns that people overuse lists in powerpoint presentations 1 and for presenting. Colons, copy editing, grammar, punctuation, when to capitalize after a colon this entry was posted on monday, may 22nd, 2017 at 4. Should the first word of the clause or phrase following a colon be capitalized. One of my favorite old grammar books, titled punctuate it right, has. Capitalize the first word of the title, the last word of the title, and all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, subordinating conjunctions, and a few conjunctions. If each point is a complete sentence, capitalize the first word and end the sentence with appropriate ending punctuation. Since no one really knows how to handle this issue, youll at least have something to fall back on.
Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence. In american english, styles differ, but it is best to capitalize. When a colon introduces a phrase or an incomplete sentence that is meant to add information to the sentence before it, do not capitalize the first word after the colon. A colon is used after a salutation greeting in a formal letter. Im more prone to use uppercase depending if i want a sharper demarcation between what precedes and follows the colon, and a lower case if i want a smoother flow. Yes, theres a difference between dashes, colons, and. Do not capitalize the title if it is used after a name or instead of a name. Capitalize titles when they are used before names, unless the title is followed by a comma. Welcome to ask the editor, a forum on writing, style and phrasing issues that go beyond the pages of the ap stylebook. English grammar, punctuation and capitalization kindle edition. If what follows the colon is a series of sentences, then you should capitalize the first letter of the first word in them all. Or maybe thats just my own association, since i kept my own book in the bathroom. Colons and semicolons should never be used interchangeably.
Grammar girl high school would be capitalized because its a speci. If the word that comes after a colon or semicolon is a proper name, you definitely would capitalize it. Is it proper to use a colon if there is only one clause or phrase. After a verb of saying capitalize the first letter if the quotation appears after a verb of saying, regardless of the case used in the sourcebut flag any alterations you make. Or maybe thats just my own association, since i kept my own book in the bathroom and read it in bits and pieces. The colon is being used as part of a heading or title. Grammar girl breaks down when and how to use colons, including when formatting lists. The items are not capitalized except for proper nouns. When to use a capital letter after a colon grammar. The train is scheduled to arrive fortyfive minutes late. A colon can be used to separate two independent clauses when a the second clause is directly related to the first clause not just vaguely related and b when the emphasis is on the second clause. Capitalizing words after a colon in a sentence grammar. One of my favorite old grammar books, titled punctuate it right, has a. Capitalization rules can be extremely difficult to master, and there are a number of common capitalization errors that our proofreaders and editors come across time and time again.
Like commas, semicolons indicate an audible pauseslightly longer than a commas, but short of a periods full stop. Also, in your example, a colon might be a better choice than a semicolon. Also, learn the rules for spacing and capitalization after a colon. Basics according to most style guides, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are the only words capitalized in titles of books, articles, and songs. Whether to capitalize or lowercase the first letter of the first word of a quotation depends on how the quotation is integrated into your prose and what appears in the original. Do not use a colon after for example, that is, and namely. Alice remains capitalized, and so does missouri, but north would not. We decided another form of recognition might be more agreeable to wilson. Do you capitalize the word after a colon and a semicolon. Were you taught to put two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence.
Notice in the previous sentence that the second high school isnt capitalized because it isnt the name of a speci. It should be lowercase, unless of course the word after the semicolon always needs an initial capital for example, because its a proper name. You can follow any responses to this entry through the rss 2. If each point is a complete sentence, capitalize the first word and end. Dashes, colons, and commas grammar girl quick and dirty tips. You never capitalize after semicolons except with proper nouns or words such as i, which are always capitalized.
A dash doesnt require any extra thought regarding capitalization. Lose the colon before a subtitle, or secondary title, when the title is displayed on a book cover or movie poster. Erika suffern is the head of book publications at the mla. You treat the first word after a dash the same way youd treat it if it followed a comma. Prepositions are only capitalized if they are used adjectivally or adverbially. Generally, the first word after a colon is not capitalized. Dont add anything else to a sentence after youve finished introducing the elements. So in apa style, you can use a colon only after a complete sentence, and you capitalize the first word after a colon when its the start of a complete sentence.
Ebook on english grammar, punctuation and capitalization. When a colon introduces two or more sentencesor when it introduces a speech in dialogue or an extractthe first word following it is capitalized. Capitalization after colons chicago style and mla style. The chicago manual of style chicago style and mla style from the modern language association recommend lowercasing the first word of a sentence after a colon unless the colon precedes multiple closely related sentences, in which case the first word should be capitalized. Colons punctuation rules the blue book of grammar and. Dashes, colons, and commas can change the way your sentences feel. If you dont know whether to capitalize a noun, see if it names a speci. A semi colon combines two independent clauses into one compound sentence, and it is now just one sentence. A number of other punctuation marks are used less frequently, but still play important roles in english writing. However, most slashes canand shouldbe removed from a final draft. Punctuation, capitalization, and writing numbers mastery test. There may indeed be a sentence after the colon, but the original sentence has not ended yet. If the stuff introduced by the colon is not a complete sentence, dont capitalize the first letter that is, of course, unless its a proper name. Unlike the use of commas to combine very short sentences, semicolons are used for combining relatively longer sentences.
This pretty much echoes the guidance given by sites such as grammar girl, cccf, grammarbook, unc writing center. Do not capitalize the first item after the colon unless its a proper noun. In british english, the word following a colon is not capitalized unless it is a proper noun or an acronym. If only one sentence follows the colon, do not capitalize the first word of the new sentence. The first three chapters give a history of the semi colon and a summary of how grammar rules evolved in the us. Read more12 capitalization rules most people dont know. Capitalize the first word of the title, the last word of the title, and all principal words thats essentially the same parts of speech i just listednouns, verbs and so on, and all words longer than three letters. Because your second example uses a capital h after the semicolon, it suggests that youre talking about god. In addition, if youre quoting someone after a colon, they open their speech or text with a capital letter. Ap editor david minthorn fields questions of widest interest posed by subscribers to the online ap stylebook. Only the chicago manual of style gives the topic the respect it deserves. If only one sentence follows the colon, it is usually unnecessary to capitalize the first word of the new sentence.
After that, it looked like the author was trying to make a book out of an essay. If two or more sentences follow the colon, capitalize the first word of each sentence following. With the exception of proper nouns, it is amazing to see capitals in the middle of a sentence, and very unusual to be polite in fact, highly irregular to see experts accepting it, even if apparently sanctioned by certain style guides and. When a colon introduces a list of of things, do not capitalize the first word after the colon unless it is a proper noun. There are no set rules, except to always capitalize the first element, even if it would not otherwise be capitalized, such as to in my togo order some would write my togo order. Grammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide for students. Finally, lets talk about whether you capitalize the first word after a colon or a dash. No, not unless it is a word that would always be capitalized. Heres what chicago says about capitalizing after a colon.
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