Q. I doubt I will have the power to change this, but coworkers have insisted that common nouns like “incidents” and “requests” be capitalized in all communications because they are capitalized in the original contract. So folks are to “report Incidents or submit Requests,” and “high-priority Incidents” must be reported a certain way. I think the capitalization is unnecessary. Is it correct? I really just want personal and internal vindication, but I’d accept being corrected.
Q. I’m editing a textbook that references a play. Should it be “Act 3,” “act three,” or “act 3”? A solution to this mystery would be greatly appreciated. I’ve looked at CMOS a hundred times for help with this issue.
Q. If etc. falls at the end of a title of a work, should it be capitalized or left lowercased? The argument against capitalization is that the et part of the abbreviation is a conjunction and the c part represents the final word (cetera). No one here argues for etC., of course, but my argument is that once et cetera is abbreviated to etc. the two words become one, so that etc. is therefore the last word, not the last two words, in the headline or title, and that it should be capitalized as Etc.
Q. For front matter, we have eleven or twelve endorsements from prominent deans, presidents, and directors of various international programs. I realize that we generally leave those titles lowercased unless we’re talking about a Named Chair of So and So, but this one is killing me: Senior Fellow at the Blah-Blah Institute. Should I lowercase “senior fellow”?
Q. Hi. I’m trying to find out if you should always initial cap a subsequent reference of a proper noun when the full name is not used. The specific term in question is Rock of Cashel. On second reference, where this is referred to as “the rock,” I don’t want to cap it, but the author of the piece does. I looked at the Q&A and CMOS but didn’t see a specific reference so I felt better to ask.
Q. I am an editor of a nineteenth-century writer’s manuscripts. We are trying to determine whether we should regularize certain capitalizations, as they are not consistent even within contemporary editions and impressions; the manuscripts provide hardly any evidence because we cannot tell whether the writer’s letters are capped or lowercased. Problems include North/north, South/south, Union/union, etc. It is our feeling that since we are dealing with no clear pattern, even within an edition, we should probably retain copy-text renderings, and include justification for this choice in our textual introduction. Any insights? Many thanks.
Q. Can you revisit the issue of capitalization of “city of” and “state of” when used to identify an employer? Under 7.40 in the 14th edition, words such as “city” and “state” “are capitalized when they are used as an accepted part of the proper name.” Presumably you mean accepted by the powers of CMOS. In my example, Jan Johnson works for the (c)ity of Johnsonville, and I would like to offer her recognition in a conference brochure along with Rick Ricker of the state department of transportation. Suffice to say that heated debate is generated when one questions the way things always have been done.
Q. When should the word “century” be capitalized? I know it would not be capitalized in this case: “It’s not happened in this century.” But what about this: “Were many people rich in the eighteenth century?” or “What did people wear in eighteenth-century Pennsylvania?”
Q. My grammar books say to cap the first word of what comes after a colon if what comes after the colon is a complete sentence. I noticed you didn’t do that. (“Check it out in printed books and magazines and newspapers: you probably won’t find any double periods after abbreviations.”)
Q. Throughout a book I am editing, there are numerous references to rules and laws that the author defines, for example, the Law of Cause and Effect, the Rules of the Game. She also capitalizes other words that are normally lowercased: Light (as in “toward the Light”) and Habit (when referring to a behavior that keeps us from following the rules of the game). I realize that she is capitalizing to place an emphasis on these words and make them stand out, but I am not entirely comfortable with this. Do you have any suggestions?