Q. We have a difference of opinion in my company about the capitalization of defined terms in policy and procedure documents. One group would like to capitalize all defined terms, for example, “All Statements must be mailed on the 3rd of the month.” This is similar to legal documents and would separate the Statement as a specific item from a nondefined version of a statement. The other group feels this is distracting and does not add to comprehension. What does the Oracle of Style say?
Q. When an author refers to a chapter in the text, such as “You can read more about this in chapter 2,” the word “chapter” isn’t capped, I believe, since the title of the chapter isn’t itself “chapter 2” but something else. What about if the author refers to an appendix whose title is “Appendix A”? Thanks heaps.
Q. CMOS says that you’re supposed to capitalize after the colon when the colon introduces (1) a quotation or (2) multiple sentences. But when sentences follow the colon how do you know if they’re sequential enough to warrant the capital? It’s usually really hard to tell.
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.