Q. This is the title of a section heading. Should it be “The Importance of Well-Written Reports” or “The Importance of Well-written Reports”? Should we capitalize “written”?
Q. What would you say to a translator who says that an author’s use of all caps for EMPHASIS should stand? I tried to invoke house style but she is claiming it is, well, LITERARY. I’d like to explain to the author and translator this looks AMATEUR at best, and to say, look, WE JUST DON’T DO THAT.
A. If it’s not a lot of text, I would just put it in small caps without discussing it further. If it’s a lot, I would press on in my arguments, e.g., “I feel I must more strenuously insist on the use of italics for emphasis instead of all caps. Chicago style avoids the use of artificial emphasis in any form, including italics, which are sometimes perceived by readers as a writer’s crutch and (heaven forbid) a result of careless editing. We are also conscious of the wide influence of email etiquette, in which the use of all caps is criticized as the equivalent of shouting. I’m afraid there is rarely a place for all capitals in published work these days.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I work for a company that every two or three years puts out what it refers to as a medium-term management plan. When we refer to this plan in running text, such as in our annual report and in-house publications, should we treat this as an essay and place quotation marks around the name, as a notice and use capitalized headline style, or as a freestanding publication requiring italics?
A. Someone gets to decide and tell everyone else. It can be recorded in your house style guide so everyone in the company treats it the same way. (You have a house style guide, right?)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Help! I’m teaching a grammar and usage class to my coworkers. I was sailing along, pointing out that
it’s correct to use a lowercase s when referring to Washington the state. My next sentence, however, used capitals in this way: “the
City of Olympia.” I did so, I admit, out of habit. So when does a name become official? Thank you.
A. If you are talking about the official powers of the city or state (the authorities who can sign contracts and pass laws)
or the exact geographical entity, uppercase.
The City of Chicago regularly auctions used vehicles and equipment.
The new school is not technically located within the Village of Victor.
The state of Illinois has many tourist attractions.
Obviously there will be times when the meaning is blurred, and in those cases be sure to keep track of your choices in order
to maintain consistency.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Some years ago my advisor in college drummed into my head that the titles of tables appear above the table, and titles of
figures should go below the figure. Can you verify this? Thanks.
A. Partly. Chicago style puts the table title at the top (please see chapter 3) because often tables have other matter that
appears below (sources, notes). Often, too, qualifying information essential for interpreting the table (measures, dates,
etc.) appears in the title, so it makes sense to put it at the top where the reader will see it first. A figure caption can
go above, below, or on the side of the figure. Its placement is usually a design decision, not an editorial one.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. We are preparing a publication on imperialism and are doing our best to follow CMOS’s instruction that “words denoting political divisions . . . are capitalized when they follow a name and are used as an accepted part of the name” (paragraph 8.51). And so we have “the Ottoman Empire,” “the Roman Empire,” “the American empire,” “the Japanese empire,” etc. But we are concerned that such a treatment, in the scope of the whole publication, may appear inconsistent or preferential. (Is it, after all, the British “Empire” or “empire”?) Do you think it would be acceptable in this context to use the lowercase “empire” in all instances? Of course, even as I put that question to you, writing “the Ottoman empire” doesn’t seem quite right. We would be grateful for any advice you might have on this point.
A. Although we often bend a rule for the sake of “regional consistency,” you risk confusion by tampering with a fairly strong tradition of capping officially recognized territories subject to an emperor or a king or queen. It’s doubtful that many readers would think it inconsistent to cap the British Empire and lowercase the American empire, when the intended meanings of the words are different.
If you choose not to make a distinction, you may appear to be making a political statement—perhaps less preferable to appearing to be inconsistent.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. My question relates specifically to the term “world-class” and how it is used
at my firm. Essentially, the term “world-class” is core to our value proposition,
our products and deliverables, and our marketing material. Since this term is very special, we wonder if it is okay to capitalize
in the middle of a sentence: “In order for a firm to achieve World-class performance . . .”
Our inclination is to always capitalize the W and not the C. Finally, can we exercise our judgment, and just decide how it
should appear in all instances regardless of common standards, given the special nature of this term to our business?
A. Chicago editors would not approve of capping a regular word midsentence (even such a very special one), but we’re
not editing marketing copy. CMOS is not primarily aimed at that sort of content, and it’s not always appropriate for marketers to apply
Chicago guidelines. You might put together a house style sheet so everyone’s on the same page with signature
style decisions like the one you cite.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hello, my name is Brett and I work for a law enforcement agency in Arizona. My colleagues and I were having a discussion
about what does and does not get capitalized in our reports pertaining to laws and arrest charges. I am seeking your guidance
on this subject. Could you tell me what gets capitalized and what does not get capitalized in the following sentence: “John
Doe was arrested for ADC Parole Violation Warrant 03W3250, Theft of Means of Transportation and Unlawful Flight from Law Enforcement.”
Some say the sentence is correct as is; however, others say that the letters in the arrest charges should not be capitalized.
Could you please assist me in this matter? Thank you for your help.
A. It’s heartwarming that Arizona law enforcers are taking care with capitalization! Your sentence is
fine as it is, although it wouldn’t be wrong to lowercase everything. If you and your colleagues feel
there should be consistency in these matters, you could agree on a house style and keep a list of examples. While Chicago
style tends to prefer lowercasing in general, there are good reasons to uppercase the titles of laws and charges—it
helps the reader know where the title begins and ends and makes it stand out in the text, so it’s quickly
found if someone is skimming for it.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When referring to a movie or book title while posting to internet newsgroups, it’s generally impossible to indicate with italics or underscoring. I usually use all upper-case letters (THE LORD OF THE RINGS, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, for example). What does CMOS suggest?
A. Notwithstanding the tradition among publishers of presenting book titles in full capitals in industry correspondence, interdepartmental memos, and the like—the practice was popular because it saved time on typewriters that required extra keystrokes for underscoring—we recommend avoiding all capitals to express titles that would otherwise be italicized. Instead, use the underscore key (type Shift plus the hyphen key on standard keyboards) when italic type is unavailable:
When I first read _The History of the Siege of Lisbon_, I was so grateful to discover a book about a proofreader that Saramago’s hypnotic stringing together of sentences nearly sent me into an ecstatic trance.
Sometimes asterisks rather than the underscore key are used to express emphasis (e.g., I can’t *stand* one more day of separation from you), but asterisks can be more strictly interpreted as indicating boldface.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When I refer to the government of the United States in text, should it be US Federal Government or US federal government?
A. The government of the United States is not a single official entity. Nor is it when it is referred to as the federal government
or the US government or the US federal government. It’s just a government, which, like those in all
countries, has some official bodies that act and operate in the name of government: the Congress, the Senate, the Department
of State, etc.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]