Q. Hello. I wonder where in the CMOS might lie hidden the answer to the following question: Should I refer readers to “Table 1, in contrast to Tables 2 and 3,” or to “Table 1, in contrast to tables 2 and 3”? In other words, should all items in a numbered series such as tables, sections, chapters, etc., be capitalized in such references? A minipoll among colleagues has yielded mixed results; hence my appeal to the Ultimate Authority in Such Matters.
A. We have very sneakily hidden it in paragraph 3.51. It is also hidden in the index under “tables: numbering 1.63, 2.34, 2.72, 3.51, 3.55, 15.39.”