Capitals | Page 4

Lincoln
Park Transportation Building.
The same rule as to capitalization of the generic name holds here as in
the preceding section. The usual tendency to drop capitals is at work
here and newspapers now write Washington street and Federal
building. It is very probable that the capitals will finally be dropped
from the generic terms wherever used.
Printers should keep a careful watch on the usage of the best offices so
as to keep advised as to the progress of these changes.
c. Nouns, and adjectives derived from them designating recognized
geographical divisions of a country or of the world.
East, West, North, South, Westerner, Oriental.
When these words are used in their ordinary significance of mere
direction or location they are not capitalized except that in writing of
Biblical history we speak of the Northern Kingdom and the Southern
Kingdom into which Solomon's territory was split after his death.
16. Generic terms for political divisions.
a. When the term is part of the name and directly follows it.
Holy Roman Empire British Empire Northwest Territory Queen's
County.
b. When it is used with the preposition of in such phrases as Borough of
the Bronx, Department of the Gulf.
c. When part of a nickname, The Crescent City, the Buckeye State, the
City of Brotherly Love.

Be careful not to capitalize such words when they are not an actual part
of the name. French Republic is the name of the county, exactly
translating Republique Francaise, but American republic is not such a
name. You would write State of New York in a legal document in which
the state would be considered as a corporate person, but in ordinary
references it would be state of New York.
17. The days of the week and the months of the year, but not the
seasons unless personified.
Monday the fifth of August. April is the first month of spring. Spring,
beautiful Spring.
But write ten o'clock, nine a.m., ten p.m.
18. Festivals and historic or famous days.
Easter Day Fast Day Independence Day Black Friday.
19. Stars, planets, constellations, and the like, except sun, moon, stars,
earth.
Mars, the Milky Way, the Pleiades.
20. Ordinal numbers used to designate numbered political divisions,
sessions of Congress, names of regiments, Egyptian dynasties, and the
like.
Second Congressional District, First Ward, Ninth Precinct, Forty-third
Congress, Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, Fifth Dynasty.
21. Names of genera but not of species: except that in botanical and
zoölogical copy the species may be capitalized if derived from a proper
name.
Agaricus campestris Parkinsonia Torreyana Pterygomatopus schmidti,
(Medical).
The English derivatives from these scientific words are not capitalized.

We write of the agarics, the felids, the carnivores, etc.
22. Father, mother, and other words denoting relationship when used
with a proper name or without a personal pronoun.
I saw Aunt Lucy and Cousin Charles. I saw my aunt Lucy and my
cousin Charles. I have received a letter from my mother. I have
received a letter from Mother.
23. Names of political parties and of philosophical, literary, and artistic
schools, and their adherents.
Republican, National Liberal, Social Democrats, Stoics (but
neo-Platonism, pseudo-Christianity, etc.) the Lake school, the
Romantic movement, the Symbolic school of painters.
24. Political and historical designations which have been much used
and have come to have special significances such as names of leagues,
parties, classes, movements, and the like.
Holy Alliance, Dreibund, Roundheads, Independents, Reformation,
Dissenter.
25. Names of well-known historic epochs, periods in the history of
language, and geological ages and strata. The word "age" is not
capitalized except when necessary to avoid ambiguity.
Stone age, Middle Ages, Age of Elizabeth, Crusades, Commune (of
Paris), Middle English, Neolithic.
26. Names of important events.
Hundred Years War, Battle of Trenton, Louisiana Purchase, Norman
Conquest.
27. Names of specific treaties, important laws, and the like.
Peace of Amiens, Edict of Nantes, Concordat, Emancipation
Proclamation, Fourteenth Amendment.

28. Names of governmental bodies and departments and their branches
when specifically designated.
Congress, the Senate, the Board of Aldermen, the House of Commons,
the Committee on Education.
Care must be taken to distinguish between these specific references and
general uses of the same word.
The state legislature of Massachusetts is officially termed the General
Court. The matter was referred to the War Department but was sent
back on the ground that it belonged to another department.
29. The official titles of corporations, organizations, and institutions,
social, religious, educational, political, business, and the like.
Knights Templars, Knights of Columbus, Associated Charities, Cook
County Normal School, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
In long titles, like the last example given, the important words are
capitalized as in book titles (see Sec. 31). Use capitals when referring
to such organizations by initials, C. R. I. & P. R. R. Here