Capitals, Y, G, W, as per Rule 1.

Capitals, A and M; for here are two sentences, although one is included in the other.

Capital C, by Rule 1; but the included words of Cain being brought in obliquely, no capital is required.

C and T are put up, by Rule 1.

O and N are put up, by Rule 1.

F and T are put up, by Rule 1.

It has been said, that the included sentence should not be capitalized unless immediately preceded by a colon: but the {p173} above examples show, that a sentence directly introduced must be capitalized, whatever point precedes it,—comma, comma-dash, colon, or any other pause-mark.

Initial capital H, by Rule 1.

Here are three initial capitals, and properly; for the reply, fully expressed, would be, “You are arrested on suspicion.”

So, also, captions, head-lines, side-heads, etc., being imperfect sentences, fall under Rule 1. The same is true of particulars depending from a general heading; as—

We have remarked above, on the passage from Genesis, that a sentence introduced obliquely requires no capital. In the following example, whether Sparta should be inclosed with walls is an indirect question, and is not capitalized; while the answer, being direct, takes a capital.

Kerl’s rule (Grammar, p. 41) is “Within a sentence, the first word of any important beginning may commence with a capital letter.” This rule is probably as precise as can be framed to meet his first example, “Resolved, That our Senators be requested, etc.” His second example, “One truth is clear: Whatever is, is right,” falls within his rule, and our Rule 1. (See page 81, for cap­i­tal­iz­ing, etc., preambles, resolutions, provisos, etc.) {p174}

When a sentence is introduced obliquely, a capital is not required, even if the passage introduced have quotation marks, and make perfect sense without the introductory prefix, as in the following example:

But in reprinting ancient hymns, etc., follow the ancient style,—as in the following from the Bible printed in London by Robert Barker, in 1615:

The President of the United States, the Sovereign of England, and the Governors of the several States of our Union, issue proclamations. Despots issue edicts,—sometimes called by the more general name of “decrees,” as in Ezra 6 : 1, 3. From Esther 1 : 19–22 we learn that a “royal commandment” was sent into all the king’s provinces, “that every man should bear rule in his own house.” If any of our readers have occasion to put in type, or read the proof of, the title of an edict or decree, they will, of course, make it agree with the rule. Of proclamations we have several every year. Frequently all the letters of the titles are capitals; otherwise, the capitals appear as in the following example:

In a monograph of a geological survey the following paragraph appears:

Webster says, that the Carboniferous age “embraces three periods, the Subcarboniferous, the Carboniferous, and the Permian,” but the Fifth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Survey, doubtless for some good reason, changes the style to the sub-Carboniferous (v. remark under Rule 8, on “transatlantic,” etc.).

The main subject under discussion being Woman Suffrage, those words were properly capitalized in the following paragraph:

In accordance with Rule 3 was this direction touching a Report on Education:

Spell “report” with capital R, when it refers to this Report; l. c. [lower-case] in other cases.

Presidential, imperial, kingly, ducal, etc., titles are put down when used generally, but are put up when applied to persons. In the following example “an emperor” is down, while “the Emperor” is put up.

We forbear inserting a list of the sacred names, too often written and uttered “in vain.” The reader is probably {p177} familiar with them from listening to Sabbath services, and reading religious books with which, we hope, his library abounds.

The word “providence” should be put down or up, according to its meaning, as may be seen in the two following sentences:

Nouns ordinarily common become proper when written as names of the Supreme Being.

In the above examples, the effect of capitals in conveying the idea of personality is strikingly illustrated.

Pronouns referring to the Deity are not usually put up,—excepting the personals “He,” “Him.”

Thou, whose, thine, thy, properly lower-case.

Usage is ununiform as to cap­i­tal­iz­ing the pronoun of the third person, when referring to the Deity; some using the capital in all three cases (He, His, Him), while others capitalize the nominative and objective, and put “his” down; and still others put all the cases down.

Small letter in the possessive, capital in the objective: {p178}

All the cases down:

But, whatever the style of the office, there is one category in which the personal pronoun must be capitalized: it is when no antecedent is expressed. Such cases are not of infrequent occurrence. If one were to write—

the meaning would be doubtful; “him” might refer to some humane relative, or to the superintendent of the almshouse. But if the sentence were written—

the meaning—that the Deity is intended—becomes clear.

Adjuncts qualifying names applied to Deity usually require no capitals:

Here “all-sufficient” is properly put down; as are also “great” and “common” in the following paragraph:

But many cases occur where the adjective is properly put up; especially if the adjective itself denotes sacredness, as the following examples show:

The words “Christian” and “Christianity” the best usage puts up; nor does there seem to be any good reason why “christianize” should not also be capitalized.

There are instances where the word “divine,” though referring to sacred personages, should not be put up; as—

The words “godly,” “godfather,” “godmother” are put down: Webster has “godspeed,” and says it is “written also as two separate words, as in 2 John 10.” Worcester does not admit the phrase as one word in his defining columns, but prints it as two, under the word “God”; quoting the same text as Webster. The Congressional Record, 50th Congress, uses capital and hyphen, thus: “God-speed”; and this form is adopted by Abbot Bassett, the talented editor of the L. A. W. Bulletin, in his Farewell to former Chief Consul Hayes:

Still Webster’s style of one word, lower-case, is, we think, preferable, and most used.

The word “gospel” when used generally,—in the sense of good tidings,—should be down; as “Woe is me, if I {p180} preach not the gospel.” But when used as part of a title to a specific book, it goes up; as “The Gospel according to St. Matthew”; “The Apocryphal Gospel of St. Thomas”; “The Gospel of St. Luke.”

When the word “god” or “goddess” is applied to a paganic divinity, it is put down. This remark and our Rule 5 are both exemplified in Darwin’s lines,—

So, also, 1 Kings 11 : 33:

The names applied to evil spirits should be put up:

In the above example, the objects of Christian and pagan worship are properly capitalized.

From the foregoing remarks, etc., especially under Rule 4, it will be perceived that cap­i­tal­i­za­tion is, in the department of theology as in all others, mostly regulated by office style. But in forming a style, the above rules and examples may be found serviceable.

But in Latin the “O” is frequently put down.

But certain suffixes, whether spelled in full or contracted, are put up or down, or in small caps, capitalized, according to the style of the words to which they are suffixed; as, for instance, the words “junior” and “esquire,” which are put one degree less in dignity than the words to which they are attached; as:

The person’s name being lower-case capitalized, “jr.” and “esq.” are put down.

The names being small caps, capitalized, the “jr.” and “esq.” are put up.

The names being in capitals, the suffixes are capitals and small capitals.

But “D.D.” “LL.D.” “M.D.” etc., are put in large or small capitals according to office style, or a style adapted for the work in which they appear: as— {p182}

Words connected with a number of designation are often put up,—and this is the better way. So, though the words “Bay,” “Dock,” etc., in the following examples may properly be put down if the office style require it, yet the unfettered compositor and reader will prefer to put up those, and all words similarly placed; as:

Under this rule proper adjectives may also be classed; as:

Names of political parties should be put up.

But when any of these words are used in a general sense, they should be put down; as:

The words “state” and “territory” applied to political divisions of the United States should be put up; as:

Some nouns and adjectives originally proper have, by usage, the common form; as:

Numbers are denoted by roman capitals or arabic figures.

There are some words yet on debatable ground. It is safe to write “plaster of Paris” or “plaster of paris.” The latter form is well enough for so common an article, and should be preferred by compositors.

Some words which are put up when alone, are put down when they coalesce with a preposition; as:

But some write “inter-State,” “cis-Platine,” “trans-Atlantic,” “cis-Padane,” “cis-Alpine,” etc. We know of no good authority for such work. It has no countenance from our lex­i­cog­raphers: and the hyphen and capital in the middle of the words are needless deformities.