Are All Nouns Created Equal?

 

By Denise Loock

 

 

Arbitrary capitalization wreaks havoc in written communication. Nouns of every variety have been exalted to proper status even though they’re common and should remain common. Revolutionists cry, “Aren’t all nouns created equal?”

 No, they are not.

Basic capitalization rules haven’t changed since we learned them in elementary school. We capitalize proper nouns—names of particular people, places, things, or ideas. We don’t capitalize common nouns—the general names for people, places, things, or ideas. For example, queen is a common noun, but Queen Elizabeth II is a proper noun.

The current capitalization craze may have been passed down to us unintentionally by our forefathers. In centuries past, writers used initial uppercase letters to emphasize and embellish. That’s why Thomas Jefferson began the Declaration of Independence with “When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People …”

Discard Personal Preferences

Many authors, bloggers, and tweeters have revived this outdated practice. Who’s to say what should and shouldn’t be capitalized? If I believe chocolate is a proper noun, why shouldn’t it be? That iconoclastic mindset motivates writers to capitalize words such as patriotism or democracy. Christians favor uppercase letters for what they value: cross, truth, and believer. 

Avoid unjustified capitalization when proper adjectives are combined with common nouns. Combinations that bamboozle Christian writers include Sunday school, Bible study, and vacation Bible school. Some words are reduced to common status as adjectives: scriptural, biblical, and messianic.

The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style (CWMS) devotes fourteen pages to “Capitalization of Religious Terms.” Some of its recommendations surprised me: chosen people (Jews), church (body of Christ and a local congregation), the devil (Satan), and the exodus (from Egypt). Other words made sense as common nouns: temple, tabernacle, patriarch, and magi.

Lowercase Deity Descriptions and Pronouns

For names of God CWMS advises, “When a word or phrase is used as a name for one of the persons of the Trinity, capitalize it. Be especially sensitive to phrases that seem as if they could be names but are really descriptors, which are lowercase.”[1]

You may know the rule about Mom versus mom. Capitalize the word as a substitution for someone’s name: I know Mom needs help. Lowercase it when preceded by a modifier: My mom needs help. Apply that same principle to names for God. Use an uppercase R in I praise you, Redeemer, for the gift of salvation. Use a lowercase r in Jesus is my redeemer.

Many writers capitalize pronouns that refer to God—such as He, His, You, and Me. But most publishers, Christian and secular, discourage this practice. Why? The running text may conflict with Scripture quotations if the Bible translation cited doesn’t capitalize the pronouns. Some readers, unfamiliar with this way of honoring God, may be more confused than enlightened by the uppercase letters.

Adopt a Democratic Approach

Writers value independent thought and creative license, but individualism creates chaos in the capitalization world. To harness our uppercase urges, I recommend the following:

·      Create emphasis with word choice and sentence structure instead of capital letters.

·      Admit that your personal preferences aren’t the standard, and yield to recognized authorities in the publishing industry.

·      Invest in a online edition of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

·      Purchase the current edition of The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style.

If the goal of writing is clear communication, nouns should remain unequal. Sorry about that, Thomas Jefferson.

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[1] Robert Hudson, The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style, Fourth ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016). See page 376 for comments on the names of God. See pages 101–114 for the recommended format of religious terms. See pages 144–147 for the use of deity pronouns.

Photo by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash

Photo by Michele Wales on Unsplash

Denise Loock is the owner of Lightning Editing Services. As a freelance editor, she helps published and unpublished writers create clean, concise, and compelling manuscripts that will attract publishers and intrigue readers. She teaches Editing Devotionals 101 and Sentence Diagramming 101 for The PEN Institute and is the director of PENCON, the only annual conference for Christian proofreaders and editors.