GrammarPhile Blog

• the president; George Washington, first president of the United States; President Ford; the presidency; presidential; the Taft administration; Chandrika Kumaratunga, president of Sri Lanka; President Kumaratunga or Mrs. Kumaratunga
• the vice president; Joseph Biden, vice president of the United States; Vice President Biden; vice-presidential duties; Jorge Quiroga, vice president of Bolivia; Vice President Quiroga
• the secretary of state; Hillary Rodham Clinton, secretary of state; Secretary of State Clinton or Secretary Clinton
• the senator; the senator from West Virginia; Senator Robert C. Byrd; Senators Byrd and Trent; Sen. John Glenn, Democrat from Ohio (or D-OH)
• the representative; the congressman; the congresswoman; Henry Hyde, representative from Illinois or congressman from Illinois; Congressman Hyde or Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) or Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.); Maxine Waters, representative from California; Congresswoman Waters; the congresswoman or the representative; Representatives Hyde and Waters
• the Speaker; John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Speaker Boehner (Speaker is traditionally capitalized)
• the chief justice; [the late] William H. Rehnquist, chief justice of the United States; Chief Justice Rehnquist
• the associate justice; Antonin Kennedy, associate justice; Justice Kennedy; Justices Kennedy and Thomas
• the chief judge; Henry Tonigan, chief judge; Judge Tonigan
• the ambassador; Philip Lader, ambassador to the Court of St. James's or ambassador to the United Kingdom; Ambassador Lader
• the governor; Ruth Ann Minner, governor of the state of Delaware; Governor Minner
• the mayor; Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago; Mayor Emanuel
• the state senator; Olga Parker, Ohio state senator; the Honorable Olga Parker
• the state representative (same pattern as state senator)
• the governor-general of Canada; the Right Honourable David Johnston
• the minister; Motohisa Furukawa, Japanese economics minister; Mr. Furukawa
• the prime minister; the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau, former prime minister of Canada; David Cameron, the British prime minister
• the premier (of a Canadian province); the Right Honourable Roy Romanow
• the member of Parliament (UK and Canada); Jane Doe, member of Parliament or, more commonly, Jane Doe, MP (not used as a title preceding the name); Jane Doe, the member for West Hamage
• the chief whip; Tony Yengeni, chief whip of the African National Congress; Yengini
• the foreign secretary (UK); the foreign minister (other nations); the British foreign secretary; the German foreign minister (not used as a title preceding the name)
• the chancellor; Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany; Chancellor Merkel
• the chancellor of the exchequer (UK); George Osborne; Chancellor Osborne
• the Lord Privy Seal (UK; always capitalized)

• She has published widely in the history of religions.
• They have introduced a course in gender studies.
• He is majoring in comparative literature, and Janie is majoring in biology.
• She is pursuing graduate studies in philosophy of science.
  but
• Jones is chair of the Committee on Comparative Literature.

• I am signing up for Beginning Archaeology.
• A popular course this fall is Basic Manuscript Editing.
  but
• His ballroom dancing classes have failed to civilize him.

• This year's Robinson Memorial Lectures were devoted to the nursing profession. The first lecture, "How Nightingale Got Her Way," was a sellout.

• BA - Bachelor of Arts
• BFA - Bachelor of Fine Arts
• BM - Bachelor of Music
• BS - Bachelor of Science
• DD - Doctor of Divinity
• DDS - Doctor of Dental Surgery
• DMin (D.Min.) - Doctor of Ministry
• DVM - Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
• EdD - Doctor of Education
• JD - Juris Doctor (Doctor of Law)
• LittD (Litt.D.) - Litterarum Doctor (Doctor of Letters)
• MA - Master of Arts
• MBA - Master of Business Administration
• MD - Medicinae Doctor (Doctor of Medicine)
• MS - Master of Science
• MSN - Master of Science in Nursing
• MSW - Master of Social Welfare or Master of Social Work
• PhD (Ph.D.) - Philosophiae Doctor (Doctor of Philosophy)

• Mortimer Snerd, JD, attended Wooden Memorial Law School.

Source: The Chicago Manual of Style.

Authoritative style guide books contain pages and pages of notes on titles of works. Do you know that headlines, titles, and subtitles in proposals, white papers, and brochures are the most common spots for typos? And they are also hotspots for innocent errors (errors you look at and don't realize are errors) as well, mostly in capitalization and hyphenation. This week we're covering classic headline style.

Our client documents often have names of famous places incorrectly presented. This week's post covers how to properly punctuate names of places and structures. Names of buildings, architecturally or historically significant houses, thoroughfares, monuments, and the like are capitalized. An introductory the, even if part of the name, is not capitalized in running text.

In the United States, one of our major holidays is Independence Day, also referred to as the Fourth of July. In neighboring Canada, as anywhere else outside America, the same day is noted simply the fourth of July, of course. (Yes, they have a fourth of July in Canada.) What about capitalizing (or capitalising) other calendar and time designations? Here is a list we hope you find useful.

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The following is a guest post by Alexis Bonari.
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