Booher's Rules of Business Grammar - Dianna Booher 2009

Undercapitalized with no regrets
Miscellaneous matters

THE CASE FOR LOWERCASE

Too much capitalization has the same effect as too much makeup, cologne, hair gel, or jewelry. It detracts, clutters and, in the case of grammar, confuses. Common words that are capitalized when they should not be typically fall into the following categories.

Random Words in Headings and Titles (Book Titles, Song Titles, Article Titles, Chapter Titles, Slide Titles)

You can blame your word-processing software for this error. I’m betting that your software automatically puts all words in “title case” or none in title case. It can’t think and follow the real rules for capitalizing titles. Here they are:

Capitalize the first, the last, and all principal words in headings and titles.

Unless they are the first or last words in a line, do not capitalize prepositions of three letters or fewer (by, for, in, at, to, on), conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, so, yet), or the articles a, an, the.

A common goof occurs when someone considers a long word to be a “principal” word and, conversely, considers a short word to be a minor word. Length has no more to do with the importance of words than height has to do with the importance of people.

To capitalize correctly, you have to recognize the part of speech (preposition, conjunction, verb, and so forth).

Incorrect:

Sales Volume is Growing in New Regions (Is is a principal word. It is part of the verb of the entire sentence!)

Correct:

Sales Volume Is Growing in New Regions

Incorrect:

Suggestions By Teams At Corporate And Field Offices

Correct:

Suggestions by Teams at Corporate and Field Offices

The Words Federal, State, City

Our city officials hired him as sheriff, and then he worked out of state for several years, finally returning to work for the federal government in several positions before his death.

The Names of Seasons

She takes a sabbatical in the spring.

The Terms for Directions

He moved further northwest with his job after his parents died.

Turn south toward the corporate headquarters.

But: The South typically votes Democratic on such issues. (a region)

Memory tip

This sentence will remind you of the categories of things not to capitalize: “There should be a law (laws have titles) against driving (directions) downtown (federal, state, or city government offices) in summer (seasons).”