Ornithologists, and a growing majority of herpetologists are using all capitals.
American Robin American Toad. However, grammatically these are NOT proper nouns. Proper nouns by definition both identify and individualize. Fred, the american toad, is a good example. Here, Fred is the proper noun as we have individualized the specific american toad. However, common names lists are now capitalizing the common names, and I usually do this as well. Frankly, I just think it looks better. As for rivers, I have never heard of someone calling it the "Mississippi river" as river is part of the proper name of this specific river and this proper noun should be entirely capitalized as Mississippi River. However, if you were talking about the rivers of Mississippi, you might state the Mississippi rivers, in which case the river would be in lower case. Furthermore, the Mississippi river would use Mississippi as the modifier of river such that you are referring to some river in Mississippi. For example, the Alabama river was more polluted than the Mississippi river. This would be better written, though, as: The river in Alabama was more polluted than the one in Mississippi. I hope this helps!!! :) malcolm On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Warren W. Aney <[email protected]> wrote: > In my journalism and technical writing classes I learned there are two > accepted styles for capitalization: An "up" style and a "down" style. In > the "up" style you would capitalize river, lake, stream, county, etc. if > it's part of the proper name, e.g., Penobscot River, Penobscot County. Many > "up" style adherents would also capitalize the proper names of species, > e.g., Mule Deer. > > In the "down" style you would be very stingy with capitalizations. So you > would write Narraguagus river and mule deer. > > And then ornithologists have a policy of always capitalizing bird species > names, but since I always write in the "down" style I tend to ignore that > policy for the sake of consistency, e.g., Canada geese and pileated > woodpecker. > > Some newspapers write in the "down" style but most in the "up" style -- and > as you've probably noted, MSWord spellcheck keeps nagging you to use the > "up" style. > > You can also mix styles, e.g., write about Atlantic salmon in the Penobscot > River. That's part of the frustration (or beauty) of writing -- it's an art > and not a science. > > Warren W. Aney > Senior Wildlife Ecologist > 9403 SW 74th Ave > Tigard, OR 97223 > (503) 246-8613 phone > (503) 246-2605 fax > (503) 539-1009 mobile > [email protected] > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Cooperman > Sent: Wednesday, 30 September, 2009 11:19 > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ECOLOG-L] to Capitalize or not to capitalize > > In the following statement: ....the Narraguagus and Penobscot > rivers....should the word "rivers" be capitalized? I have my opinion, > but in the spirit of not biasing responses I'll keep it to myself; my > office as a whole is split 50/50. One way or the other, half the people > in my office are wrong! > > Michael > > -- > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------- > Michael Cooperman, PhD > National Research Council - Research Fellow > in residence at NOAA-Fisheries, NE Fisheries Science Center - Maine Field > Station > Atlantic Salmon Research and Conservation Task > 17 Godfrey DR., Suite 1 > Orono, ME 04473 > > (work) 207-866-7409 > (cell) 207-974-9846 > (fax) 207-866-7342 (pls call before faxing) > email: [email protected] > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------- > -- Malcolm L. McCallum Associate Professor of Biology Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology Texas A&M University-Texarkana Fall Teaching Schedule: Vertebrate Biology - TR 10-11:40; General Ecology - MW 1-2:40pm; Forensic Science - W 6-9:40pm Office Hourse- TBA 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
