Today is my thirtieth wedding anniversary! Lots of well-wishes have been coming our way on FaceBook and in person--and I am in quite the celebratory mood! :)
Of course, any written words spark interesting discussions about grammar and usage (in my head at least!). And with my anniversary today and my birthday tomorrow, these greetings warrant a little "language lady" attention!
Obviously, happy, birthday, and anniversary are not proper nouns in themselves. However, when you write these as greetings, they should be capitalized.
Thus, you would capitalize
Happy Birthday!
Happy 39th Birthday! (LOL!)
Happy Anniversary!
Happy 30th Anniversary!
However, you would not capitalize these same words within a sentence when describing a birthday or anniversary: I had a happy anniversary. I enjoyed by day and had a happy birthday.
So...Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday to me! :) and Happy Flag Day (tomorrow!) to you!
Showing posts with label names. Show all posts
Showing posts with label names. Show all posts
Monday, June 13, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
day 47: capitalize president or not?
With the introduction of Presidents' Day last night, I decided that I couldn't pass up this opportunity to discuss when to capitalize president, I mean President.
Generally speaking (as with all grammar rules, of course!), the word president is capitalized when referring to a specific president but not when it is referring to the office in general.
Capitalize:
1. The President will be in town next week.
2. President Lincoln spoke first.
Do not capitalize:
1. A president must be thirty-five years of age.
2. The presidents reside in the White House.
The "capitalize when referring to a specific president" guideline is true of the highest official of any land--King, President, Queen, etc. It is not, however, true for other offices, such as senator, mayor, etc.
Generally speaking (as with all grammar rules, of course!), the word president is capitalized when referring to a specific president but not when it is referring to the office in general.
Capitalize:
1. The President will be in town next week.
2. President Lincoln spoke first.
Do not capitalize:
1. A president must be thirty-five years of age.
2. The presidents reside in the White House.
The "capitalize when referring to a specific president" guideline is true of the highest official of any land--King, President, Queen, etc. It is not, however, true for other offices, such as senator, mayor, etc.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)