I agree with Mike. While you can make a reasonable argument for either
choice and neither would be strictly wrong, treating rivers as a common
noun is the better choice. 1) if you choose to capitalize "rivers" you
loose parity, which forces the reader to slow down and think. 2)
Capitalizing "rivers" implies that the phrase "Narraguagus and Penobscot
Rivers" is functioning sort of like a single noun, which unless the rivers
are always or nearly always mentioned as a pair, this is really not the
case. 3) I googled "tigress and euphrates rivers" assuming that this
pairing was more famous and commonly used, and nearly all results came back
with "Tigress and Euphrates rivers." While there were only a few
high-quality, edited sources, they consistently used "rivers" as a common
noun.
One thing to remember with English style is that while you can break
stylistic rules and even grammar rules for rhetorical purposes to change
emphasis or meaning, you should have a clear understanding of what the
precedent is and what your choices will do. If you're unsure, look for a
similar example in a few professionally edited sources or grab a style
guide. (In this instance, I checked my grammar text and the APA style guide
and found nothing.)
-Hanno
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mike Marsh <sw...@blarg.net>
Date: Oct 1, 2009 12:30pm
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] to Capitalize or not to capitalize
To: ECOLOG-L@listserv.umd.edu
CC:
It did not appear to me that Warren addressed the issue posed. Michael
Cooperman asked a question that frequently give me pause. What if we
analyze by parts of speech. Then "Narraguagus would be a proper noun, but
in "Narraguagus and Penobscot rivers", isn't "rivers", a common noun,
modified by "Narraguagus" and "Penobscot"?
Mike
-----------------
Warren W. Aney 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, eg, Penobscot River, Penobscot County. Many
"up" style adherents would also capitalize the proper names of species,
eg, 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, eg, 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, eg, 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
a...@coho.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
[mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Cooperman
Sent: Wednesday, 30 September, 2009 11:19
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
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
