grammar help please!

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Sat, 2009-07-04 13:10

Insertponceyfre...

grammar help please!

having braindead moment - can anyone tell me about seasons of the year? Are they always capitalised?

Sat, 2009-07-04 16:32

Ewan

hmmm...shock, horror: Fowler is no help, except for the fact that the seasons are not mentioned specifically under the entry for Capitals, whilst DOW, MOY are. My instinctive feeling is no, and I would follow that instinct in my own writing. Take a book from your shelf by a modern Author that you think is likely to have the word in the first chapter and see what they did. Not much help, eh? Si on n'utilise pas pour l'été, pourquoi pour le mot Anglais? LOL

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Sat, 2009-07-04 16:42

Insertponceyfre...

I always thought it was yes - but I googled it in the end and it said no. It does look better not capitalised. Maybe it used to be the other way around but has changed? I do like the way the french insult the english and vice versa - we are both so imaginative. Waterloo station for instance - used to make me laugh when the euro train went from there thanks ewan : )

Sat, 2009-07-04 16:48

Ewan

I think that (very probably) in some 18th century (or earlier) texts they did have capitals - as did most nouns, a practice which still persists in English's cousin German, no? L'Anglais, ceci n'est pas une langue, c'est le bruit des chiens! My dear fellow, at least it isn't the chattering of monkeys.

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Sat, 2009-07-04 17:03

Insertponceyfre...

German is a mad and indecipherable language. I like your French/English quotes. Have you made a collection? C

Sat, 2009-07-04 17:09

(Reply to #5) #6

Ewan

'Fraid not. I made those two up; I thought they might sit well in Gibbous House. E PS My German is much better than my French.

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Sat, 2009-07-04 17:16

whiskey

Definitely no caps. :-)

Sat, 2009-07-04 17:42

Insertponceyfre...

thanks whiskey - it definitely looks better that way ewan there was an article the other day in the guardian about how a whole collection of nineteenth century newspapers has been put online - can't remember which paper it was now, but I expect the times or something - that might be an entertaining place to look for names etc (not inferring that yours are crap or anything) I lived in germany for a year and never ever got the hang of it - why do they say it all the wrong way round?

Sat, 2009-07-04 17:44

(Reply to #8) #9

Ewan

I always think mine are over the top until I go back and read a 19th century novel. Uriah Heep? Martin Chuzzlewit? Count Fosco?

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Sat, 2009-07-04 17:42

#10

Ewan

Yes, of course you're right, Whiskey, but my point was that usage a few hundred years ago was different. In Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year ( plague is capitalized throughout, by the way) for example summertime is both hyphenated and capitalized, whilst summer does not have a capital letter. If you read my post, you would have seen that my own instinct was for the miniscule letter. It's one of those things that anyone can have a blind-spot over though.

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Sat, 2009-07-04 18:09

#11

Insertponceyfre...

no - they're brilliant. I think uriah heep is a genius choice - and it is so perfect for the man . Plenty of real bizarre names from then too though.

Sat, 2009-07-04 18:15

#12

Insertponceyfre...

http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/ they have the penny illustrated and everything - but it costs 7 quid for a day pass - what a rip off!

Sat, 2009-07-04 18:34

#13

chuck

Different era but there's some good stuff here... http://www.internationaltimes.it/index.php Young revolutionaries may pick up a few tips.

Sat, 2009-07-04 19:44

#14

Insertponceyfre...

that's a brilliant site Chuck - I've bookmarked it. I love the front page that says "cocaine dylan nazis"

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