124 Capitals as a means of display The capital need not be selected when the principle or attribute does not decidedly represent active agency. War, Slavery, Intemperance, and similar words are erroneously capitalized when they are passive or objects of action. The capital should be suppressed when the words are not intended as synonyms of personified forces. CAPITALS IN QUOTATIONS In the text, all quotations that are intended to be emphatic, or that consist of a complete sentence, should always begin with a capital, as: Then Elijah said, Thou art the man. The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. A fragmentary quotation needs no capital, but it is the common practice to inclose all short quotations in the ordinary quotation-marks, as: The " 66 carriage," so called, was really a wagon. The writer's account was described as marked by accuracy and fairness." CAPITALS AS A MEANS OF DISPLAY In all job-work and in some newspapers and magazines capitals may be used more freely than in good book-work. The writers of advertisements, pamphlets, and circulars use capital letters as a Free use of capitals 125 means of distinction or display in the text, but they are seldom used consistently. It is a part of the duty of the compositor and the proof-reader to try to maintain consistency in the use of capitals, but this is difficult when one abandons rules that have proved useful in other work. In cases of doubt the capital may be safely omitted, for the style of an author is seriously vulgarized by an excessive use of capitals. Capitals are largely used in the nomenclature of different sciences, but under rules that differ for each science. The study (not a cursory reading) of authoritative treatises on chemistry, botany, medicine, mineralogy, etc., will be required for an understanding of the different systems of capitalizing and abbreviating adopted in each of these sciences. In job-work, and in many kinds of catalogue and pamphlet work, a free use of capitals is not only permissible but necessary. Precise rules for these kinds of work cannot be given, for they will have to be varied according to the subject-matter and the wishes of the publisher or writer. In serious or standard books capitals should not be used too lavishly for marking emphasis in the text. A projecting capital in a text is like a rock in the current, for it diverts the eye and interrupts an even stream of attention. For the same reason, a free use of capitals is of service in mercantile blanks or catalogues, when they draw the 126 Capitals for summaries and legends attention to nouns for which notice is desired. When capitals are used freely in a text they must be used with system, and the same words or class of words should always come under the same rule. Compound words in every line of capital letters should be connected with an en dash, and not with the hyphen. Some writers make use of capitals as a modified form of display, or to invite special attention to a particular word or words. The Drive, when it has been justified and fitted to the mould, is known as a Matrix.' In some kinds of descriptive writing this use of the capital is permissible, but it is unsafe to capitalize nouns too freely, and thereby make display where display is not needed and is irritating to a reader. Exact writers never make use of this method of marking emphasis in any scientific description. CAPITALS IN SUMMARIES AND LEGENDS Summaries of chapters, running titles, tables of contents, and work of similar nature, including the 1 The words Drive and Matrix could be put in italic or in quotation-marks, but this treatment would give them a greater distinction. A word or phrase selected for extended comment in the text may be treated by any one of these methods when it is specified for the first time, but it is not at all necessary to continue the use of capitals, italic, or quotation-marks in subsequent repetitions of that word or phrase. Capital letters unwisely used 127 legend lines of diagrams and illustrations, may be capitalized by the same rules that govern the capitalization of book titles: capitals to nouns and important verbs always; to pronouns, adjectives, and participles seldom; to particles rarely or not at all. This is common usage, but a too free use of capital letters gives an uncouth appearance to long summaries and legend lines that is too suggestive of the startling head-lines of a sensational newspaper, or the hackneyed methods of the writer of beguiling advertisements. "Changing his Plans, He Throws Himself upon the King's Supposed Generosity, Praying that He be Allowed to Reveal His Secret Instructions." "A Fatal Gift! What Will He Do with It?" One may change these capitals in many ways, but every change will be equally unpleasing; a profusion of capitalized verbs or adjectives is always a disfigurement in any book. In recent English and French books of high merit a new method is in favor for the citations of the titles of books, for the legend lines of illustrations, and for all running titles. Capital letters are excluded from all words but those that begin a sentence or are proper names. This simplicity is commendable, but it is not safe for a compositor to follow this style in opposition to copy. ด DIVISION OF WORDS HREE systems, or attempts at system, for the division of words have been in use for many years, but it does not appear that any one has succeeded in securing the favor of all printers and publishers. The system most approved now authorizes the division of a word, when consistent with pronunciation, on the vowel at the end of the syllable. THE VOWEL SYSTEM This system can be applied safely to many long words, but its too rigid observance may lead the unthinking compositor to these unusual breaks: ca-pa-ci-ty lexi-co-gra-pher pro-gno-sti-cate cata-stro-phe pre-fe-rence re-co-gnize |