Content tip: capitalization

Pop quiz: find the errors in these sentences:

1. My Mom told me I'm great at Math and Spelling.
2. This year, everyone in Marketing will take a course in Social Media Analytics.
3. Did you get a Legal Review of that white paper?

If you see a lot of words that don't need to be capitalized in those sentences, congratulations! You've earned a gold star and I won't unfriend you. If you're unsure if the capitalization in those sentences is correct or not, don't worry, I won't unfriend you. (But no gold star, I'm afraid.)

Here's how those sentences should look:

1. My mom told me I'm great at math and spelling.
2. This year, everyone in marketing will take a course in social media analytics.
3. Did you get a legal review of that white paper?

When I read the incorrect versions of those sentences, I instantly recoil. Seriously, I have to avert my eyes and count to 10 so I don't say mean things about the writer. Why do so many of us feel the need to capitalize words that don't need capitalization? Is it to make a sentence look more important? Is it to emphasize particular words or phrases? Is it to drive people like myself completely bonkers?

I doubt people intend to drive me to drink, but for some or many reasons they are capitalizing way too many things. So let's have a little chat about capitalization. I know I've had professional training as a copy editor and I devoutly follow AP style, but those of us who have had any level of schooling (so, all of us), should have been taught about proper capitalization. Here are some capitalization do's and don'ts as a refresher, straight from the capitalization entry in "AP Stylebook":

• Avoid unnecessary capitals
• Proper nouns: Capitalize nouns that constitute the unique identification for a specific person, place, or thing: John, Mary, America, Boston, England.
• Proper names: Capitalize common nouns such as party, river, street and west when they are an integral part of the full name for a person, place or thing: Democratic Party, Mississippi River, Fleet Street, West Virginia. Lowercase these common nouns when they stand alone in subsequent references: the party, the river, the street.
• Popular names: Some places and events lack officially designated proper names but have popular names that are the effective equivalent: the Main Line (a group of Philadelphia suburbs), the South Side (of Chicago), the Badlands (of South Dakota), the Street (the financial community in the Wall Street area of New York).
• Derivatives: Capitalize words that are derived from a proper noun and still depend on it for their meaning: American, Christian, Christianity, English, French, Marxism, Shakespearean. Lowercase words that are derived from a proper noun but no longer depend on it for their meaning: french fries, herculean, malapropism, pasteurize, quixotic, venetian blind.
• Titles: Capitalize formal titles when used immediately before a name. Lowercase formal titles when used alone or in constructions that set them off from a name by commas: This month, Content Marketing Manager Julia Bannon writes about capialization. Last week, Julia Bannon, content marketing manager, wrote about spellcheck. Use lowercase at all times for terms that are job descriptions rather than formal titles.

Back to our quiz. I hope that after reading these rules you have a better understanding about what to capitalize and what to refrain from capitalizing. Go ahead and retake the quiz - I bet you'll pass with flying colors after reading these rules. I'll even give you a gold star and buy you a drink.

And like I always say - when in doubt, get some fresh eyes on your writing. Grab a friend, a colleague, me - just have someone new look at your content so can convey your smart ideas with zero recoil.