Capitalizing professions? Forum

[MissLucky]

if I say "professions in medicine and information technology", does the "m" in medicine need to be capitalized? do the I and T in information technology need to be capitalized? and if we talk about "a career in the law" is the "l" in law capitalized?

thank you!!

[MissLucky]

and what about capitalizing the "w" in White (as in the race) ?

[gdane]

Nice. You finally put up an avatar.

Lowercase for black/white when youre talking about "race".

http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/capital.html

[MissLucky]

lol - yes I did

Amazing website! thanks, man - it definitely prevented me from committing a grammatical faux-pas on the "black/white" race (non)capitalization.

any thoughts on professions, though?

[gdane]

I professions in caps. On my resume and in my PS.

[philosoraptor]

if I say "professions in medicine and information technology", does the "m" in medicine need to be capitalized? do the I and T in information technology need to be capitalized? and if we talk about "a career in the law" is the "l" in law capitalized?

thank you!!

The old rule still applies: If it's a proper noun or name, cap it; otherwise, don't. "Medicine" and "information technology" and "law" are not proper nouns -- therefore, no caps.

You'll often see businesses capitalizing generic words related to their products, or schools doing the same with their programs, to give them an artificially inflated sense of importance. But they are following in-house style rules. Stick to the rule above unless you're getting paid to follow a different one.

N.B.: With resumes you have a little more leeway. There, perfect consistency trumps blind adherence to the rules.

[MissLucky]

if I say "professions in medicine and information technology", does the "m" in medicine need to be capitalized? do the I and T in information technology need to be capitalized? and if we talk about "a career in the law" is the "l" in law capitalized?

thank you!!

The old rule still applies: If it's a proper noun or name, cap it; otherwise, don't. "Medicine" and "information technology" and "law" are not proper nouns -- therefore, no caps.

You'll often see businesses capitalizing generic words related to their products, or schools doing the same with their programs, to give them an artificially inflated sense of importance. But they are following in-house style rules. Stick to the rule above unless you're getting paid to follow a different one.

N.B.: With resumes you have a little more leeway. There, perfect consistency trumps blind adherence to the rules.

ahhh - very good advice. thanks man!

[MissLucky]

this is so pathetic that i'm not 100% sure about this but in a title that states "Why X Law School is my Top Choice", does the "m" in "my" get capitalized? thanks!!!

[gdane]

I would title it "Why I Want to Attend X School".