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Capitalization of Governmental Words

When you write about or to a governmental agency, do you wonder when to capitalize? Here are some simple rules to help you.

Rule: When you use the complete names of departments, capitalize. You may also capitalize a shortened form of a department. Do not capitalize when these words are used as adjectives or generically.

Examples:
the United Nations General Assembly
the General Assembly
Congress
a congressional committee

Rule: Capitalize civil titles only when used with the name following or when used in place of a name.

Examples:
Councilman Harris
the councilman
President Obama
the president

Rule: If you are working on government documents or you are representing a government agency, then you may capitalize words like City, County, and District.

Example: The County will implement the plan approved by the voters last June.

Rule: When you refer back to a proper noun using a shortened version of the original name, you may capitalize it.

Example: The District Water Plan allocates… The Plan calls for…

Example: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken the case. The Bureau has sent out a bulletin to other federal departments to enlist their help in capturing the fugitive.

Posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 2:18 am

Who vs. Which vs. That

Rule: Who refers to people. That and which refer to groups or things.

Example: Anya is the one who rescued the bird.

Example: Lope is on the team that won first place.

Example: She belongs to an organization that specializes in saving endangered species.

Rule: That introduces essential clauses while which introduces nonessential clauses.

Example: I do not trust editorials that claim racial differences in intelligence.

We would not know which editorials were being discussed without the that clause.

Example: The editorial claiming racial differences in intelligence, which appeared in the Sunday newspaper, upset me.

The editorial is already identified. Therefore, which begins a nonessential clause.

NOTE: Essential clauses do not have commas surrounding them while nonessential clauses are surrounded by commas.

Rule: Do not use that twice in a row in a sentence.

Example: That is a problem which can’t be solved without a calculator.

The above sentence would be better written as follows:
That problem can’t be solved without a calculator.

Example: That is a promise which cannot be broken.

Again, the above sentence could be rewritten:
That promise cannot be broken.

Rule: Whenever you have more than one that or which in a sentence, see if you can rewrite it in a way that both shortens your sentence and removes at least one that or which.

Rule: Put that in the sentence when it is implied.

Example: Did you know he went to the University of Florida? OR
Did you know that he went to the University of Florida? (Correct)

Posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 1:21 am

Lead vs. Led

lead a metal element (pronounced like red)
lead present tense of led (pronounced like seed)
led guided, past tense of to lead


Pop Quiz

1. He lead/led the horse to water.
2. She tested the water for lead/led.
3. Will the new CEO lead/led by example?

Answers:

1. led
2. lead
3. lead

Posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 12:46 am