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Kinship Names: To Capitalize or Not to Capitalize?

Several readers have asked why kinship names, such as names of brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, etc. are sometimes capitalized and sometimes not. Let’s have a closer look.

Rule 1: Capitalize a kinship name when it immediately precedes a personal name or is used alone, in place of a personal name.

Examples
Andy and Opie loved Aunt Bee’s apple pies.
We adore Uncle Malik, because he always treats us like royalty when we visit him.
Grandma and Grandpa were married in a chapel in a small French village.
Let’s go ask Mom if we can go to the movies.

Rule 2: Do not capitalize a kinship name when it is not part of the personal name but is a word describing the personal name. This usually occurs when the kinship name is preceded by articles such as the, a, or an; or possessive pronouns such as his, her, my, our, or their.

Examples
Andy and Opie loved their aunt Bea’s apple pies.
We adore our uncle Malik, because he always treats us like royalty when we visit him.
My grandma and grandpa were married in a chapel in a small French village.
Let’s go ask my mom if we can go to the movies.

Rule 3: Do not capitalize a kinship name when it follows the personal name or is not referencing a specific person.

Examples
The James brothers were notorious for robbing scores of banks and trains.
There’s not one mother I know who would allow her child to cross that street alone.

Pop Quiz
Select the correct word:

1. We’d travel all day to eat a meal prepared by our aunt/Aunt Ella.
2. When I saw the letter from mother/Mother, I knew it contained only good news.
3. Lydia became a mother/Mother at twenty.
4. I’m sorry son/Son, but we’re not going to have a campfire tonight.
5. Some fathers/Fathers build a campfire every night.

Answers:
1. We’d travel all day to eat a meal prepared by our aunt/Aunt Ella.
2. When I saw the letter from mother/Mother, I knew it contained only good news.
3. Lydia became a mother/Mother at twenty.
4. I’m sorry son/Son, but we’re not going to have a campfire tonight.
5. Some fathers/Fathers build a campfire every night.

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Posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2012, at 4:16 pm

Its vs. It’s

Would you like to know the #1 Grammar Error?
Hint: The word involved is small and it’s contained in this sentence.

That’s right: its vs. it’s
Yet the two rules are actually quite easy to remember.

Rule 1: When you mean it is or it has, use an apostrophe.

Examples:
It’s a nice day.
It’s your right to refuse the invitation.

It’s been great getting to know you.

Rule 2: When you are using its as a possessive, don’t use the apostrophe.

Examples:
The cat hurt its paw.

The furniture store celebrated its tenth anniversary.

 

Note: From what I understand, the possessive was also written it’s until a couple hundred years ago. While I don’t know for certain, it is possible that the apostrophe was dropped in order to parallel possessive personal pronouns like hers, theirs, yours, ours, etc.”

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Posted on Thursday, April 12th, 2012, at 5:35 pm

Confusing Possessives

Example: Mother’s Day vs. Mothers’ Day vs. Mothers Day

With titles, you may think of the word in front of the noun as either singular, plural, or possessive. For example, do you think of the holiday as belonging to each mother individually (Mother’s Day) or to all mothers collectively (Mothers’ Day)? Or do you think of the word Mothers as an adjective describing Day? There is no right or wrong answer to this question.

The same holds true for other holidays.

Examples:
Secretary’s Day vs. Secretaries Day vs. Secretaries’ Day
Boss’s Day vs. Bosses Day vs. Bosses’ Day

Do you think of each secretary or boss “owning” the day individually (Secretary’s Day/Boss’s Day), as a group “owning” the day (Secretaries’ Day/Bosses’ Day), or as a plural adjective (Secretaries Day/Bosses Day)? Again, there is no right or wrong answer.

The Chicago Manual of Style lists the following holidays as singular possessives: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day. Plural possessive is used for Presidents’ Day.

Your guess is as good as anyone’s about Secretary’s vs. Secretaries’ vs. Secretaries Day and Boss’s vs. Bosses’ vs. Bosses Day.

What would you do if we had a Children’s Day holiday? Because Children is an irregular plural (not formed by adding an s or es), you would have to use the apostrophe in the title because there is no such word as Childrens.

Example: Children’s Hospital

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Posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008, at 7:00 pm