Page 114 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

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show), Lagaan (movie) Organizations: Electronic Frontier
Foundation (non-governmental digital rights advocacy group), Doctors

Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières (non-governmental aid
organization), House of Representatives (US legislative body), MI6

(British spy agency), Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (Brazilian
■ football/soccer club), Alice Birney Elementary School Seacraft and

spacecraft: HMS Bounty (seacraft), Challenger (spacecraft), USS
■ Enterprise (real seagoing aircraft carrier and fictional spacecraft)

Things in outer space: the Moon (or the moon), Pluto (dwarf planet),
■ Andromeda Galaxy Holidays and dates: July 4th or Independence

■ Day, Passover, New Year’s Day, Diwali Animals: Fluffy (pet cat),

■ Lucy (pet dog) Cultural and sporting events: Maker Faire (a
technology festival), White Rooms and Silence (an art show), Race:

Are We So Different? (a museum exhibit), Ragnar (a running race),
■ FIFA World Cup (football/soccer championship) Commercial brands:

Microsoft Windows, Google, Coca-Cola, Tim Horton’s, Woolworth’s
Usually, we can recognize proper nouns because their first letters are

capitalized, and because they are treated with a sense of importance.

However, when you’re writing it’s sometimes hard to know whether they’re
proper nouns and whether to capitalize them.

For example, let’s say you attend a university and take many of your classes
in mathematics. Are those classes offered by the department of mathematics or

the Department of Mathematics?
It depends. As always, your audience matters. How important is this

particular organization to the person you’re writing to? Do you both agree on its

importance?
If you’re writing a letter to the head of the department, it’s probably best to

■treat it as a proper noun: I am really enjoying the classes offered by the
Department of Mathematics, but I have a suggestion.

However, if you’re writing an informal email to a friend who takes mostly
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