What kind of error is it?

[majlo]

she walked the dog for 2 hours yesterday.
What kind of error is it if I start the first word of the sentence with a small letter?
Thank you in advance for possible replies.

 

[elroy]

A capitalization error.

 

[maxiogee]

Or a typographical error.

 

[majlo]

I see. Could I count a capitalization error to a punctuation error? I mean, are these the same kinds of errors by chance?

 

[elroy]

I see. Could I count a capitalization error to a punctuation error? I mean, are these the same kinds of errors by chance?

No. Capitalization has to do with what case a letter is in (upper or lower case), while punctuation has to do with signals within a sentence that help one read it properly (commas, periods, and the like).

 

[majlo]

Would you, then, have a guess at why Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary gives in its Study Pages what it gives (I enclosed the print-screen). Do you think it could be a kind of generalization?

Edit: I could not enclose the files due to its size. Here's the link:
www.republika.pl/majlo20/study.JPG

 

[maxiogee]

Sorry majlo, the picture isn't showing.

Could you type the relevant paragraph?

 

[cuchuflete]

I can see the page, and Cambridge lists capitalization under the rubric of Punctuation. That's wrong, I believe. It's wrong according to their own dictionary definition:

punctuation
noun
(the use of) special marks that you add to writing to separate phrases and sentences, to show that something is a question, etc:
His letter was completely without punctuation.

punctuate http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=64196&ph=on
verb [T]
to add punctuation marks to written words so that people can see when a sentence starts and finishes, or that something is a question, etc.

 

[panjandrum]

I have a link I refer to for information on punctuation. I like its style, though I don't always accept everything it says.

I expected it to confirm, though, that the upper/lower case question is not punctuation. So off I went, click.

Shock horror - there is an entry in the index for Capital Letters. So with some nervousness I went click again.

Capital letters are not really an aspect of punctuation, but it is convenient to deal with them here.

Well that's OK then

 

[cuchuflete]

Had that site not offered the disclaimer it would have been guilty of a capital offense. Sorry for the capital punishment.

 

[bartonig]

I've just checked a couple of texts - the Oxford Concise and Quirk's Comprehensive Grammar. They both include initial letter capitalisation as punctuation. Come to think of it, where would you put it? You could hardly dedicate a chapter to capitalisation.

 

[cuchuflete]

Given the brevity of the rules...about a sentence worth...why not keep discussion of capitals under Style?

 

[Iveta]

Very interesting indeed... Never thought about it before.
Capitalisation might be put discussed in Style or in Punctuation... Depends on the context realy. If you're critically examining... cummings for instance-it's style on the surface and much much more (if any)
If I was just checking a student's dictation or a test (whatever), I would have put it as a punctuation I think-even though in most cases it's just over looked (due to chatting routine-but that's another matter

 

[bartonig]

Given the brevity of the rules...about a sentence worth...why not keep discussion of capitals under Style?

The Oxford has it under Style > Punctuation.

 

[elroy]

I think you could, indeed, dedicate a chapter to capitalization. In fact, that's the way it was done in my grammar books when I was in school: there was a chapter each for capitalization and punctuation.

There are quite a few rules for capitalization in English. Off the top of my head, I can think of the following:

-first word in a sentence
-first word in a direct quote
-the pronoun I
-proper nouns (with many, many subcategories)
-proper adjectives
-titles preceding a name ("Mr. John Smith," "President George W. Bush," "Uncle Sam," etc.)
-common acronyms (NASA, FBI, USA, etc.)

I find it peculiar that the first of these rules should be included under punctuation.

 

[cuchuflete]

Here's what Fowler has to say, before a lengthy discussion of stylistic preferences....

"Apart from certain elementary rules that everyone knows and observes, [he wrote this before the advent of chatspeak and widespread laziness] such as that capitals are used to begin a new sentence after a full stop, to introduce a quotation, and for proper names and those of the days and months, their present use is almost as anarchic as that of hyphens."
-A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, H.W. Fowler, 2nd ed. p. 72

 

[la reine victoria]

This book's title is an excellent example of the necessity to punctuate correctly. It refers to the diet of our mod/forera ElaineG. If you put a comma after the first word of the title, it gives it a whole new meaning.




LRV