day 48: capitol building? capitol city? capital city?

by | Feb 22, 2011

Last “Presidents’ Day” post, honest! In discussing how to punctuate Presidents’ Day and when to capitalize and when not to capitalize president, I can’t help but bring up another commonly-miswritten error–that of capitol and capital.

Here is the low-down, along with a trick or two to help you remember the details:

1. Capital
    a. Means upper-case letter–most people do not use this word incorrectly here
    b. Can be used as an adjective to mean primary–that was a capital idea!
    c. Can be used as an adjective to describe punishable by death–capital punishment
    d. A city that is the seat of the government for a state–this is where people sometimes use capitol instead

2. Capitol
   a. Refers to the building in which the U.S. Congress meets (when it is capitalized)
   b. Refers to a state’s main government building (when it is not capitalized)
  c. Tricky Trick to Help It Stick: Only use capitol when referring to a goverment building—capitol does not have any other uses; all other uses need capital

day 47: capitalize president or not?

by | Feb 22, 2011

With the introduction of Presidents’ Day last night, I decided that I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to discuss when to capitalize president, I mean President.

Generally speaking (as with all grammar rules, of course!), the word president is capitalized when referring to a specific president but not when it is referring to the office in general.

Capitalize:

1. The President will be in town next week.
2. President Lincoln spoke first.

Do not capitalize:

1. A president must be thirty-five years of age.
2. The presidents reside in the White House.

The “capitalize when referring to a specific president” guideline is true of the highest official of any land–King, President, Queen, etc. It is not, however, true for other offices, such as senator, mayor, etc.

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