More Nit-Picky Grammar Questions--

[partly]

Three (very technical) grammar questions:

Question One:

When writing military addresses, what are the rules for capitalization of ranks. I've looked this up in a great many references and haven't found a truly definitive answer.

I know that when I write the rank before the name it is capitalized (Colonel O'Neill). I also know I can abbreviate the rank before the complete name (Col. Jack O'Neill). When addressing the person by their rank only, it is capitalized ("With all due respect, Colonel.").

But what is the rule when referring to a person by their rank but not their name? As in: The colonel walked into the room. And would it be different when it is used in dialogue? As in "Why would the colonel want us to do that?".

I read the rules that say I shouldn't capitalize it, but I've seen them capitalized (even in published works). I do have one reference that states: "lesser titles may be capitalized when they clearly refer to a particular individual or when they describe a position formally." Heh. Some help there.

I guess my question is this: Which way would bother you most? If I refer to Colonel O'Neill as "the colonel" and not capitalize it (the more 'official' way of doing it) would it bug you? Am I missing a more recent and acceptable way of doing it? Am I--as usual--sweating the small stuff here?

Question two (the short one):

Is "sir" capitlized? I've read that it could be either or and I've read that it shouldn't be. Which is less jarring to the eye?

Question three:

The 'official' way to denote an long dash is to not use spaces--like this--before or after the long dash. However, I notice a great many people do use the spaces -- like this -- when writing on the internet. Is that just a sign of people not doing it the right way or do the added spaces make the text more readable when posting to the net?

And I do know that a long dash is technically one long line (m-dash) rather than two dashes (n-dashes), however, so many net programs don't recognize them when Word makes them that way, I don't post them that way. Is that annoying? Should I just use the m-dash and damn the consequences?

Just more questions that really have no import on the world in general. *grin*

I'm really not that concerned about the answers for the fanfic I'm writing because fanfic is more informal. But I would like to know for the more formal writing that I would like to do.


EDITED: Because as alliesings pointed out a dash is not an ellipse. I have no idea what I was thinking. *shakes head* Sorry.

Comments

[donnickcottage.livejournal.com]

I'd try and answer you, but I'd be wrong no doubt, and that would hardly be worth your time:)

[partly.livejournal.com]

These little pesky questions have no real rules or even worse, seem to have different rules depending on which rule book you are using. Bah. I've just had two different people insisting that two different ways are right. Since I have no passionate feeings one way or the other, I thought I'd get a general feel of what others thought.

I'm thinking I'll just have to go with the one I like best--or rather, since I don't really care, go with the one that's the easiest.

Love your bear, by the way.

[alliesings.livejournal.com]

When I started writing Stargate fanfic, I rather quickly came upon the Colonel/Sir thing because that's all Sam calls Jack. To Sam, "Sir" is his name, and I always capitalize it when it's Sam talking to Jack, but not when she's talking to Hammond, because that's the way I do it. I'm not sure if it's correct, but it's something chiroho and I worked out a couple of years ago, and I don't remember the logistics, actually.

The Colonel thing is a bit more cut and dry. When it's in narration, "the colonel walked into the room" would work, but Sam would say, "We've got to rescue the Colonel!" I can't imagine she ever calls anyone else "the Colonel." She'd use their last name only or their name and rank, but "the Colonel" is Jack, even though he's a General now, but that's also more of a shippy thing that goes on in my brain when I write fanfic because I'm a nut that way ;) But before this gets too far off track, if you have another character, say in Atlantis, who now refers to Shep as "the Colonel" I'd capitalize it there, too because it's a substitute for his name.

As for your ellipse/m-dash question, I think there must be different rules for British and American English, because I didn't really get any of what you were talking about.

[alliesings.livejournal.com]

Okay, I just checked, and confirmed that you are living in Wisconson, so why do I think you are British? I don't know. Here's what I know about dashes and such.

Hyphenated-words use one "-" and no spaces.
You may also hyphenate to note an interrup-
When I want to add something extra -- like here -- I put spaces on either side, and hit the hyphen button twice. Sometimes the program connects them, sometimes it doesn't, but I was taught to always use the spaces for an "m-dash."
"In dialog," she said, "it is an . . . ellipsis that I was taught to use to indicate a very long pause in speech or sometimes . . ." She didn't complete that sentence, and no one knew why.

Sometimes I wish I had my handy grammar book in this shelf by the computer instead of in a box. (Puts on cosmic to-do list.)

[partly.livejournal.com]

I do occasionally do British spellings.

Mostly I just lost my mind and called the dash and ellipse. I know the difference. *sheesh*

My problem is that I have too many grammar books and they tell me different things.