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

[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.