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

[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.