A Capital Idea for Your Writing Students

You may have noticed over the years how a common online practice has crept into your writing classroom. And this trend is so simple and so big at the same time… words are increasingly losing their capitalization. Now, don’t panic! For some of us grammar enthusiasts, this development can have us at the edge of our seats.

“But you have to capitalize that word there!”

Even though you might be entirely correct and while teaching proper grammar is an absolute must in our writing classes, context also matters. Because speech and writing are always evolving, we’re being given a chance to teach a bigger picture about language. Words change, rules of speech shift, and our understanding of writing grows. It’s a wonderful opportunity to show them that our language is a deep topic worthy of endless exploration.

“Did you know that Dante broke the rules hundreds of years ago? That’s right! He wrote his classic works in the everyday speech of the people.”

“How about this one: did you know that there’s an entire field dedicated to the scientific study of language? Linguistics tries to find out the common rules for all the languages in the world!”

And of course, there’s one vital lesson we must include: “There’s a huge difference between casual online writing and academic essay writing. That’s why it’s so important that we properly capitalize words!”

“And this trend is so simple and so big at the same time…”

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