Central and East European Studies
4. Capitals
In Central and East European studies, capitals can cause some difficulties. When should 'state' be capitalised? Or 'party'? Or 'east'? Here, we've outlined some rules that will help.
The following words should always be capitalised:
the first word of every sentence
proper nouns, i.e. individuals' names, place names, languages, days of the week, months of the year, festivals (e.g. Easter, Whitsun, Ramadan, Diwali) and holy days (e.g. All Saints, the Assumption), brand names (Coca Cola, Nestle)
the personal pronoun ‘I’
Roman numerals, e.g. XIV, IV, MCLXVII
If you find yourself referring to God, ‘He’ or 'His' should be capitalised. For example: In the middle ages, few questioned whether belief in God was rational.
Capitalising the names of distinctive events alters with fashion. The key is to be consistent, so if you start writing the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the middle ages, the reformation, make sure that's the template for your whole essay. Random or inconsistent capitalisation is more irritating than wrongly used capitals.
Within your text, names like Prime Minister Oleksy should be capitalised, but if you are referring to Prime Minister by his title alone, you should use lower case. Hence:
Prime Minister Oleksy, but the prime minister
the Second World War, but the war
the Solidarity Party, but the party
the Velvet Revolution, but the revolution
the Journal of Politics, but the journal
The University of Glasgow, but the university
the Communist Manifesto, but communism
the European Security Council, but European security and the council
Hyphenated titles or names are capitalised in all parts: Vice-President, Vice-Chancellor.
Government is nearly always lower case.
the Soviet government
the government of the day
the Democratic government
the Conservative government
the government passed three lawsIn titles of books, journals, articles or on websites, the following should be capitalised:
the initial letters of the first word
all nouns (naming words)
pronouns (I, you, her, him, it, us, etc.) but NOT the word 'that'
adjectives (words that describe nouns, e.g. the brown dog)
verbs (doing words)
adverbs (words describing verbs, or describing any other word apart from nouns)
subordinate conjunctions (e.g. after, although, as, because, before, since, than, though, etc.)
the first word after a colon (this rule only applies in titles)
For example:
The Balkans after the Cold War: From Tyranny to Tragedy
Developments in Central and East European Politics
The Communist Manifesto
A History of Modern Russia frm Nicholas II to Putin
Geographical capitals should be used as in the following examples, i.e. capitalise when the term is a title or a political division, otherwise leave lower case:
the United States but state ownership and the Baltic states
Eastern Europe (as a political entity) but eastern Europe (as a geographical entity)
Western Europe, but the west
South Africa, but the south of Scotland
the Eastern bloc but eastern Russia
A sentence might read: In Western Europe, democracy prevails (i.e. using Western Europe as a political entity) but in western Europe the weather is wetter (i.e. using western Europe as a geographical indicator).
The same goes for terms that can be used as either part of a title or as a general term. Ask yourself 'am I using this name for a unique, specific person or office, or in a more general way. Capitalise if the answer is 'unique, specific', otherwise do not. As before, the most important thing of all is to be consistent.
the state, but the State of Indiana
the church, but the Roman Catholic Church
Merton College, but the college
the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but the treaty
the Socialist Party but socialists
the Christian Democratic People's Party, but the party
Task | Task Type | Difficulty |
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Task 1 | Word click | Moderate |
Task 2 | Word click | More Challenging |
Task 3 | Word click | More Challenging |
Task 4 | Word click | Moderate |
Task 5 | Word click | Moderate |