'69 Camaro wrote:
>>>>>Keith was gently pointing out that the word "English" is a proper noun.
>>>>>Proper nouns should always be capitalized, even if your name is e.e.
>>>>>cummings. ;-)
>>>
>>>>Since english is neither a person nor a place nor an event, and since one
>>>>can limit it with modifiers like any and some as in "She speaks some
>>>>english, and he doesn't speak any english", I respectfully disagree.
>>>
>>>A proper noun is a noun which names a particular person, place, or thing.
>>>The English language is a particular language.
>>
>>Interestingly, in "the english language", english is an adjective and not
>>a noun at all.
>
> You snipped the relevant part of my previous message: "Derivatives of
> proper nouns are capitalized when used in their primary sense, such as
> English saddle, but not when used for a specialized meaning, such as french
> fries or chinaware." "English language" is a derivative of the noun
> English, which is a proper noun.
>
> Check your dictionary again. Mine shows the following:
>
> English _adj._ of, relating to, or characteristic of England, the
> English people, or the English language.
>
> Note that in no case is English typed in lower case when modifying the noun
> that follows it in this dictionary entry. I'm sure your dictionary shows
> something very similar, if it's not verbatim.
>
>
>>English is a proper noun when it names the people of England in contrast
>>to the Welsh and the Scottish, but I did not use it as the proper name of
>>the people of England.
>
>
> Check your standard English dictionary.
I did, and english is not always capitalized like it is in your standard
english dictionary.
Received on Mon Jul 02 2007 - 15:54:41 CDT
