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I have a question about capitalization of proper nouns used as adjectives.
Normally I wouldn't ask this question since I have guides available for such
concerns. However, this particular convention has been aggravating me lately.
When a term is used commonly as a proper noun (for example, Assembly,
Marketing, Accounting), do you capitalize it when you it as an adjective?
I'm not referring to organizational titles but to physical geography,
unspecified internal documents, and other similar environments.
EXAMPLE: The MSDS book is kept in the assembly areas in the
Employee Right-to-Know stations.
I have been treating "assembly" strictly as an adjective here. Although
using initial lowercase here could be viewed as consistent grammatically (it's
no longer a proper noun), it appears inconsistent visually. Also, the term
itself creates problems. Are these areas in Assembly, or they areas in which
product assembly takes place?
_The_Gregg_Reference_Manual_ and the _Handbook_of_Technical_Writing_ are
unclear on this issue, and I don't have a copy of the _Chicago_Manual_of_Style_
(for shame).
Any suggestions?
Bill Burns * These are MY opinions,
Assm. Technical Writer/Editor * MINE I TELL YOU!
Micron Technology, Inc. *
Boise, ID * (not that they amount to much. . .)
WBURNS -at- VAX -dot- MICRON -dot- COM *
