Seasons are common nouns, not proper nouns, so they are usually not capitalized. They should be capitalized when they are the first word of a sentence or in a title, and where they are personified, as in poetry.
Seasons is not a proper noun
Seasons come, seasons go, and the question remains: are you taking advantage of them?
In most cases, no. Names of the seasons—spring, summer, fall or autumnAnd winter– is not a proper noun, so only capitalize when other common nouns are capitalized. For example, a student would write “I’m taking language classes in the spring” or “I’m taking classes in the fall of 2019”, but the list of available classes might be under the “Classes” heading. learn linguistics spring 2020″. Of course, season names are also capitalized at the beginning of sentences, as in “Spring comes in March”.
Given that the names of the days of the week and the months of the year To be capitalized, this advice can feel counter-intuitive. Then dig deeper with some examples. Here we have seasonal common nouns which are simply uncapitalized common nouns that English means:
Harry the Dog and Mabel the Cat are chatting when Harry introduces a related topic. “A bear,” he said, “last spring violently demolished my bird feeder.”
Mabel’s answer was somewhat harsh. “Idiot! Don’t you know it’s better to let your bird feed through the end of winter?”
In the title, common nouns—including nouns of the seasons—are capitalized:
Harry chose to ignore Mabel’s tone. “Interestingly, the bear left a book: John Steinbeck’s Our winter of discontentwhich I’m sure you know, take the title from Shakespeare’s King Richard IIIin which Gloucester says, ‘Now is the winter of our discontent / Make a summer bright by this York sun…’
“Oh, that’s interesting,” agreed Mabel, feeling less aggressive. “Bears can be funny. I once heard someone scream ‘Best song in Grease is “Summer Nights”, don’t @ me.'”
Exception: Personification of the Seasons
The names of the seasons can also be capitalized when they are personified—that is, treated like creatures:
“Strange way!” Harry said. “All the bears I know have great disdain for 20th-century cinema—especially musicals. One fine autumn day, I heard someone recount Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West Wind’ opening sequence. , which in my experience is more typical behavior of bears ursine: ‘O wild west wind, you are the breath of autumn, / You, whose invisible presence the bears dead leaves / Banished, like ghosts fleeing from the enchanter.'”
“Oh, poor thing,” sighed Mabel. “Someone seems to be feeling a bit hazy about hibernation, which is understandable. I really feel that winter can be both brutal and invigorating.”
Bears and our friends aside, here’s the takeaway: don’t capitalize seasons unless they’re 1) at the beginning of a sentence, 2) in a title or heading, or 3) personified.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
