To Cap or Not to Cap?

[Lafayette]

In my story, I have scenes where a character is shouting or yelling at the top of his voice to indicate this I write it all in uppercase. A friend told me this is bad grammar and that I should tell the reader that the character is shouting or yelling at the top of his voice. Is my friend correct? Am I committing a literary no-no? What are (if any) guidelines for this situation?

 

[The Judge]

I have done it, but for only one sentence, as I really wanted it to stand out. And if I ever revisit that WiP -- my first -- I'll probably remove it.

It isn't bad grammar, but it can easily look very amateurish. The more it's used, the more amateurish it looks.

If I were you, I'd drop it and use lower case and make it clear in other ways he is shouting.

 

[Lafayette]

I have done it, but for only one sentence, as I really wanted it to stand out. And if I ever revisit that WiP -- my first -- I'll probably remove it.

It isn't bad grammar, but it can easily look very amateurish. The more it's used, the more amateurish it looks.

If I were you, I'd drop it and use lower case and make it clear in other ways he is shouting.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind and rethink what I wrote.

 

[tinkerdan]

It's really funny that in chat it has become the equivalent of shouting and rudeness.
My mother, whose vision is fading, started emailing everyone in caps so she could read it herself as she typed.
This brought horrible memories as I recalled how loud she could shout.

But seriously an exclamation point might help, but beyond that some other indicators.

"May I have your attention!"
Her voice rose above the din.
The room became silent.
All heads turned her way.
Children covered their ears.
The echo would last a lifetime.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

It can be done without being amateurish, but it's rare.

John Irving, in A Prayer for Owen Meany, has the title character speaking in all caps throughout -- because he has a distinctive high-pitched, strident voice, and it works to keep it in our minds how Owen sounds. You really don't notice it after the first few lines, as it's just Owen.

And Tom Cox, in 21st-Century Yokel, puts his father's lines in all caps, because his father is always loud and shouty about everything. From what I've seen on Twitter, the readers all (including me) seem to enjoy it.

Those are entire books using caps as a sort of plot device -- I certainly wouldn't blink at a line here or there in caps, for shouty things. But I think you'd have to go one way or the other -- either have it be a line or two, or an entire character's lines. It wouldn't work if it was just randomly dispersed.

 

[Onyx]

I think it is useful for contrast with previous exclamations:

"Bertie, where are you? Bertie! BERTIE!"

 

[Lafayette]

Would it be kosher here if I gave a sample from my story? The sample I have in mind is 284 words. Is that too much?

I believe I can add it as an attachment.

 

[Joshua Jones]

Would it be kosher here if I gave a sample from my story? The sample I have in mind is 284 words. Is that too much?

I believe I can add it as an attachment.

Well, you have enough posts to post it over in Critiques. That is where that sort of thing is usually done, and it gives an opportunity to get feedback beyond this one issue.

I would certainly be interested in taking a look at it...

 

[ZlodeyVolk]

I really wish people would stop abusing the term 'grammar'. Especially when they are speaking of typography.

 

[Onyx]

I really wish people would stop abusing the term 'grammar'. Especially when they are speaking of typography.

I believed punctuation, spelling and capitalization fell under the general heading of grammar, while typography is more about the visual style of fonts, indentation and other matters of the printing press. But I could certainly be confused, since language gets its grammar from the spoken word rather than written, and you can't hear punctuation or spelling.

Probably neither typography or grammar is spot on and we are supposed to refer to things like spelling without categorization.

 

[ZlodeyVolk]

As I understand it, the term 'grammar' denotes the conventions of word order, grouping, and alteration, to indicate the ways the words in any given utterance or piece of writing relate to each other, and facilitate comprehension, thereby. Insofar as apostrophe and the so-called possessive ess are concerned, punctuation may be involved in grammar, but only in writing, as you rightly observed.

However, you can hear punctuation and do hear punctuation, every time you speak or listen. A lot of people seem to think that it's purely decorative and therefore unnecessary; but it's actually meant to be a written representation of a spoken language's prosody: the characteristic ways in which pauses, stresses, and tones are used to group words into easily-understood groups, instead of being delivered in a headlong burst, like suppressing fire. Good punctuation is essential to natural-sounding dialogue, inasmuch as it represents prosody.

And spelling is spelling.

 

[Onyx]

However, you can hear punctuation and do hear punctuation, every time you speak or listen. A lot of people seem to think that it's purely decorative and therefore unnecessary; but it's actually meant to be a written representation of a spoken language's prosody: the characteristic ways in which pauses, stresses, and tones are used to group words into easily-understood groups, instead of being delivered in a headlong burst, like suppressing fire.

I think you could make the argument that spelling is to pronunciation as punctuation is to grammar. We spell how the words should sound and we punctuate how the sentence should sound. Punctuation, capitalization and spelling are tools for converting the spoken into written and back. We actually use capitalization like punctuation sometimes and spelling other times. A capital marks the beginning of a sentence like a period marks the end, but a capital letter marks word that is a proper name rather than a common word, and does it without a difference in spelling.

But I now fully agree that stuff isn't grammar. Grammar exists without written language.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

We spell how the words should sound

Or we would, if we weren't writing English.

 

[Onyx]

Or we would, if we weren't writing English.

Actually, that makes me wonder if there are any phonetic written languages? I bet not.

 

[ZlodeyVolk]

Or we would, if we weren't writing English.

You're not. You're writing Americanese.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

You're not. You're writing Americanese.

Oh, now, all the best parts of the bizarre spellings come from the British stuff -- through 57 other languages to get there. You guys just keep adding even more unnecessary letters.

 

[ZlodeyVolk]

Don't misunderstand me: Americanese has preserved many authentic English words. Let's face it, so-called Standard English is only thirty per cent English, at best. For real English, you need to look at the dialects—for example Geordie, which is about eighty per cent English.

 

[Onyx]

Oh, now, all the best parts of the bizarre spellings come from the British stuff -- through 57 other languages to get there. You guys just keep adding even more unnecessary letters.

If you traveled to the US you'll find we colored out the extra letters in a maneuver that makes English shine like aluminum. (4 letters saved.)

 

[ZlodeyVolk]

Aluminum is the element's original name. The Brits then changed it to the '-ium' ending so that it should rhyme with the names of the other metals, you see.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Ahem. We seem to have wandered a bit off topic, here.

Anyone have any more useful ideas regarding capitalization, English or American?