Page 100 - 4126
P. 100

header.  Don't  duplicate  in  your  signature  any  material  you  have  in
                           your e-mailhead.

                           Capitalizing, and other odd things.

                           Business  communication  requires  proper  use of  written  language.  It
                           requires  proper  use  of  capital  letters.  Some  offices  permit  -  even
                           encourage - all  lower-case for internal  memos. But, this  is rude and
                           slovenly  when  used  for  inter-company  communications.  Would  you
                           write  a  business  letter  on  company  letterhead  using  all  lower-case?
                           We hope not!

                           Specifics

                           1.  internet - is a generic term, not a proper noun. Use lower case and
                              capitalize  only  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence.  (However,  many
                              journalists  are  capitalizing  Internet.  By  today's  rules,  this  is  not
                              correct,  but  English  is  a  living  language  with  custom  a  major
                              factor. In time, it may be correct to capitalize Internet.)
                           2.  intranet  -  is  a  common  noun.  Capitalize  at  the  beginning  of  a
                              sentence  and  when  the  word  has  been  particularized  -  as  in  the
                              IBM Intranet (like the Ohio River), but: IBM's intranet.
                           3.  World Wide Web - should be capitalized, according to Webster's.
                              (However,  by  the  same  rule,  other things  of  the  same  class  like
                              gopher and archie should be capitalized, too. As these are rarely
                              capitalized,  you may decide not to capitalize  “world wide web.”
                              Whatever you choose, be consistent.)
                           4.  The initials, WWW, which stand for “World Wide Web,” should
                              be  in  capitals.  (But  Webster's  does  not  always  capitalize
                              abbreviations.  If  you  capitalize  the  whole  phrase,  capitalize  the
                              abbreviation, and vice versa.)
                           5.  e-mail  -  the  “e”  is  always  lower  case.  At  the  beginning  of  a
                              sentence,  the  “M”  is  capitalized  –  as  in  e-Mail.  And  the  word
                              should be hyphenated. (“email” - no hyphen - means “enamel” in
                              German and French.)
                           6.  on-line  -  should  be  hyphenated,  not  written  solid  (online).
                              However,  “Online”  is  commonly  used  in  trade  names  (eg.
                                                           100
   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105