{"id":1790,"date":"2021-11-16T17:48:07","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T17:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/?page_id=1790"},"modified":"2021-11-16T17:48:10","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T17:48:10","slug":"capitalizing-school-subjects-readers-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/grammar-punctuation-and-mechanics\/capitalization\/capitalization-and-school-subjects\/capitalizing-school-subjects-readers-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitalizing School Subjects: Reader&#8217;s Inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/124\/2021\/11\/learning-gea2336a35_640.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/124\/2021\/11\/learning-gea2336a35_640.jpg?resize=640%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1791\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/124\/2021\/11\/learning-gea2336a35_640.jpg?w=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/124\/2021\/11\/learning-gea2336a35_640.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First Published: 16th of November, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last updated: November 16, 2021 at 17:48 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A reader of my blog, after reading the article, <a href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/grammar-punctuation-and-mechanics\/capitalization\/capitalization-and-school-subjects\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Capitalization and School Subjects<\/a>, contacted me via email with the following inquiry: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dear Mr. Carper,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have just found your website on the Internet and I really hope that you can help me and supply an answer to my question (it\u2019s about a bet with an author of English school books for Austrian children):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Has there ever been a time when standard school subjects (math, geography, etc. \u2013 apart from languages like French, Italian, etc.) were written with an initial capital letter in English (<strong>M<\/strong>ath,&nbsp;<strong>G<\/strong>eography, etc.)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you much for your very much appreciated answer in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Christian Danzmair<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Linz\/Austria<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">My Response<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hi Christian,<br>Thanks for reaching out. Not that I know about, but then again, I don&#8217;t know everything. So many weird things have been happening in the English Language that it&#8217;s still possible that the rule changed from time to time in some countries, but I can assure you that it never happened in Canada where I got most of my English education. All in all, it&#8217;s very unlikely since it would have to be officially documented and remnants of that rule would still be found &#8211; but I haven&#8217;t found any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think the confusion might have come about because school subjects are often used in a listed item format, and these tend to be capitalized. Example: Science students will study the following subjects:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Mathematics <\/li><li>English <\/li><li>Geography <\/li><li>Physics <\/li><li>French<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>Also, when writing up timetables, because the subject stands alone, the first letter is capitalized, and that might lead people to subconsciously think that the first letter is usually capitalized. Naturally, we also capitalize the first letter when it comes at the start of the sentence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mathematics is my favorite subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I hate mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In high school, I studied French, English, physics, and mathematics.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But:\u00a0<br>In high school, I studied:<br>French<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">English<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Physics<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>Based on these factors, it&#8217;s easy for someone, without having learned the official rule, to think that school subjects need to be capitalized. And logically, it does seem so, as it fits the requirements for being a proper noun.\u00a0<br>However, the rule is the rule, and if we want to excel at English, we have to follow the rules. You may find this article interesting:\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/discussions\/even-the-university-gets-it-wrong-sometimes\/\">https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/discussions\/even-the-university-gets-it-wrong-sometimes\/<\/a><br><br>Cheers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First Published: 16th of November, 2021. A reader of my blog, after reading the article, Capitalization and School Subjects, contacted me via email with the following inquiry: Dear Mr. Carper, <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/grammar-punctuation-and-mechanics\/capitalization\/capitalization-and-school-subjects\/capitalizing-school-subjects-readers-inquiry\/\">Continue Reading &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1047,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,62,25,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1790","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-advanced-english","category-discussions","category-english-grammar","category-writing-skills"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Capitalizing School Subjects: Reader&#039;s Inquiry - English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/grammar-punctuation-and-mechanics\/capitalization\/capitalization-and-school-subjects\/capitalizing-school-subjects-readers-inquiry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Capitalizing School Subjects: Reader&#039;s Inquiry - English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First Published: 16th of November, 2021. 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