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In the Olde Days when people wrote letters/documents, etc they would selectively Capitalize certain Words. (English)

1. Why was this Done?
2. What was the Criteria for a word to be Capitalized?
3. When did the Practice die out and Why?

2006-11-16 13:17:51 · 2 answers · asked by AmigaJoe 3 in Education & Reference Words & Wordplay

2 answers

1. to add emphasis to a word which might otherwise not have enough "weight" applied to it

2. It depends purely on the word you wish to stress

3. It hasn't completely, I sometimes do it myself.

EG:

"The girl with the Red hat" might make you notice that the fact that the hat is *red* is important

"The girl with the red Hat" however moves focus to the fact that she was wearing a red *hat* and not perhaps a red scarf.

It is less popular now as folks tend to either use Bold or they Italicize the words the need to stand out more.

2006-11-16 13:29:59 · answer #1 · answered by Mark T 6 · 0 0

1) for Emphasis on Certain words

2) the speaker Considered it Important

3) died out after Literacy began to Spread in Europe, b/c it became useless for everyone to Waste Time doing it

2006-11-16 21:28:52 · answer #2 · answered by forex 3 · 0 0

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