Do I have to capitalize?

Question

Do I have to capitalize when naming diseases in the middle of sentences. I just had a paper back and the teacher scrached the hole thing and capitalized each disease that I named in the paper.
i.e. "In the tropics, African natives were more protected and familiarizad with diseases such as Smallpox and Malaria.

Is that right???

By the way... it was supposed to be in APA style... does is have to do anything with it?

I'm in the US..Florida

Answer 1

Unless the disease has a person's name (Epstein-Barr virus) it should not be capitalized. I assume you are in the US. In Britain there are some who capitalize all nouns, probably left over from the Saxons.

Answer 2

I've never heard of capitalizing disease names, even for APA format. I've done some papers using the style before, and that's certainly never been something that I've been asked to do.

The following is what I found online:

"APA Style Capitalization

Of course, there will always be some confusion and disagreement when it comes to capitalization, because there is always some degree of disagreement when it comes to deciding what is important and what is not. APA style does offer the following guidelines.

You should capitalize:

First word of each sentence, and the first word after a colon, if it is an independent clause

Proper nouns, trade names (brand names of drugs, equipment, and food)

Names of university departments if they apply to a specific department at a specific university. For example, you can write, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, but do not capitalize "the first psychology course I took ..."

Nouns followed by numerals or letters, as in the case of denoting the days of an experiment, or the title of a table or figure (Day 1 of the experiment, Table 4, Figure B, etc.)

Titles of tests (Advanced Vocabulary Test, Scholastic Aptitude Test, etc.)

Names of factors, variables, and effects within your analysis of research

Again, if you are in doubt, consult a Webster's dictionary, APA style book, or ask your professor or advisor."

In short, you go by the ordinary rules of capitalization for the English language. I think your teacher needs to review his/her grammar.

Answer 3

As a rule, capital letters are used to mark proper nouns as opposed to common nouns which are not capitalized. Names of diseases mostly fall under the category of common nouns and are therefore not capitalized ex. cancer, tuberculosis, epilepsy, gastro-enteritis, etc.
(Note, however, that Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are capitalized but only because they were named after the discoverers which are proper names.) The best and reliable gauge whether a word should be capitalized or not is to look it up in the dictionary.

It appears, then, that your teacher is being arbitrary in capitalizing the names of diseases.

Answer 4

not all diseases are capitalized...i can't imagine writing "My mother is a Cancer patient" or "I had a Fever"..
Usually, the trick is, most diseases which are specific in nature and of more than one word are capitalized... notice that most single word diseases such as flu, cold, etc are not capitalized... likewise, it is not appropriate to capitalize smallpox and malaria

Answer 5

I don't know where you're writing from, but this is what's in the Australian style manual about the whole business (I'm an Aussie, so I use the Australian reference):

"Unless they contain a proper name, disease and virus names do not take an initial capital either."

I'd suggest double-checking with an appropriate manual for your country and culture, or with the preferred manual for your school.

Answer 6

It depends is which disease. It must be capitalized if it is a rare or specific disease, like Smallpox and Malaria. Some common diseases such as a cold, does not need to be capitalized.

Answer 7

No, it is not.
Do not capitalize the names of diseases or other medical terms except for proper nouns that are part of the names.
eg:
influenza, smallpox and malaria
BUT
Down’s syndrome

Answer 8

"Malaria" and "smallpox" are not usually capitalized (they aren't proper nouns), but some diseases like "AIDS" and "Hodgkin's lymphoma" are capitalized for various reasons.

You might want to review the capitalization rules found at http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp and discuss them with your teacher.

Answer 9

Ask her if you should write "I have a Cold". If she says no, then ask her what is the difference. I sense some kind of political agenda here.

Answer 10

yes and no like Cancer or (cancer) would be nice.