skyliner  +  588296 Mon, 17 Nov 08 12:57 AM Hi, I have a problem. I am not sure of the convention or rule governing the correct use, or not, of the initial capital letter of a name or the first letter of a sentence when the original capital letter has been replaced by an apostrophe, as in written dialect, for instance. e.g. -  "Mr. 'Ammond..." or "Mr. 'ammond...". "'E 'ad it, Miss." or "'e 'ad it, Miss." Any help would be most gratefully received! Many thanks. Peter skyliner Joined on Mon, Nov 17 2008 New Member 02 Capital Letters, Dialects, Apostrophes

	Grammar Geek  +  588327 Mon, 17 Nov 08 03:25 AM Hi Skyliner, and welcome to English Forums. I believe that in novels I've read in which the characters are shows speaking in dialects, they keep the convention of capitalizing the first letter, so "Mr. 'Ammond" and "'E 'ad it, Miss," would be what I expect to see. If you leave out the capital letters, you'll look like you're trying to write like e.e. cummings.   Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,652 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random! Capital Letters, Dialects, Apostrophes

	skyliner  +  588427 Mon, 17 Nov 08 11:22 AM Many thanks Grammar Geek, Your reply makes for great relief as I had had conflicting advice and the prospect of correcting a 400 page MSS was not an appealing one! Regards Peter skyliner Grammar, Apostrophes