Kathie in VA Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 We are prepping for end of year tests and I must be losing it because I'm having trouble with my 7th grader's work: Choose the sentence that uses correct capitalization: a- The Democratic candidate was Mayor of the state's largest city. b- His opponent had been governor for eight years. c- His campaign was helped by an endorsement from Senator Gomez. d- The President of the Police Association backed the other party. My ds chose a. The correct answer is: c. Okay, this does seem correctly capitalized. But, does this means that the word "mayor" in "a" should not be capitalized and the word "governor" in "b" should be capitalized?? TIA for helping me find my mind.... ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 We are prepping for end of year tests and I must be losing it because I'm having trouble with my 7th grader's work: Choose the sentence that uses correct capitalization: a- The Democratic candidate was Mayor of the state's largest city. b- His opponent had been governor for eight years. c- His campaign was helped by an endorsement from Senator Gomez. d- The President of the Police Association backed the other party. My ds chose a. The correct answer is: c. Okay, this does seem correctly capitalized. But, does this means that the word "mayor" in "a" should not be capitalized and the word "governor" in "b" should be capitalized?? TIA for helping me find my mind.... ;) I had some of the same thoughts. Mayor should not be capitalized, IMO, but neither should governor be capitalized. According to my grammar (Abeka G&C IV): "Titles following a name or used alone in place of a name are not usually capitalized unless used in direct address." Neither one of those nouns is a noun of direct address. What grammar book is this? I wonder if this is an error. Can someone else help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyinNNV Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 I had some of the same thoughts. Mayor should not be capitalized, IMO, but neither should governor be capitalized. According to my grammar (Abeka G&C IV): "Titles following a name or used alone in place of a name are not usually capitalized unless used in direct address." Neither one of those nouns is a noun of direct address. What grammar book is this? I wonder if this is an error. Can someone else help? I agree with you, Michelle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathie in VA Posted May 19, 2009 Author Share Posted May 19, 2009 Just to clarify, this is not from a 'grammar book' ... it's worse then that .... it's from a test prep booklet: "How to Get Better Test Scores" LA grade 7 from Perfection Learning (got it from BJU) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 You know, I hate to say this, but I think the grammar book is wrong. We seem to have a growing consensus here regarding the proper capitalization. You might also do a double-check with some online grammar resources, but I just can't see either one of those nouns being capitalized. If it's any consolation, I also found myself correcting the answer key to Wordly Wise 3000, which we used for years. It's a great program, but the answer key is not error-free! I would go ahead and make the necessary corrections, and then send an e-mail to BJUP informing them of this error. Just my .02 worth! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 We are prepping for end of year tests and I must be losing it because I'm having trouble with my 7th grader's work: Choose the sentence that uses correct capitalization: a- The Democratic candidate was Mayor of the state's largest city. b- His opponent had been governor for eight years. c- His campaign was helped by an endorsement from Senator Gomez. d- The President of the Police Association backed the other party. My ds chose a. The correct answer is: c. Okay, this does seem correctly capitalized. But, does this means that the word "mayor" in "a" should not be capitalized and the word "governor" in "b" should be capitalized?? TIA for helping me find my mind.... ;) I think both B and C are correct. Mayor, governor, and president should all be lowercase in these sentences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2quilt Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Letter c is correct because the title proceeds the person's name. However b is correct also, because it is used alone and shouldn't be capitalized. So there is an error. I too have had a lot of corrections when using Wordly Wise. You would think the publishers would proof their work better. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornflower Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I agree that both b and c are correct. Cornflower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathie in VA Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Well thanks to all for double checking me on this. I probably will send this to BJU press to let them know their test prep book is wrong here. I get that mistakes happen in published materials. However, what really concerns me are the actual standardized tests. They take the tests back and we never see the answer key. How do we know their answer keys are right?? :confused: Yes on one hand, if something is wrong all the kids are dealing with the same thing. But, on the other hand, some kids may incorrectly pick the wrong answer that turns out to match the ans key, and others will get it wrong when they should have gotten it right. ug. ...And we put how much weight on standarized tests? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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