Language is a living organism that develops and evolves through strict rules that govern it. One of these rules is the capitalization of proper nouns. Most often, writers do not make mistakes when capitalizing London, Mount Everest, or the Atlantic Ocean. Still, there are geographical distribution hubs that are mistakenly lowercased more often than not. One example of such a location is a large lake that stretches through two states of the US South. Ensuring that people remember to capitalize lake texoma should be capitalized is important for maintaining clarity in the text, as well as keeping the writer’s reputation.

To understand why some place titles should always be capitalized

One needs to understand what proper nouns are. In short, they are common nouns that gain specificity. For example, ‘city’, ‘mountain’, ‘lake’, and ‘river’ are categories of geographical locations. However, these terms are common nouns and should not be capitalized when writing. In contrast, specific places such as Paris, Mount Fuji, or Lake Michigan require the capitalization of their respective common noun category. The following examples demonstrate common nouns vs. proper nouns:

• I want to visit a river.
• We spent the day on the Mississippi River.
• She likes to camp near the lake.
• Boaters have been enjoying Lake Texoma this weekend.

When a writer decides to make the entire phrase out of a common and proper noun, they should always capitalize the common noun. Therefore, lake texoma should be capitalized should always be capitalized as well. The reason for this lies in the fact that style guides advise always capitalizing common words that come together with proper nouns to create specific phrases. Thus, a lot of style guides, from Chicago Manual of Style to Associated Press, require capitalization in such cases.

Why Did You Decapitalize Lake Texoma?

When one sees an informal chat or a social media post, they would not expect to see strict grammar rules. Therefore, if someone sees the phrase ‘going to Lake Texoma’ in such a context, chances are, they will understand it as is. However, the casual text message style does not translate to other types of writing.

When a writer forgets to capitalize proper nouns, it makes their text look unprofessional and careless. After all, the very role of punctuation is to serve as a tool for quick visual analysis of the text. This visual analysis is essential to comprehension. Decapitalizing proper nouns takes away from this tool and requires more cognitive effort. The same goes for the search engine optimization and searchability of the text. As such, the overall readability and search engine optimization suffer when one forgets to capitalize proper nouns in their writing.

Capitalization Shows Respect for Proper Titles and Their History

Proper titles need to be capitalized. The reason for this is twofold: first, the title capitalization is a universal indicator that the phrase describes a specific entity. As discussed earlier, proper title capitalization is important for the overall readability of a text. Second, it shows respect for the existence of specific entities. For example, one would not refer to Mount Rushmore or Grand Canyon as ‘mount rushmore’ or ‘grand canyon’. Following this example, one should also capitalize Lake Texoma. After all, this is the proper title of the largest reservoir in the South, and it was capitalized in formal writing. This is a sign of respect for its unique status as a landmark of the region, as well as the local history and culture.

Tips for Perfect Grammar

One of the most common reasons why people make grammar mistakes is that they forget the grammar rules in the first place. Luckily for the writer, there are very few rules to remember when it comes to proper title capitalization. First, it is important to capitalize all of your proper title words. In other words, do not forget that the common noun part of the phrase needs capitalization as well. Second, avoid using improper formats, such as Texoma Lake. As the proper title of the landmark is Lake Texoma, it is important to remember this in one’s writing. Finally, it is possible to refer to the lake as ‘the lake’, lowercased, after specifying which one it is.

Conclusion

Overall, it is essential to remember grammar rules. This is the only way to ensure that the text is easily readable and punctuated correctly. At the same time, remembering grammar rules also serves as a demonstration of one’s respect for the proper titles and unique existence of various entities. After all, one would not refer to Mount Rushmore as ‘mount rushmore’ any more than one would refer to lake texoma should be capitalized as ‘lake texoma’.