Letras may?sculas (capital letters)

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mariel

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Apr 7, 2004
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When I was young and innocent (now I'm just "and" :p) I was taught that the correct way to write a sentence like the name of a book or the name of a city, using caps, is:

- El valle de Lil?s. El because you always write a cap letter at the beginning of a sentence and Lil?s because it's a proper name (nombre propio).

- El centro de los h?roes.

- "Del amor y otros demonios" (by Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez).

But now I'm confused. I have seen in many newspapers (locals and from other Latin countries and Spain) that they would write the 3 examples above like:

- El Valle de Lil?s.

- El Centro de los H?roes.

- "Del Amor y Otros Demonios".

Which way is the correct way?

TIA
 
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Norma Rosa

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Feb 20, 2007
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- El Valle de Lil?s. Correct if the valley is so named, (proper noun).

- El Centro de los H?roes. Correct (same reason above stated.)

- "Del Amor y Otros Demonios". Wrong. Del amor y otros demonios.

Furthermore, novels should be underlined, quotation marks are for short stories.
 
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Norma Rosa

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I wanted to add this to my post above:


Rae states that nouns and adjectives in a book title can be written with capital letters if the title is short. Nonetheless, however an author writes a heading, right or wrong, it should be respected by all those quoting the work.
 
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mariel

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Apr 7, 2004
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Norma:

What's the criteria for me to determine when I should write "El Valle..." or "El Centro..."? Is it because I'm talking about a specific place, as opposed to say "voy para el valle" (whichever)?

Thanks for the advice so far.
 
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Norma Rosa

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Feb 20, 2007
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mariel said:
Norma:

What's the criteria for me to determine when I should write "El Valle..." or "El Centro..."? Is it because I'm talking about a specific place, as opposed to say "voy para el valle" (whichever)?

Thanks for the advice so far.
Click to expand...

Not because you are talking about a specific place, but because you are calling that place by its proper noun. If the article (el, la, los, las) or the geographic feature (valle, lago, sierra, etc.) are part of the name, they should be written with capital letters.

1. Sierra Nevada (Here "sierra" is part of the name.)

2. la sierra de Madrid (Here I am talking about that mountain range in Madrid; "sierra" is not part of the name.)

3. Vivo en Los ?ngeles. ("Los" is part of the name of this city.)

I will post you a good link when I find it.
 
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