I've already looked around for an answer to this question, but many answers contradict each other. What I'd like to know is whether or not different animal breeds are capitalized in professional writing. If I'm writing about my dog, Loki, would I say that he's a "samoyed" or a "Samoyed" pup?
Learn English – Capitalizing the names of different animal breeds
capitalizationdifferencesnounsword-choice
Related Solutions
Note that could is the past form of can, and might is the past form of may.
Past forms of these words are used in subjunctive and conditional constructions.
I can go to the cinema is a statement that you are able to go without any external conditions being in the way. (But the statement stops short of making a commitment: namely that you will go to the cinema.)
I could go the cinema. has multiple interpretations. One is that it's an incomplete conditional thought. You could go to the cinema, if what? It can also be uttered by someone who is in the middle of making a decision. What should I do tonight? Hmm, I could go to the cinema.
Quite possibly, in this kind of reasoning, the speaker, to some extent, externalizes the internal conditions on which the decision hinges. It is not simply true that the speaker can go to the cinema, because that is only possible if he doesn't choose some other mutually exclusive activity for the evening which precludes going to the cinema. That may be semantic the basis for why the conditional-making past participle is used for such statements.
I could go to the cinema tonight or I could go clubbing. I know! If I catch an early movie I can go to the cinema and I can go clubbing.
Now about may. I may go to the cinema is very similar to I can go the cinema, but as a native speaker, you know the difference between can and may being that between ability and permission or possibility.
Furthermore, modern English, the semantics of can stretches to cover that of may (but only in the area of permission, rather than possibility). Children frequently ask grownups permission using can I rather than may I.
I may go to the cinema has at least two possible meanings. One is that the speaker's privilege for that outing depends on permission from some authority. I can go to the cinema can still imply that, depending on the context. For instance, it obviously does in My dad said I can go to the cinema tonight.
But I may go to the cinema also has another meaning: that of possibility, and it means that going to the cinema is on the speaker's short list of possible activities. If an adult states that he or she may go to the cinema, of course we assume this interpretation, and not that the adult has permission from someone else. And I might go to the cinema means approximately the same thing.
The difference between I could go the cinema and I might/may go to the cinema is that the former is associated with reasoning about conditions or alternatives, whereas the latter is just a statement of possibility. The former statement informs us about a decision-making process going on inside the speaker, whereas the latter statement informs us that it is possible that the speaker will later be found at the cinema.
Something might happen and something may happen are not exactly the same, because might is used when conditions are attached. For example, if you lean over the rail, you might fall is more correct than if you lean over the rail, you may fall because you may fall states a possibility which is not conditional on anything. The verb might can substitute for may in expressing a pure unconditional possibility, but the reverse isn't true.
I would very definitely NOT capitalise each line: it makes it harder to read and I know of no reason why this should be done.
I also would NOT capitalise "Anniversary" where it's used just as part of the sentence, even if that is what is being recognised. It might be acceptable to capitalise it in a heading / title, but not just in a sentence.
Yes, there should be a comma after Los Angeles.
Best Answer
For our veterinary journals, we have a style guide that tells us which dog and cat breed names to capitalize. The list is based on entries in The American Heritage Dictionary (our company's standard). If the breed isn't listed in that dictionary, we editors come to a consensus and add it to our style guide.
Basically, however, if the breed does not contain a place name or a proper name (like the King Charles spaniel or Jack Russell terrier), it is spelled with all lower case letters. A few examples: we would use Labrador retriever but golden retriever; English springer spaniel but cocker spaniel; Scottish terrier but fox terrier. Samoyed would be capitalized (because as one commenter stated it is also the name of a nomadic people in Siberia). Also, note that Dalmatians are named after Dalmatia, so that breed name is capitalized.
This is essentially a matter of style. The American Kennel Club capitalizes all dog breed names, it appears. I think if you are consistent and have a rationale for how you capitalize the breed names, that will work just fine in professional writing. Also, if you submit your writing for publication somewhere, an editor will help you follow that publication's style. This is not something to concern yourself with too greatly. Just don't spell Dalmatian as "Dalmation," and you will be fine.
(Loki, the god of mischief...does he live up to his name?)