Auto Capitalization

[The DixieFlatline]

I've noticed that in Word, if a sentence starts with a speech mark, ie "How
are you?" Word will not capitalize the first letter of the sentence. Is
there a way to make it do so?

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Use the same shift key that you used to type the quotation mark (not
"speech mark").

 

[Stefan Blom]

The auto capitalization (apparently) cannot deal with all possible
situations. But, as Peter wrote, since you have to press Shift anyway to
insert the quotation mark, manual capitalization will be very easy in this
case.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

"It would be impossible," Peter might have written, "for a mere word
processing program to determine when and when not to capitalize a
letter after a quotation mark." I used the word "impossible" once in
that sentence.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Indeed.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP



"It would be impossible," Peter might have written, "for a mere word
processing program to determine when and when not to capitalize a
letter after a quotation mark." I used the word "impossible" once in
that sentence.

 

[The DixieFlatline]

If it follows a full stop, it's a new sentence. I know it's only a slight
annoyance, but with my slow two-fingered typing any aid is a comfort. BTW I
was taught at school that the terms "speech mark" and "quotation mark" are
interchangeable; one is technical usage, the other more informal.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Curious. When and where was your school?

I can certainly come up with examples where the first word inside the
quotation marks is capitalized even if the quotation doesn't follow a
period (or question mark or exclamation point).

It really isn't hard to tearn to type with ten fingers. Any secondhand
bookstore will have old typing manuals (you don't need a computer
program!), and if you practice the first few lessons for maybe 20
minutes a day, over a week or so, you'll be amazed what you can
accomplish. (Don't be frightened by how thick the book is -- mostly
they're teaching secretaries how to format business letters and such.)

 

[The DixieFlatline]

My schooling was many years ago, but I did come away with an o-level in
English Language. One thing we were taught was that there's times and places
when absolutely correct speech is needed, and others when insistance on it
was merely pedantry. (Polite cough.)
Yes, I know there's cases where it is/isn't capitalized, but it's _always_
capitalized after a full stop, exclamation- or question-mark, which is why I
wondered whether I'd missed something in settings to turn it on; it seemed a
small point.
I've tried to learn the old ten-finger business, but I'm afraid too many
years of bad habits have got in the way. My ten finger typing is ever worse,
and slower than, my two finger typing lol

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

My schooling was many years ago, but I did come away with an o-level in

Aha! You're in the Eastern Hemisphere! (Then why call yourself
"Dixie"?)

English Language. One thing we were taught was that there's times and places
when absolutely correct speech is needed, and others when insistance on it
was merely pedantry. (Polite cough.)

It's odd to have encountered that enlightened attitude "many years
ago" -- unless your use of "many" is a lot smaller than mine! There
was a huge furore over here when the "descriptivist" Third
International Dictionary was publlished by Merriam-Webster in 1961.

Yes, I know there's cases where it is/isn't capitalized, but it's _always_
capitalized after a full stop, exclamation- or question-mark, which is why I
wondered whether I'd missed something in settings to turn it on; it seemed a
small point.

It's easier to type a capital than to uncapitalize a wrongly
capitalized letter.

I've tried to learn the old ten-finger business, but I'm afraid too many
years of bad habits have got in the way. My ten finger typing is ever worse,
and slower than, my two finger typing lol

It just takes a little practice (using basic exercises).

 

[The DixieFlatline]

Eastern? I think not. I'm a tad over 100 miles west of Greenwich, a bit more
by road. The Dixie Flattline is a character in Neuromancer by William Gibson.
To cut a long story short, he is dead and lives only in a computer. I was
house-bound for a fair while and almost lived on the internet, so it seemed
an appropriate nickname.

Guess you're right about the disadvantages outweighing the advantages re:
the speech mark thing.

Yes, I do manage to stumble along with ten fingers (is "stumble the right
word, when applied to fingers? hmm...) but as soon as I need to pick up the
pace, or get interested in what I'm doing, I forget and regress to the faster
two fingers. Ah well, Any Road ... as George Harrison might have said.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I've seen two-finger "hunt and peck" typists (journalists, especially) who
could type that way faster than I can touch-type, though if you have to look
at the keyboard (and most accomplished hunt-and-peckers don't), then you're
limited to composing rather than typing from handwritten or printed copy.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[The DixieFlatline]

Half 'n' half. for most oft the time I don't have to look at the keyboard,
but long-ingrained habit means that I tend to. It does tend to slow me down a
bit when copying, but I seem to cope.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I have the same issue with touch-typing. I don't look at the keyboard, but I
do look at the typing I'm producing (on screen now, formerly on paper with a
typewriter). Although I can type perfectly well without looking at the
screen (while looking at copy), it makes me very nervous for some reason.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Would "Old World" be better?

I stopped reading SF cold turkey when Heinlein became a hippie (a
right-wing hippie, no less) -- I even tried Neuromancer because it was
so highly acclaimed but couldn't get even a few pages into it.

 

[The DixieFlatline]

I was the same with Neuromancer, but owning an unread book is almost like
tooth-ache with me, I just can't leave it be, and the second time I tried it
I loved it, lord knows why; maybe I was just in a more receptive mood. I must
have been desperate for something to read, if I picked up a book I'd not
liked the firsdt time around.
Yes, Heinlein went a bit (or a lot) odd. His early stuff is still some of
the best S-F ever written though. I'm so glad you called it S-F not sci-fi ...
Old World eh? I take it you're one of those damned colonial revolutionary
chappies then? Eh, what?

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

You would diss the land that gave you just about every great SF writer
in the canon?

I was getting Asimov and Heinlein from the Young Adults section of the
library when I was 5.

 

[The DixieFlatline]

Good point, re the writers. I did go to the same school as a certain Mr
Clarke, though, albeit a few years later and in a different building ...

5? You started early. My first novel was a Biggles, aged about 6 or 7. First
SF would have been Andre Norton or Hugh Walters. I definitely remember my
first Heinlein though - Starman Jones, probably followed by my Dad's
collection of Asimov and Clarke. I also remember the librarian letting me use
the adult ibrary two years early, to borrow the Stainless Steel Rat novels
and the Lensmen series.

Ah, the golden years of youth ...

 

[The DixieFlatline]

I meant to mention ...
If you stopped reading SF when Heinein went odd, you've missed all of Iain M
Banks' work. It might tempt you back ...
(Incomplete sentences, a habit I picked up from Arthur C Clarke ...)

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Nothing wrong with incomplete sentences.

I don't know who Biggles, Walters, Stainless Steel Rat, or Banks are.
I don't think I read (though I did buy) Asimov's last two or three
novels. I had already discovered that he is unrereadable -- he
provided story, not style -- and his ego and sexism the several times
I met him or saw him on TV were awfully offputting.

I did ask him why he had never written anything on linguistics (my
field), and he did say he had to know something about a topic before
he wrote about it ... and I always regretted that I didn't think of
asking how he kept up on current research in his fields (since he was
notoriously reclusive). He went to P D Q Bach concerts and G & S
Society meetings, and to SF conventions if they didn't require flying.

Is Lensmen the Doc Smith series? I did try him once, because Asimov
said he was so important, but he was more like Agatha Christie: didn't
play fair with the reader.

Isn't John Brunner English also? And John Wyndham.

 

[The DixieFlatline]

Biggles was a Flying Ace type. Hugh Walters wrote basically the same sort of
thig, but set in space, and to be honest I can't remember a single plot, but
I loved 'em at the time. The SSR was a Harry Harrison series of novels, since
"sequalled" to death andDoc Smith's lensmen is definitley only readable until
about the age of 15, tops, even if they're not actually classed as juveniles.
Banks is sort of space-opera for adults, galactic in scope but without all
the empire and blue-jawed heroics. He's written some good none-genre novels
as well, under the same name but minus the middle initial.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Asimov had a near eidic memory and
was a very fast reader.

Yep! Both were English, Eric Frank Russel, too; another oft passed-over
great. It's odd, I can think of English, Scottish and Irish SF writers, but
no Welsh.