Capital Letters

[Hopkirk]

My son reckons that when you write about a Bunsen burner, there needs to be a capital letter B for Bunsen.

His reasoning is that it is named after Mr Bunsen.

I was surprised at this, and wondered if he is correct?

[society]

Yes, son is correct. Bunsen is a name, and a proper noun.

[sandyRoe]

Robert Bunsen gave his name to it.

[Hopkirk]

It just looks wrong. I am talking about a thing not a person.

I'm proud of him though, he's cleverer than me and remembers everything he is taught.

[mike11111]

Your son is perfectly correct and a credit to both himself and his teachers. If only others of his generation would follow his example, there might be hope for us all yet.

[Hopkirk]

He has a interview for Cambridge next month - but for Maths, not English.

[wolf63]

How old is your son?

My little niece told her daddy about digraphs one night when she was doing her homework. My brother had no idea what she was talking about so went to check with my SIL (a teacher) who had never heard of the word either. My niece was in her first year of school and was 5 at the time.

When I was at school ...............





.

[mike11111]

Oh dear, you've just spoilt it. A student who is illiterate in English is hardly likely to be accepted by Cambridge to study any other discipline.

[starone]

An interview with Cambridge! Marvellous. You must be very proud of him. Has to be genius level at least.

[society]

Mike, read the OP again! Are you calling Hopkirk son illiterate?

[Hopkirk]

Illiterate in English Mike?

What gives you that impression?

[mike11111]

You have totally misunderstood me. Your point seemed to be that because he wanted to study Maths, proficiency in English did not matter. My point is that it DOES matter, whatever discipline one is studying,and that if your son were illiterate he would get nowhere near Cambridge. The fact that he has done so is testament to a good all-round education, of which both he and you should be justifiably proud. I sincerely hope he is successful.

[Hopkirk]

Ah, I see.

My comment about doing Maths not English, was simply a reference to the fact that we were discussing a point of English and no more.

He actually scored A* in English at GCSE.

[society]

"Oh dear, you've just spoilt it. A student who is illiterate in English is hardly likely to be accepted by Cambridge to study any other discipline. "

That ^^^ translated to mean - " Your point seemed to be that because he wanted to study Maths, proficiency in English did not matter. My point is that it DOES matter, whatever discipline one is studying,and that if your son were illiterate he would get nowhere near Cambridge. The fact that he has done so is testament to a good all-round education,"

You make no sense to me, Mike, I don't see your point.

[mike11111]

My point is that proficiency in spoken and written English is vital for communication at such a high academic level, irrespective of the subject being studied. As an ex teacher I have seen many student fails at the first hurdle for such a lack of proficiency. Do I make any sense now?

[Hopkirk]

I see where you are coming from Mike.

Thanks for the encouraging comments.

[askyourgran]

The item is eponymously named and therefore warrants the capital letter.

[Hopkirk]

It's interesting to note that people comment on the relentless rise of GCSE and A level grades.

However at the same time the universities keep raising their offers.

He has just had an offer from another university of A* A* A and grade 2 in Step, or A* A A and grade 1 in Step
(Step is a different Maths exam that many universties insist on.)

If this carries on they will need another grade above A*.

[mike11111]

Thank you Gran, couldn't have put it better myself.

[jno]

depends... some eponyms gradually lose their power and their capitalisation. Jumbo was an elephant, Hoover was a vacuum cleaner maker, Mesmer used to mesmerise people, Sade was sadistic... all those (probably) don't get capitals any more. On balance I think Bunsen probably still does, but it will probably lose it some day.

[jno]

I should probably say 'probably' less often.