Don’t Capitalize Animal Names Unless…
You know the difference between common and proper nouns/adjectives.
In this month’s Grammar for Regular People, we’ll dissect the difference between proper nouns, common nouns, and adjectives, specifically as they relate to animal names. Writing things like Grizzly Bear and Blue Whale is painful to the eye–and grammatically wrong–because bears and whales are common nouns no matter what adjectives you use to describe them, unless of course the adjective is proper…. Let’s get into it:
Do NOT Capitalize Common Nouns
Common nouns refer to a person, place, or thing. Animals are typically common nouns. Your pet dog, cat, or bird may have a fun proper name like Henry or Spice Biscuit, but their generic species (dog, cat, bird) is still a common noun. Could you imagine if I wrote Dog, Cat, and Bird in this sentence, capitalizing common nouns for no reason?
Even you might have noticed that feels strange. So why would it be different with common adjectives like grizzly and blue? It’s because sometimes there are proper adjectives combined with common nouns, and we all wish English would be consistent across the board and it is (ish)? Let me explain…
DO Capitalize Proper Nouns
Oh, Spice Biscuit, my loving fictional dog… We capitalize proper nouns because this indicates that we’re referring to one specific person, place, or thing.