1

The phrase "it was his time" means that the subject is deceased. In other contexts that require the same meaning for "time" as this, would it be best to capitalize "time" to personify it as an omnipotent thing (or whatever) in the same way "God" is capitalized?

For example: "...to escape his inevitable time."

Yes or no?

| improve this question | |
  • 1
    We usually only capitalize names for God specifically, not for just anything that happens to be very powerful or inevitable. The exception would be if you are personifying Time as the name of a force of nature, but that's not usually going on in this kind of usage. – Bradd Szonye Mar 22 '14 at 20:43
  • 1
    To further elaborate on what @BraddSzonye has said: Capitalize proper nouns. Time is not a proper noun unless you are speaking of Time as some sort of deity or man. e.g. Old Man Time caught up with him. – David M Mar 22 '14 at 20:58
  • @DavidM Thanks! Though yours and Bradd's theses seem slightly disparate, do you think "time" should be a capitalized personification in the example sentence? – Daniel Mar 22 '14 at 21:07
  • 1
    Bradd and I are saying the same thing exactly. So, no, in that case I would not capitalize time. I would only do so in a case where you have personified it (Old Man Time, Time's unyielding fingers, etc. etc.) – David M Mar 22 '14 at 21:16
  • If you are writing informally or creatively, you are free to do as you please. That said, capitalizing is not generally used to signify importance in the way that you want, so it may get misunderstood as personification. – nxx Mar 23 '14 at 1:40
0

Unless time is at the beginning of a sentence or part of a title or name of some sort, it should not be capitalized, because it is a common noun. God is a person, and as such he gets a capital letter, whereas a god is not capitalized. Unless the noun in question is used as a name or title, as it clearly is not in his time, but is as in Father Time, it should not receive a capital letter.

| improve this answer | |
1

Here is the answer to your question: No.

| improve this answer | |

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.