When capitalising a proper noun that has a “the” prefix, should the “the” be capitalised?
Eg:
“This puts the Union at risk”
or:
“This puts The Union at risk”
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1To be polite, one would ask the union how it wishes to be represented.– chosterNov 20, 2018 at 14:33
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@choster you are funny :)– CarlyNov 20, 2018 at 14:34
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1@Carly No, I am dead serious. Which union are we talking about, and what is its official name and the official way it prefers to be preferred?– chosterNov 20, 2018 at 14:38
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Then, as a dead serious man, please, give me the Waze address of this Union, so that I might ask it myself, and that it might instruct me, from its unimaginable lips, on how English and logic should bend to accommodate its ego. Or must I interface with its representative, incarnate in man? Caesar non supra grammaticos, @choster. Wake up.– CarlyNov 20, 2018 at 14:48
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1 Answer
The is not capitalized unless you're in a title or at the beginning of a sentence. It is not a proper noun and putting the t in majuscule would not carry any meaning. In fact, with proper nouns that have "the" within them, that the is also not capitalized (take, as a fictitious example, "the United Federation of the Baltic States").
The is a definite article. Glue that lives between other words. Mind you that some languages don't even have definite articles, so, yea.
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1As various other questions have covered, if the is considered part of the name, it is capitalized, as with The Ohio State University or The New York Times Company.– chosterNov 20, 2018 at 14:37
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It is a matter of style and not necessity in your examples. When "the" morphs as you have described into part of the proper noun, then by those rules yes, it would be capitalized. Tautology, how quaint to catch your fair self so early this morning. "If it's capitalized, it's capitalized." Well thanks, to say nothing of how it could get there, or if it even belongs there.– CarlyNov 20, 2018 at 14:52