0

At work, I am sending notifications out to individual students about their lecturer contacting them. My boss keeps writing the phrase “Your Lecturer will be in touch soon”, however I thought in this instance lecturer should be with a small l?

I’m using the British grammar system. As mentioned, these are letters going to individual students, so it is talking about a particular/their lecturer rather than in general, but the letter does not user the lecturer’s name or any other details besides lecturer.

Please help me as she keeps doing it and I keep changing it and now I'm not sure if I should.

Improve this question
3
  • 2
    If the boss thinks Lecturer is a job title, maybe it is. And the boss may not always be right, but always remains the boss. So accommodating the boss's style sheet does not make us a suck up and sellout, at least not both. Right?
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Apr 25, 2022 at 20:47
  • 1
    The boss would not refer to her Builder, her Plumber or her Dentist. Why does she imagine lecturer to be any different?
    – Anton
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 12:59
  • 2
    This question is similar to: Please tell me if 'president' should be capitalized here and proper capitalization of titles. If you believe it’s different, please edit the question, make it clear how it’s different and/or how the answers on that question are not helpful for your problem.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Sep 6 at 23:11

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

If it is a job title, then yes.

Please report any misprints to either Professor Jones or Lecturer Smith.

If it is a generic noun, then no.

Our department employs six lecturers but only one janitor.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    Lecturer (unlike Professor) even when it is (a part of) a formal title, is not usually used before the name. The usual short form of referring to John Smith, Lecturer in English, is Dr Smith or Mr Smith.
    – jsw29
    Commented Jul 15 at 21:34
1

There does seem to be some indication that you, and not your boss, are correct in this case.

A couple of links that might be helpful:

https://www.grammarbook.com/blog/capitalization/capitalization-with-job-titles/

https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/capitalization/capitalization-of-job-titles.html

In short, official job titles that come before a person’s name are capitalized, as in Doctor Tanner, or Director of Marketing Jenna Cooper. They should also be capitalized at the ends of formal letters and emails. However, if they are preceded by “the,” they do not need to be capitalized. Take for instance the following: “Trisha Wong, the department coordinator, will not be attending the meeting.”

Some official job titles are also capitalized, though this seems to depend on the person. However, I wouldn’t do it in the case of “Your lecturer,” just as I wouldn’t with “Your doctor.” This is me applying the determiner rule above and including “your” in addition to “the.”

In the end, it’s not that serious, and I would defer to your boss’s preference, or bring it up with her if it really irks you and you have a familiar relationship with your boss.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Thanks buddy. Thing is, that is just one instance of bad grammar on communications going to students, and it’s coming from a university!
    – GrammarForWork
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 11:20

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