geometry

Hi,

Does the word "geometry" in this sentence need to be capitalized?

"I had taken geometry in college."

Hello, Nick. There is no need to capitalize "geometry" in your sentence. This is just the name of a subject and not a title, so it doesn't require capitalization.

Hmmmm....I would like to look further into authoritative evidence for the answer to this one!

NickJunior-
You've googled enough to know the answer to this one! As a TEACHER, I would tell you to capitalize Geometry.

mjscott said:

NickJunior-
You've googled enough to know the answer to this one! As a TEACHER, I would tell you to capitalize Geometry.

Thank you Scott for returning to give me a definite answer based on your expertise.

I wouldn't capitalize it unless you're referring directly to the class (as sort of the "title" of the class), and not so much the subject, if that makes any sense. For example, "I have Geometry fifth period after lunch." Even then, I'm not sure it's really necessary, but not necessarily wrong. I would definitely not capitalize it in your sentence though.

You will not be thought ignorant if you capitalize it. However, if you don't capitalize it and your writing is being adjudicated by the camp that believes that it should be capitalized in that specific sentence, then you will be judged!👁 Eek! :eek:

I don't know what MJ Scott's "authoritative evidence" was, but I find many examples of competent writers who use "geometry" without feeling obligated to capitalize it.

Here are a few of them:
Source: http://www.math.com/school/subject3/lessons/S3U1L2GL.html --

As a general rule, when we refer to a subject as an academic discipline, we do not capitalize it, but when referring to a specific class or course, we do.

Unless the subject is capitalized for other reasons. Usually, that means because it is the name of a language. "This semester, I am taking English, history, geometry, Spanish, and biology." It would always be wrong to write, "... taking english, history, geometry, spanish, and biology," because the names of languages are always capitalized.

Proper adjectives are also capitalized in the names of uncapitalized subjects: "I am going to Oxford to study British history, molecular biology, and Russian literature." It would always be wrong to write, "... to study british history, molecular biology, and russian literature."

"euclidean geometry" is a situation where a proper name (it would be incorrect to refer to the Greek mathematician as "euclid") has become a common, non-capitalized adjectives.