To Mimic or Not To Mimic

Some grammar rules (and embarrassing mistakes!) transcend the uniqueness of different regions and style guides. This new International Grammar section by OnlineBookClub.org ultimately identifies those rules thus providing a simple, flexible rule-set, respecting the differences between regions and style guides. You can feel free to ask general questions about spelling and grammar. You can also provide example sentences for other members to proofread and inform you of any grammar mistakes.

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PhyllisAnne
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To Mimic or Not To Mimic

Post by PhyllisAnne »

When writing a review, is it appropriate to mimic certain aspects of the story? For instance, if the author capitalized words like future or past as proper nouns throughout their book, is it appropriate to do the same in the summary portion of a review?

I keep bouncing around as to the right way to write it in a review. Would I ignore the capitalization seen in the book or mimic the author's emphasis? Or would I need to put quotes around the capitalized words to show that that was how they were written in the book?
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InStoree
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Post by InStoree »

I recently encountered a similar dilemma in the last review in the following sentences: "But he breaks one unwritten rule and sleeps with the Mayor's wife. As a consequence, the Mayor kills the entire Scarlatti family in one night and sends Alfonso to a lawless maximum security prison. "

According to the site's editor, there were two errors regarding the capitalization of the word "Mayor". I chose to write in capital letters as the author used it in the book. The editor's explanation was: "The word mayor only needs to be capitalized if it's used as a title. Such as Mayor Bill Smith. Otherwise, it should be in lowercase."

I tend to think that for nouns like "future" or "past," the most appropriate option would be to use the lowercase. Perhaps this link could help you:
https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp
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AnnObiageri
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Post by AnnObiageri »

The site editor is right. One needs to be careful. You could still mimick but use lower case for editorial purposes, like in this instance. Good luck
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