to capitalize something

English translation: use capital letters

14:21 Oct 24, 2007

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / literature

English term or phrase: to capitalize something

When he got home, he propped the Toy on the mantelpiece. He'd known that sooner or later he would start to capitalize the damn thing.

Can I explain that he would start to use the Toy as his property?

uykusuzkedi

Selected answer:use capital letters

Explanation:
He would start to say "Toy" as opposed to "toy", which implies he would attach a certain importance to this object - as normally one only uses capital letters for proper names.

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Note added at 6 mins (2007-10-24 14:27:55 GMT) Post-grading
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Of course, nobody can tell if you are saying "Toy" or "toy". But I guess he means that would begin to treat it as a unique and special toy, and honour it by giving it a capital letter.

Selected response from:

Mark Nathan
France
Local time: 14:13

Grading comment

Thanks.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

3 +5

use capital letters

Mark Nathan

4 +3

to refer to it with a capital letter

Marie-Hélène Hayles

to make best use of/ to take advantage of

JohnGBell

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

to refer to it with a capital letter

Explanation:
Rather than calling it "a toy", he's now calling it Toy. He's assigning it a greater importance - it's now THE Toy, not just any old toy. In this case, given the "damn thing", I'd say it's become more important because he doesn't like it for one reason or another.

Marie-Hélène Hayles
Local time: 14:13
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

3 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

use capital letters

Mark Nathan
France
Local time: 14:13
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 88

Grading comment

Thanks.

16 hrs confidence:

to make best use of/ to take advantage of

Explanation:
he is not writing the prose, so how can he write it in capital letters

Capitalize: To make capital out of,...
The Tokyo Evening News..capitalises on the time-difference between Japan, America, and Europe to be up-to-the-minute with the news. -(OED)

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Note added at 16 hrs (2007-10-25 07:06:24 GMT) Post-grading
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He put the toy on the mantlepiece, later you would not be able to get it out of his hands.

JohnGBell
Local time: 15:13
Native speaker of:

English

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English translation: use capital letters

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