PROPER ADJECTIVE

In English usage, a 'proper adjective' is an adjective that takes an initial capital letter. A 'common adjective' is an adjective that is not a proper adjective.

Contents

Description of proper adjectives

Trademarks

Proper adverbs

Other parts of speech

References

See also

External links

Description of proper adjectives

In general, an adjective is a proper adjective if its meaning is "pertaining to ''X''", where ''X'' is some specific person, place, language, or organized group.
Most proper adjectives are derived from proper nouns; for example the proper adjective ''Japanese'' is derived from the proper noun ''Japan''. Some proper adjectives like ''Unitarian'' or ''Episcopal'' are not derived from proper nouns.^[1] Occasionally the reverse is true; for example the proper noun ''Hispanic'' is derived from the proper adjective ''Hispanic''.
Sometimes, a word is written as a proper adjective to designate an ethnic group with a shared culture, heritage, or ancestry. This usage asserts the existence of a unified group with common goals. For example, in Canadian government documents, ''Native'' and ''Aboriginal'' are capitalized.^[2]
A proper adjective can become a common adjective when it takes on new, more remote meanings, such as ''chauvinistic''.^[3] In addition, over time, a proper adjective can become a common adjective by convention, generally when the word has overshadowed its original reference, such as ''gargantuan'', ''quixotic'', ''titanic'', or ''roman'' in the term ''roman numerals''.
An adjective is not a proper adjective just because it is capitalized as part of a name or title. For example, ''great'' is not a proper adjective in ''Great Britain'', and ''lost'' is not a proper adjective in ''Raiders of the Lost Ark''.

Trademarks

A trademark is a distinctive sign used by a business to identify its products to consumers. When a trademark is a word used adjectivally, it is capitalized and hence is a proper adjective. Intellectual property lawyers sometimes advise corporations to use their trademarks only as proper adjectives, not as proper nouns.^[4] By this theory, a trademark is not the ''name'' of a product, but rather a signifier of the ''source'' of the product.
For example, in the sentence "I need to blow my nose; do you have any Kleenex?", the word ''Kleenex'' is a proper noun, used to name the product being discussed. This is perfectly acceptable English usage, from a grammatical perspective. It would also be acceptable to say, "I need to blow my nose; do you have any Kleenex facial tissue?", where the word ''Kleenex'' is a proper adjective. The Kimberly-Clark Corporation (which owns the trademark ''Kleenex'') takes care to use the word only as a proper adjective. The legal risk is that a trademark used as a noun can become genericized, in which case other businesses could legally use the word to refer to their products. This happened to the word "elevator", for example, which used to be a trademark but is now a common noun.

Proper adverbs

An adverb formed from a proper adjective is written with a capital letter. For example:

★ We have regularly received enquiries regarding the availability of Islamic finance products, in particular Islamically compatible finance to purchase both residential and commercial properties.^[5]

★ There are people who express themselves 'Frenchly,' while others have forms of life that are expressed 'Koreanly' or 'Icelandicly.'^[6]

Other parts of speech

Verbs such as ''Canadianize'' are written with a capital letter, although not generally described as "proper verbs".

References

1. See Capital Ideas Zindler, Frank R Zindler argues that the adjective ''atheist'' should be capitalized.
2. Guide to Canadian English Usage, , Margery, Fee, Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-19-540841-1
3. The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, 3rd ed., , R.W., Burchfield, Clarendon Press, 1996, ISBN 0-19-869126-2
4. A Guide to Proper Trademark Use Chan, Thomas T
5. Islamic Banking The Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance
6. Margalit, A., 1997, "The Moral Psychology of Nationalism," in McKim and McMahan (eds.), 1997, ''The Morality of Nationalism'' Oxford University Press: Oxford, as quoted by Nationalism Miscevic, Nenad

See also

★ Adjective

★ Capitalization

★ Noun#Proper nouns and common nouns

★ Letter case

★ List of eponymous adjectives in English

★ List of adjectival forms of place names

★ Demonym

★ List of case-sensitive English words

External links

★ The HTML Writers Guild: Trademarks and Copyrights FAQ

★ Chan Law Group LLP: A Guide to Proper Trademark Use

★ General Microsoft Trademark Guidelines

★ Grammar Slammer

★ Table of Nouns and Adjectives denoting nationality

★ Trademark Grammar (blog entry)