Module 3: The BSI symbols, part I (e)

Capitals, small capitals and lower case

You know what capital letters are. Sometimes they are called upper case (u.c.) letters. This term
derives from the days of typesetting with hot metal when individual spare letters were kept in
compartments within pairs of large trays, called cases: the capitals were kept in the upper case.
Most company house styles indicate a preference about the use of capitals for words such as
Government/government, Prime Minister/prime minister, Finance Director/finance director. It will
generally become clear what style has been adopted but it is very helpful to have a style guide or the
copy-editor’s style sheet in which decisions will have been recorded. If you have not been given the
style sheet, it is worth compiling your own from deductions you make as you read the proofs. If
there are inconsistencies, you should be able to make a sensible decision or at least recommend one
to your supervisor.
Small capitals look just like ordinary capitals but they are smaller – the height of a letter x (the ‘x
height’). They, too, were kept in the upper case. Some typefaces do not have true small capitals, so
the typesetter will use the full capitals of a smaller size instead. The effect for the reader is the same
but the letters will not be of x height.
Quite a few companies prefer to use small capitals for abbreviations consisting of capital letters,
especially if there are lots of them in the text. Like bold type, capital letters sprinkled liberally in the
text can be distracting. It is particularly common for AD and BC to be small capitals even when other
such abbreviations (acronyms) are in ordinary capitals.

Note that ‘BC’ comes after the year but ‘AD’ comes before.)

Lower case (l.c.) are the ‘small’ letters. They derive their name from the trays just as the capitals
(upper case) do. The small letters were kept in the lower case. When not in use, the trays were slid
into a cabinet like drawers.
Sometimes you might see the abbreviation ‘i.c.l.c.’. This stands for ‘initial capital and lower case’ –
how proper names appear. Two examples of i.c.l.c. are:
• somebody’s first name; e.g. ‘Bartholomew’
• a text heading style; e.g. ‘Capitals, small capitals and lower case’
Just the first letter is a capital; all the others are lower case. This is a very common style for
headings.
Of course, if a heading includes a proper name, that name must be capitalised; for example:

The short stories of Conan Doyle

In this example, the copy-editor needs to flag up the need for ‘essential capitals’.
Another variation is ‘u. & l.c.’ – upper and lower case: all important words have a capital letter. If the
heading example above were to be u. & l.c., it would appear as:
Capitals, Small Capitals and Lower Case

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© M E Aherne and GV Clarke 1 Module 3(e)

Changing to capital
The official way to change from lower case (or from small capital) to capital is to draw the three
short lines under the letter(s) to be altered and put the matching three lines in the margin. Marking
the text in this way is fine if there is plenty of space between the lines:

You may well find it easier, though, to encircle the letter(s) and then mark the ‘capital’ instruction in
the margin:

If you are altering only one letter, you might think that it is just as easy to substitute a capital letter
for a lower case one. This is all right if the letter is an unambiguous one such as E or H but with some
letters (e.g. C, P, S) it might not be clear. Because your aim should be to develop regular – good –
habits, it is wiser to stick to the ‘capital’ symbol. If you always make such changes this way, you
won’t have to stop to think whether your marking will be clear instantly to the typesetter.

Changing to small capital

The principles here are exactly the same as for changing to a capital. The only difference is that you
draw just two underlines to indicate small capital.

It may be worth noting that authors sometimes mark only two underlines when they obviously want
full capitals. If ever you are in any doubt, though, do check with your supervisor.

Changing to lower case

The method for changing either a capital or a small capital to lower case is simple. Just encircle the
letter(s) or word(s) to be made lower case and mark the appropriate ‘cancelling’ symbol in the
margin:

= change capital letter(s) to lower case

= change small capital letter(s) to lower case

It is here that we find the one difference in marking between copy-editing and proof correcting.
You’ve just seen how to alter a capital (or small capital) to lower case in proof. The symbol that a
copy-editor working on hard copy uses to show a change to lower case is a short tick mark through
the top of the capital:

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© M E Aherne and GV Clarke 2 Module 3(e)

If several capital letters are to become lower case, the copy-editor can mark it as:

or

or you might see each letter marked individually:

When you substitute or insert letters that include a capital, remember to mark the three underlines
under the relevant letter(s) – even if the change is to appear in something that is already all capitals.
As with the belt-and-braces approach to confirming italic, bold and underline, this method comes
into its own when you are dealing with letters that look the same whether in lower or upper case: c,
o, p and s. It will also be clearer when you are inserting or substituting a mix of capitals and lower
case.
The same approach applies to changes that involve small capitals.

Transferring information from copy to proof

Occasionally you will see a note on the copy about something to be dealt with in proof. This might
be a query to the author that wasn’t resolved at copy-editing stage: it must be dealt with at proof
stage. It could be that the author hadn’t yet supplied some material (marked as ‘to come’ or ‘to
follow’). Another possibility is that the artwork for illustrations was not yet complete and will follow
on later. If they haven’t been positioned in your proof, you must transfer to the proof the copy-
editor’s notes about where to position the illustrations. Anything that the typesetter still needs to
know must be transferred to the proof.

Page cross-references
Something that is frequently encountered is the presence of page cross-references that cannot be
filled in until the proof is in its final layout. For example, you might find that the text says ‘see p. 24’
and the copy-editor has changed this to ‘see p. 000’ or ‘see p. XXX’. This is because ‘p. 24’ refers to
the copy, but that number is certain to be different on the proof. So it must not be typeset, but must
be replaced with the proof page number. To help the proof collator find the passage in question,
copy over the original number in pencil, encircled, in the margin; if there is no number for you to
copy, simply mark a large pencil cross in the margin beside the cross-reference in the text and the
proof collator will know what to do. Note that the term for a page of typescript is ‘folio’ rather than
‘page’, so note this number as ‘f. 24’ rather than ‘p. 24’.

Now do Exercise 3.5, which will test your grasp of the many typographical instructions you have
learned. You will also need to be aware of items that are still unfinished: your job as proofreader is
to ensure that whoever looks at the proof after you will have all the information they need to
complete the job; for example, knowing where to place items that are not yet in their final position.
So remember to transfer to your proof anything – whether a query or an instruction – that needs to
be dealt with by the proof collator and/or the typesetter.
When you have finished the exercise, compare your work with the answer pages, as usual.

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© M E Aherne and GV Clarke 3 Module 3(e)