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How should I write a name?

By totalwitch | Posted: 02 April 2009

Views: 297
I'm working on a POV on my antagonist. Now my heart says write it "the Master", but my instincts say write it the Master or The Master. Could there be some instances where the apostrophe would be approiate? In my heart the "the" seems to give him more power and the apostrophe's even more, but that is my heart speaking.
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Comments 
DeUndrae
03 April 2009
They say not to put quotations on a name because it makes it stand out and become distracting for the reader. I've read a book in which one of the characters was called the Master. If I were you I would put the m in master capitalized while leave the the lower case. No need to put the in capital letters hmmm? It's up to you though how to do it; I'm just giving you a suggestion.

Hope this helps : )
Gary Jarvis
03 April 2009
I would also say the Master is the probably the best way although I always struggle with the same issue on when to captilise and when not to but I am poor with grammar so this doesn't help.
totalwitch
04 April 2009
Well it looks like here my insticts or better than my heart. One nice thing I'm glad I'm not the only one poor with grammar, sometimes I feel all alone in this field of wording, comma's and periods. Struggling to but them in order in a way to creatively make since of all that goes on in my mind.
JD Higginson
06 April 2009
I'd agree with the capital for Master but lowercase for the rest. The capital alone should fulfil the function that you want to use the "" for.
Shadowwritr
08 May 2009
When I run across this problem, I do a simple test.  Have one of the characters talk the character that has the name issue.  Have the character state it both ways.  See which one is the real name.  Most of the time, it'll probably go just Master.  I can only see the capitalizing of an article for a name is if the article is really part of the name.  Or if their is more than one Masters in a room, and this one just happens to be top dog of them all.

Hope this helps.
Shadowwritr
Grampa Pogi
08 May 2009
In my book, I italicized it on some pages and used the apostrophes on other pages.  In essence, I gave the 'title' an exclusivity ie. "The Praying Mantis" or in some cases, I'd put a simple adjective; the notorious Praying Mantis and it refers to the person or character and by capping the first letters, you'll instantly give him a point of reference and description.  By capitalizing, it also becomes a proper noun.  As far as the usage of apostrophes or other forms, I'd say it depends on the author's preference.  I'd seen so many instances of different ways of usage ... apostrophe's, all caps, italics ...  but the end result was the same, it denoted a proper noun connotation.  It really is up to your adjectives to describe your antagonist.  Cool Master, Dim-witted Master, Sad Master, Killer Master. Have fun.  Hope this helps.

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totalwitch

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