Can any native in English correct it, please?

[ieasy]

HI,

Could someone who is native in English correct it?

"...The increase of the rate of violence and criminality among the young has brought the appearance of several motions of amendments to the federal constitution, requesting a change of the boundary for criminal imputability and its consequent reduction...."

I have some doubts about the use of "the young" (first line)

Should I use the young people, the convicted person, or can I use them alone like: the young, the convicted.

[englishstudent]

"The young" is OK.

Personally I would use "The increase in the rate of violence ..."
but let us wait for the experts to hear their opinion.

[Anglika]

"...The increase of the rate of violence and criminality among the young has led to the presentation of several motions for amendments to the Federal Constitution, requesting changes to the boundaries for criminal imputability and its consequent reduction...."

[mykwyner]

I don't think that federal constitution should be capitalized, unless it is the title of a document that I'm not familiar with.

[ieasy]

Thank you all,

Ieasy

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by mykwyner

I don't think that federal constitution should be capitalized, unless it is the title of a document that I'm not familiar with.

As it refers to "the Federal Constitution", capitalization is in order. Reference to "a federal constitution" would not need capitalization.

[mykwyner]

Sorry, but unless that is the title of the document, it would not be capitalized.

I see a truck in front of my house.
I see the truck in front of my house.
I see a Toyota in front of my house.
I see the Toyota in front of my house.

You use a captial letter with proper nouns and proper adjectives. The type of article that is used has no bearing on whether or not the following noun will be capitalized.

[Anglika]

In the context of the piece under discussion, it would seem that "Federal Constitution" is being used in a concrete sense rather than in a generalized one. If the writer is intending a generalized sense, then "a federal constitution" would be accurate.

[mykwyner]

There are no rules in the English language governing the use of capital letters to indicate the "sense" of a word. There is a rule governing the use of capitals to indicate proper nouns and proper adjectives such as the title of a specific document. Since "federal constitution" is not the title of a specific document, then it would not be capitalized. That is not my opinion, it is the rule. I didn't make up that rule, and there is no need for you to make one up to replace it.

[curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by mykwyner

There are no rules in the English language governing the use of capital letters to indicate the "sense" of a word. There is a rule governing the use of capitals to indicate proper nouns and proper adjectives such as the title of a specific document. Since "federal constitution" is not the title of a specific document, then it would not be capitalized. That is not my opinion, it is the rule. I didn't make up that rule, and there is no need for you to make one up to replace it.

So there! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!