Please, Help with Capitals

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Mary Bright

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I know, that the word street is capitalized in proper names, as 'Hall Street' for example.
Do you usually capitalize avenue, square, garden and other public places when they go with proper names?
 

luschen

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I am not an English teacher, but the answer is yes. Madison Square Garden in New York City has two out of the three!
 

Mary Bright

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Thanks. Can I ask another question? Do you use the word 'public garden'?
 

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What would be the context? I believe the phrase public garden would be used more often in England than here in the United States. In most cases we would use "park" unless it is specifically a botanical garden.
 

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Thanks. Can I ask another question? Do you use the word 'public garden'?

Only if it's part of the name. Usually these are gardens that are maintained in Victorian or Edwardian (or something like that) style.

Otherwise, I just say (public) park.
 

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Doing a quick internet search, there is a park in Boston called "Public Garden", but normally in the U.S. a public garden is a community gardern - a plot of land where members of the community may plant flowers and vegetables - another word for it would be a cooperative garden.
 

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What would be the context? I believe the phrase public garden would be used more often in England than here in the United States. In most cases we would use "park" unless it is specifically a botanical garden.

In town squares the garden in the middle, the garden space can be a private or public garden depending on the access rights in the UK I think.
 

Mary Bright

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Under public garden I meant a small community garden, not where flowers and various plants grow, but where there are a lot of trees, where people can walk and have a rest. Interestingly that the thesaurus I use (in my language, of course) gives the equivalent in English, which is square. So, maybe you say town square or city square instead of public garden?
 

Mary Bright

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And I would also like to know your opinions on using the capitals with the words

square
garden
church

and other names of public places.

Should I write like this: 'St. George's Garden' or 'Victory Square'?
 

freezeframe

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Under public garden I meant a small community garden, not where flowers and various plants grow, but where there are a lot of trees, where people can walk and have a rest. Interestingly that the thesaurus I use (in my language, of course) gives the equivalent in English, which is square. So, maybe you say town square or city square instead of public garden?

Community garden is NOT a park. It's a small collection of plots where people from an urban community plant vegetables and stuff.

Here's a picture.

What you're describing is a park or a square.

Town square or city square implies to me more of an open area usually in front of the city hall that is a place for civic gatherings and such.
 

freezeframe

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And I would also like to know your opinions on using the capitals with the words

square
garden
church

and other names of public places.

Should I write like this: 'St. George's Garden' or 'Victory Square'?

It's capitalized if it's part of the name. So, yes, your examples should be capitalized.
 

Mary Bright

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Community garden is NOT a park. It's a small collection of plots where people from an urban community plant vegetables and stuff.

:loling: That's not what I meant for sure. Thanks for clearing it up.

What you're describing is a park or a square.

Town square or city square implies to me more of an open area usually in front of the city hall that is a place for civic gatherings and such.

What shall I write then considering that what I want to say is a small public park planted with trees and where people can have a rest?
 

freezeframe

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:loling: That's not what I meant for sure. Thanks for clearing it up.



What shall I write then considering that what I want to say is a small public park planted with trees and where people can have a rest?

(small) public park works

I think everyone reading that will assume that there are trees and you can walk about or sit there and rest.

There is another word for a really small urban park with a few benches: parkette.
Usually this is a small area between buildings.

Here's a picture. This is actually a couple of blocks from where I live.
:-D

PS I don't know if people from other parts of the English speaking world would use this word.
 
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Mary Bright

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It's capitalized if it's part of the name. So, yes, your examples should be capitalized.

The reason I ask about it is that I've seen several texts where all these words were written in small letters like the Virginia hotel, or the hotel complex "Virginia", or Lackson avenue etc.
It drove me into doubts either the translators or I might be wrong.
 

Tdol

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Under public garden I meant a small community garden, not where flowers and various plants grow, but where there are a lot of trees, where people can walk and have a rest. Interestingly that the thesaurus I use (in my language, of course) gives the equivalent in English, which is square. So, maybe you say town square or city square instead of public garden?

The square includes the buildings and roads. The garden is just the area in the middle- some are locked and only residents can access them, others are open for all.
 

Mary Bright

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(small) public park works

There is another word for a really small urban park with a few benches: parkette.
Usually this is usually a small area between buildings.

Here's a picture. This is actually a couple of blocks from where I live.
:-D

Oh, great! Thanks again for the picture and explanations )
'My' public park isn't really small. It's a bit smaller than an urban park but certainly larger than a green area between buildings.
I'll bear parkette in mind ;-).
 

freezeframe

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The reason I ask about it is that I've seen several texts where all these words were written in small letters like the Virginia hotel, or the hotel complex "Virginia", or Lackson avenue etc.
It drove me into doubts either the translators or I might be wrong.

I would capitalize avenue in your example.

the hotel complex "Virginia" is correct since "the hotel complex" is not part of the name; it's a description

the word hotel is capitalized or not capitalized depending on whether it's part of the name and also on context

Also, I don't know what the context of the phrases are but Virginia hotel can mean a hotel in the state of Virginia :-D
 

Mary Bright

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I would capitalize avenue in your example.

the hotel complex "Virginia" is correct since "the hotel complex" is not part of the name; it's a description
the word hotel is capitalized or not capitalized depending on whether it's part of the name and also on context

Do you mean that I can say both the Virginia Hotel and the hotel 'Virginia' (with quotes) counting that hotel in the latter case will be a descriptive attribute?

Also, I don't know what the context of the phrases are but Virginia hotel can mean a hotel in the state of Virginia :-D
It is certainly not ). I used the name just to show as an example.
 

freezeframe

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Do you mean that I can say both the Virginia Hotel and the hotel 'Virginia' (with quotes) counting that hotel in the latter case will be a descriptive attribute?


It is certainly not ). I used the name just to show as an example.

Yes. Except the article usage would be different.

I stayed at the hotel Virginia.
I stayed at Hotel Virginia.
 
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