Chapter 8.7 Summary

The author briefly considers a few more minor differences, here. He mentions the English and American techniques for capitalization, punctuation, and some last spelling differences, again emphasizing the conservative tendency that is greater for the English. One exception strikes Mencken as peculiar, however: in what he calls "an English work of the highest scholarship," Cambridge History of English Literature, titles, proper nouns, and traditional capitalized important nouns are in lower case. Traditional punctuation is changed. Spelling is different. Yet, the rest of minor characteristics continue to interest the author who pursues the origins, the trends, and the details of two distinct orthographies.

Chapter 8.7 Analysis

In a one-paged discussion, the writer distinguishes capitalization, punctuation, and a few spelling characteristics. With regards to capitalization, he again emphasizes the conservatism of the English over Americans, showing how the English capitalize proper nouns and nouns indicating people...