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Capitalization of Sun, Moon, and Earth

OK...i'm a tech editor for a company. We are debating the proper capitalization of Sun, Moon, and Earth. Should they ALWAYS be capped, ALWAYS lower case, or sometimes one or the other, and if so, when are they capped, and when are they not?

I know that the actual rule is to "not capitalize sun, moon, and earth, unless they stand in a sentence with another celestial body."

But "Earth" is often capitalized to differentiate it as a planet from earth as in dirt. (Earth as a proper noun.)

Thanks!

Any comments are welcome.

Re: Capitalization of Sun, Moon, and Earth

I have never considered this before. It's an excellent point. The problem, I expect, derives from the fact that our moon is called Moon and our sun is called Sun. Moons of other planets have their own names as do other suns/stars. Earth is the name of our planet, so I judge this to be proper noun, which should always be capitalised (unless you mean dirt, of course).

I cannot offer a definitive answer. Your ruling (do not capitalize sun, moon, and earth, unless they stand in a sentence with another celestial body) is a new one on me. I find it hard to justify grammatically.

My sense is that Moon, Sun and Earth should always be capitalised as proper nouns. However, the common nouns moon and sun can be written with lowercase letters when you're not referring to ours. It also depends on context. Ranks in the military and points of the compass are similar.

I know a sergeant. It is Sergeant Bloggs.
Travel west to West Virginia.

It's a little more difficult to determine whether you're using the proper noun or common noun with sun and moon, but I think that's the key to whether they should be capitalised or not.