Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Great Toad]

HI I am confused by a sentence in a Korean student study book... right so as we know there are common and proper nouns so this is a proper noun case of having caps in both words right... like the book does this a lot through out for proper nouns too... kinda like this:


In Germany they raise the German Shepherd dog to guard areas.

-so in this case they did not put "dog' in caps... but I think since we are talking about a kind of dog that is making it a proper noun you must make 'dog' German Shepherd Dog... right!? or is it kind of just lazy English to do that... I mean if you say "New York Police are the best." you put police in caps as they are part of the proper noun New York saying a certain place where these cops are... right?
Ok sorry it has been so long since I took Grammar in University maybe I should hand in my Grammarian Card and move to Alabama or the Hills of W. V. or something...

[jisun]

I am not an expert, but here's my take on it:

The official name of the breed of dog is the "German Shepherd Dog," but it is commonly called the "German Shepherd." I think the textbook just added "dog" to clarify that they are not talking about a German shepherd (note the small "s") as in someone from Berlin who keeps flocks of sheep. It's kind of like saying "Lisa is an American girl," meaning a young female citizen of the US, vs. "Molly is an American Girl," meaning the brand of doll. As far as the police example, I would say "the New York Police Department received an award" to refer to the particular force but "some New York police officers are asking questions" to refer to a few unspecific people. I wouldn't be surprised if the textbook had capitalization errors, but the dog question seems like kind of a gray area.

[The Great Toad]

Yes I guess you are right... Maybe it is ok to not put dog in caps like that... but for places it is a bit more strict like 'Island of Cuba or 'Easter Island'... I guess kinds of dogs / police has more slack .... English is too confusing for me Korean is the language of love and grace and they do not have caps which is way c00ler In time they will open Korean Language scools i the USA and I can meet some nice Korean waygooks in the US.