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Q&A Capitalize 'it' when referring to a strange being?

Capitalizing a pronoun gives it proper noun status or deity status. So writing It means either that the thing's name is literally It, like Stephen King's monster, or you're referring to a god the w...

posted 8y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:40Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25379
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:46:10Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25379
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T05:46:10Z (about 5 years ago)
Capitalizing a pronoun gives it proper noun status or deity status. So writing _It_ means either that the thing's name is literally It, like [Stephen King's monster](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1501156683), or you're referring to a god the way the Abrahamic religions refer to Yahweh as _Him_ even in the middle of a sentence.

Therefore, if the creature has an actual name, like Gormenghast or Voldemort or Donnie, use either the name or the third-person-neutral pronoun _it,_ lowercase. If the creature had a gender, you'd have no problem referring to _he_ or _she,_ right? So _it_ is no different.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2016-11-28T13:06:07Z (about 8 years ago)
Original score: 7