# quick grammar question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-grammar-question/474219>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 24, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-grammar-question/474219 "2008-11-24T06:08:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-grammar-question/474219/1 "2008-11-24T06:08:18Z")

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When quoting a source in an academic paper, do you need to reproduce the author’s capitalization of the first word in your quote?

Example:

Tim Smith writes that, “We must endure their advances” (134).

Say in the original source that “we” began Smith’s sentence and - logically - was capitalized. Now, must I use a capital W or must I use a lowercase w?

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-grammar-question/474219/2 "2008-11-24T06:24:08Z")

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Capitalize it. If you wanted to change the case of a word in a quotation, just put that first letter in brackets. If the original text was, “We must endure their advances,” you could say, “Smith implicitly told the crowd, ‘[Although they are stinky, w]e must endure their advances.’”

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**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-grammar-question/474219/3 "2008-11-24T06:36:09Z")

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> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Capitalize it. If you wanted to change the case of a word in a quotation, just put that first letter in brackets. If the original text was, “We must endure their advances,” you could say, “Smith implicitly told the crowd, ‘[Although they are stinky, w]e must endure their advances.’”

Thanks. Makes sense - using brackets to signal any alteration of the quoted text.