Would you believe it? It’s mid October and outside the snow is drifting gently to the ground. Amazing, (said the Gruffalo). Not two weeks ago, we were running around in shorts and t-shirt, and here we are dragging hats, scarves and coats out of the back of the cupboard.

The turn of the second season in as many weeks! Summer languished for months, autumn – bless its heart – valiantly chivvied summer out, doing its best to adorn the mountains with a stunning array of colours, only to be rudely shoved aside by winter blasting its way in.

Anyway, to the job in hand.

SO, should the seasons be capitalized? No, with the exception of when they are personified (usually in poetry) (http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/usage/seasons)

What should be capitalised?

the first word of a sentence or fragment
the name of a day or a month
the name of a language
a word expressing a connection with a place
the name of a nationality or an ethnic group
a proper name
the name of a historical period
the name of a holiday
a significant religious term
the first word, and each significant word, of a title
the first word of a direct quotation which is a sentence
a brand name
a Roman numeral
the pronoun ‘I’

There are so many instances when it can get pretty hazy though, as with all puncutation, because it’s seen used incorrectly so often. And when you consider how many countries use English as their mother-tongue, all of which have different methods of use, as it were, it is perfectly understandable how easily those uses get mingled, mixed and melanged to create a super-punctuation, which may not always be ‘right’ as far as the person who is assessing you is concerned.

Bring on the big capitalisation debate!

Useful links

http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node27.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Capital_letters