Why you should stop typing Coronavirus in capital letter – – Coronavirus in capital letter, an English Class by Akeem Lasisi

Going by how scary coronavirus is, some people start it with capital letters when writing. This need not be because capitalisation is not determined by the gravity or sound – or length – of a word. Were it so, many of us would always write ‘death’ as DEATH! I believe you know why.

Let me quickly state that there is a situation you can start the name of the disease currently hurting the world with the upper case: if it begins a sentence. But once it does not, start it with the small letter because, in grammar’s court, ‘coronavirus’ is just a common noun like table, drug and dog. As a matter of fact, it is wrong to write ‘Coronavirus’ if the word appears in the middle or at the end of a clause:

The government is trying hard to curtail Coronavirus. (Wrong)

One of the symptoms of Coronavirus is dry cough. (Wrong)

Coronavirus has disrupted many sectors of the economy. (Correct)

The government is trying hard to curtail coronavirus. (Correct)

One of the symptoms of coronavirus is dry cough. (Correct)

Let us use some examples from Cambridge Dictionary to buttress this point:

SARS was a new strain of coronavirus.

Coronaviruses are thought to be the second most likely cause of sore throats, coughs and sneezing.

The government introduced travel restrictions in response to coronavirus outbreak.

Not a proper noun

Normally, it is only proper nouns that begin with capital letters. These include names of people, ethnic groups, countries, cities, towns, villages, religions, languages, days, months, festivals, rivers etc. Unfortunately, some of us carelessly start some of these with capital letters while beginning common nouns with the capital. This is a symptom of immaturity that urgently requires a cure. In this wise, can you spot the error in each of the following clauses?

Is Mr Ebelo ijaw or Urhobo?

I did not go out during easter.

Throughout february, I kept begging him.

I will be very happy the day I gain admission to a University.

I am not sure whether he has Malaria or Coronavirus.

So, where are the errors? In the first statement, ‘ijaw’ should have started with a capital letter like the writer did with ‘Urhobo’. In the second and third, we should have ‘Easter’ and ‘February’, while the ‘U’ in ‘University’ is an arbitrary and a needless creation. Once you are not stating the name of a university in full, start the word with a small letter; otherwise, would the writer have started the term with a capital letter if he was talking about a polytechnic, college of education or a technical college? Lastly, the presence of ‘Malaria’ in the last sentence further shows why ‘Coronavirus’ in the middle of a clause is problematic. Both should be lower because they are not at the beginning:

I am not sure whether he has malaria or coronavirus.

Why some diseases begin with capital letters

You are likely to be eager to observe that there are some diseases that begin with the upper case no matter where they appear in sentences. You are right, but there is a reason for this, which does not apply to our dear brutal coronavirus. If the disease, like Lassa fever, is named after a town/city where it first broke out, it is usually named after that place. Remember, Lassa, where the fever is said to have originated, is in Bornu State, Nigeria. The same thing applies to Spanish flu, Russian flu, Ebola, Zika virus and Asiatic cholera. But in the case of coronavirus, although Wuhan is believed to be the first place it vehemently manifested, it is not named after the Chinese city. Rather, the World Health Organisation calls it COVID-19 (from Coronavirus Disease 2019).

Another aspect of the naming of the pandemic is that it is so called based on the shape of the virus – like a corona, that is, a crown. This is what makes its grammatical status different from that of the like of Spanish flu and Ebola. By virtue of their being attached to places that are proper nouns, they enjoy the status of proper nouns and are thus begun with capital letters. In the case of coronavirus, however, it remains a common noun as it is just linked to another common noun – corona.

Of course, if a disease is also named after a person, it with an example being Parkinson’s disease – a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement.

NOTE: In literary works like a poem, however, the writer may decide to treat ‘coronavirus’ like a human being, in which case he or she would be covered by poetic licence. Besides, the usage would be cited as an example of personification, the figure of speech that gives the attribute of humans to non-humans.