[X4U] Re: X4U] Tolerance

[Lars Bertelsen]

>: >Capitalization doesn't clarify things when you speak it. When a 
>: >person speaks, can you honestly distinguish what words are in caps 
>: >andwhat words are not?
>: 
>: Spoken English uses intonation and emphasis in place of visual cues 
>: in printing.
>
>Consider the following two sentences:
>
>	"I ate the burger."
>
>	"I ate The Burger."
>
>Why would you pronounce either sentences differently?
>How would you do so?  And could listeners distinguish
>between the regular noun and the proper noun?

Of course spoken English uses intonation, emphasis _and_ context in place of visual cues in printing...
In the example above, "I ate The Burger." would seem to mean that you ate somebody named "The Burger". Presumably, that would be a nickname and presumably hwoever you spoke to would know this and also know that somebody ate this guy...
But yes, you are right: The two sentences _would_ sound the same and, if spoken to the wrong person at the wrong time, _would_ be misunderstood.
Which is a very good case for using capitalization when writing! ;-)

Lars Bertelsen