The Bluegrass has graduated. Over the last few weeks, thousands of students from UK, Transylvania, Bluegrass Community and Technical College and elsewhere have donned virtual robes and tassels and strolled metaphorically across Zoom stages, imagining their deans handing them sheepskins.
But while much of America was wondering how this graduating class would launch careers during a pandemic, grammarians were focused on something else: Have these graduates earned a Bachelors Degree, a bachelor’s degree, a Bachelors’ degree, or something capitalized and punctuated differently from all of these?
Let’s start with the apostrophe, which shows up in two of the three choices above.
Do you use an apostrophe or not in academic degrees? The answer is yes. Whether you’re talking about a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree, you use the possessive apostrophe.
Think of a degree as something you hold in your possession, and you will remember the correct punctuation.
The rules about when to capitalize your degree are more nuanced. If you’re speaking generically – as in, “Anyone can earn a bachelor’s degree at UK” – bachelor’s degree is not capitalized. But if you’re speaking about a specific degree – as in, “My son earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Transylvania” – you use capital letters for the major words.
What if your son is proud of his degree that he wants to put letters after his name? Some reference manuals suggest that you include periods: John Smith, B.A., M.A., M.D., Ph.D. The American Psychological Association Publication Manual, however – the bible for academic usage – recommends deleting periods: John Smith, BA, MA, MD, PhD.
My thinking is: If you have that many academic degrees, you can figure it out yourself.
Neil Chethik, aka the Grammar Gourmet, is executive director of the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning (https://ift.tt/1pxg7CW) and author of “FatherLoss” and “VoiceMale.” The Carnegie Center offers writing classes and seminars for businesses and individuals. Contact Chethik at neil@carnegiecenterlex.org or 859-254-4175.
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July 28, 2020 at 01:08AM
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