Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

ALLCAPSANDSMALLCAPS
STYLE
If your writing is of an informative nature, such as a brochure or an
instruction manual, it may occasionally be appropriate to present
particularly important information in ALL-CAPS TEXT. Reserve this,
however, for very short strings; preferably no more than a few words.
Writers sometimes capitalize entire blocks of important information
out of a belief that the reader's eye will be drawn to the larger
letters, but in fact the effect may be the exact opposite-readers
may impatiently skip over the all-caps section because it's tiring to
wade through. How easy do you find it to skim the following passage?
AVOID UNNECESSARY USE OF ALL-CAPS TEXT, AS IT
TENDS TO BE DIFFICULT TO READ. BECAUSE THE LETTERS
ARE ALL EXACTLY THE SAME HEIGHT AND LACK THE DISTINC­
TIVE ASCENDERS AND DESCENDERS THAT CHARACTERIZE
LOWERCASE LETTERS, IT OFFERS FEWER VISUAL CUES THAN
LOWERCASE, AND THE READER MUST EXPEND MORE EFFORT
IN PROCESSING IT.
Alternative strategies such as using bold type, outline boxes or
a different color (if feasible) are usually preferable.
SMALL CAPITALS are, as their name makes obvious, characters in
the shape of uppercase letters but the size of lowercase letters
(those without ascenders or descenders). They come in handy when
you want to present text in uppercase letters for reasons of convention
rather than emphasis, as they let you avoid the jarring effect
produced by all caps. Instead of jumping off the page at you, a
small-caps word or phrase blends in inconspicuously with the
surrounding text.
I dig in the weediest part near the compost heap, lifting the earth
and letting it crumble, sieving the worms out with my fingers. The
soil is rich, the worms scramble, red ones and pink ones .... They're
sold like apples in season, VERS 5¢ on the roadside signs, sometimes
VERS 1 0¢, inflation. French class, vers fibre, I translated it the first time
as Free Worms and she thought I was being smart.*
*Meaning of phrase: Free verse.
-MARGARET ATWooo, Surfacing
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