Re: Why capitalize university?

On May 15, 7:03 pm, m...@xxxxxxx (Mark Brader) wrote:
Jin S.H.:

I ever confused that why some of the universities' name are
"XXX University" while the others are "University of XXX"...

Athel C.B.:

as Don has already said, both are correct,

Yes.

and interchangeable, for most universities.

Badly wrong. Rightpondians may see it that way, but in Leftpondia, for
any particular university,

Maybe, who why do you suppose that "most universities" are in
Leftpondia?

one of these forms is its name and the other
is an error, and knowing which one is correct is just part of knowing
the name of the university. Most commonly the "of" style is used when
the university is named after a place, but there are many exceptions.

On the whole I get the impression that it's only officials at the more
insignificant seats of learning that get hot under the collar about
these things. If we are talking about English usage, rather than about
what such officials would like, then "correct English" means English
as used by native speakers. In most cases, of course, one form sounds
more natural than the other: "University of Bob Jones" sounds pretty
silly, but on the other hand "Bob Jones University" doesn't sound all
that impressive either.

(Okay, there are probably a few cases where the "erroneous" form is
used informally. I know that with some universities their common
abbreviation is based on it -- for example, the University of Denver
is abbreviated DU.)

How do you explain this exception, unless you accept that for at least
some people at some time, the the University of Denver has been known
as Denver University?

a.

.