TRIGGER WARNING: May contain random caps...

Yes, it's time to address the elephant in the room. Or possibly the Elephant in the Room.

Because the day has finally arrived when I talk about random caps.

I'm certain I'm not the only writer who struggles with this.

Random caps, for those who don't already know, refers to the use of capital letters where no capital letters have ever, or will ever, be required.

You know what I mean. Copy that refers to Clients. Or Mortgages. Maybe even Teams (not the Microsoft version).

It's particularly prevalent in – although by no means limited to – banking and financial services.

As we already know, I'm not a stickler for grammar. But I do believe copy should be easy to read. Random capital letters actively make copy harder to read. They're like a slightly raised kerbstone, or slightly lower-than-average stair tread. You won't see it clearly, but it will trip you up.

That's because capital letters are a signal. They tell us that the capitalised word is, for example:

• The beginning of a sentence
• A proper noun (eg someone's or something's name)
• A place, country, nationality or language
• A day of the week, a month, a historical era

...etc, etc.

When a capital letter is placed where a capital letter is meant to be, our brains accept it. It's expected, therefore it's understood and we skim blithely on.

When a capital letter is placed randomly, it causes a momentary fritz. 'Why is that a capital? What's it telling me? Am I reading this wrong? Is this a headline that has somehow dropped into the body copy?'

Look at this (entirely made up) sentence:

We're offering our long-term customers a special deal to show appreciation of their ongoing support.

Now look at this one:

We're offering our Long-Term Customers a Special Deal to show Appreciation of their ongoing Support.

I guarantee at least some readers found the first version easier to comprehend. That's because it contains no traps for the unwary. There's nothing to disturb the flow of words - and that's particularly important if you want your writing to be accessible. Because people with reading difficulties have enough challenges, there's no need to add more.

Some people think a capital letter adds emphasis, or highlights that something is important. Nope. The words give emphasis or importance, not the case. If you're relying on a capital to do that job for you, you're using the wrong words.

So. My top tip for the avoidance of random caps and all the horrors that go with them is simply this: if you've put a capital letter on something, stop for a second and ask yourself why.

If it's for any other reason than that it's meant to be there, replace it with a lower case letter immediately.