Weekly Grammar: Internet Terms and Rules

Within the last twenty years, a number of new words, or words with new meanings, have been developed to help us with Internet communication.  Grammar Girl offers these recommendations from her chapter "Internet Intervention."

• Online is one word.
• We capitalize Internet because it is one specific thing, a proper noun.
• Web, short for World Wide Web, is also a proper noun and is therefore capitalized.
• Web site and website are both acceptable, but if you use Web site, capitalize Web, because it is a proper noun.  If you use the compound website, there is no need to capitalize the word, because it is a common noun.  
• The Internet and Web are not the same thing, so they should not be used interchangeably.  The Internet is an international network of computers that use IP (Internet Protocol) and TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) to exchange information. The World Wide Web (Web) is comprised of all the files that are accessible on the Internet.  

  Up next week:  e-mail and texting grammar...oh joy!