Thursday, September 16, 2010 8:38:21 PM
Furthermore,
To remain on the subject of titles, give it ANY other title, and the sentence does not make sense.
"I helped my Mister Miyagi off a horse." "I helped my Lord Von Strauss off a horse" "I helped my Chief Wiggum off a horse"
Just seems out of place for title, as he is referring to a possession, thus, Uncle, is something that belongs to him, and is not attached to Jack, and therefore NOT capitalized.
Thursday, September 16, 2010 8:31:18 PM
Okay, but in the given context, the word uncle is not used as a title, but as an adjective.
Had he said "I helped Uncle Jack, off a horse" the it would have been his title.
But switch out what was said and it makes no sense. The way it is worded does not necessitate the Uncle to be capitalized.
The sentence, as it stands, insinuates that the Uncle Jack is his. Try the trick of making the word Uncle Jack into one word (Unclejack), with no pause, since they are together, are spoken together "Hey how are things Unclejack?". Whereas "uncle Jack", has a pause. "My uncle Jack is so fat he can't get off a horse".
The sentence does not refer to the title of Uncle Jack, but it does qualify the proper noun Jack as being "My" uncle.
I may be french, but I am usually very good at grammar, especially in English (easier language), and this does not seem right to me...