Hi Bill,
The Spellchecker can't do this for you but AutoCorrect can if you're willing
to do a little work. By that I mean that you will first have to look up the
word in a dictionary to see if it is a proper noun or not. "Astronaut" is
not a proper noun and shouldn't be capitalized (except at the beginning of a
sentence or, questionably, for special emphasis).
Now, open a blank document and type "The astronaut" (no quotes). Select the
word "astronaut" and go to Tools> AutoCorrect. You'll see the word
"astronaut" in the "With" box. Type "Astronaut" (no quotes but first letter
capitalized) in the "Replace" Box and check "formatted text." Now click
"Add."
From now on, every time you type Astronaut, Word will autocorrect it to
astronaut (unless it's the first word of a sentence and you have the option
to "Capitalize first word of sentence" checked).
You will have to do this for each word in question, but you'll only have to
do it once for each. Keep in mind that most terms like astronaut and
aquanaut are not proper nouns: They aren't derived from a name. And even
many words that were derived from names have lost that association and are
no longer capitalized (like kleenex or gerrymander or boycott).
Hope this helps.
--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP
Mac Word FAQ: <
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>
