When do I capitalize the word "Earth"?

Question

I know that you're supposed to leave it lower-cased when you're referring to earth as "ground" or "soil," but my main problem comes in when you're referring to Earth/earth as the planet.

I've seen it go both ways when it refers to the planet. But is there any right way? And when do I put a "the" before it, as in "An alien is coming to the earth?" Or is it "An alien is coming to Earth?" How would I refer to the Earth as a planet?

Answer 1

When you are referring to soil, don't capitalize it.

Example: The earth slides through my fingers.

When referring to the planet, always capitalize.

Example: The Earth revolves around the Sun.

Answer 2

when referring to Earth as the name of a planet you capitalize due to the fact that it is then a proper noun. otherwise it's just earth, in reference to ground, soil. not sure about your the issue.

Answer 3

Earth Day

Answer 4

umm, u just say Earth when youre referring to our planet but you say earth to refer to ground.

Answer 5

at the begining of a sentance only

Answer 6

Any time you're referring to the planet, it must be capitalized.  Anyone who does not do so is wrong.  Period.  

As far as using an article, in this case "the" to refer to the planet, would you ever say "Aliens have landed on the Mars"? or "I saw the Jupiter in my telescope last night"?  The use of the article is superlative, but still accepted in most circles, even though it is grammatically incorrect.

Answer 7

when you're referring to it as a planet, it's capital E

careless writers often forget that.

Answer 8

When you write about Elements of nature in classical philosophy,

you have use capital "E".

Classical Elements are Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Aether.

http://www.answers.com/Classical_element...

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Earth_(classical_...

Answer 9

When you are referring to the planet Earth you should capitalise as it is a proper noun.  The same as you would Saturn or Mars.  You do not need to say "the Earth' just as you do not need to say 'the Mars'.

However, I suppose in astrological terms Mars is an earth.  Just as the Moon is a moon and the Sun is a sun.

Answer 10

It's appropriate to capitalize Earth when referring to the planet.  Some have suggested a more proper name such as 'Terra' because of common references to 'other earths' meaning planets similar to ours.

Answer 11

always