I am proof reading my thesis for my MFA in creative writing and find
that I have two grammar questions that I cannot answer.  Question #1 
When is mother capitalized?  For example, in the sentence:  Her mother
didn't answer her question. The mother would be lower case.  But in
the sentence:  I will take Mother to the cemetery tomorrow.  Mother
would be capitalized. Is that correct?
Also, in the sentence:  I will put flowers on Mother's grave.  Mother
should be upper case.  Is that correct?  What is the rule?

Question # 2  Is the age of a person written with hyphens or without hyphens?
For example:  He was ten-years-old.  Or should that be without hyphens.

Thanks so much for your help.  I'm happy with my thesis.  I'm just
getting stressed out over these two grammatical issues.

Dear cocoa,

Here are the answers to your questions:


- Question 1 -

The rule for capitalization is: Names of family relationships are
capitalized only if they are a part of or a substitute for a person's
name. If there is a modifier before a such word, like a possessive
pronoune, it is not capitalized. So the two examples you provided are
absolutely correct. If a sentence uses the word "mother" as if it was
a person's name, it must be capitalized.

Two other examples that illustrate the principle:
"This is a cake Grandmother sent me." - "The is a cake my grandmother sent me."
"This is a cake Aunt Emma sent me." - "This is a cake my aunt sent me."


- Question 2 -

In the case of your example, there are no hyphens between the words.
It's simply "He was ten years old."
However, "He was a ten-year-old" (with no 's' behind the 'year') would
be correct since the three words would form a compound used as a noun.

As a rule, "ten-year-old" (or similar compositions) is written with
hyphens if the words form a compound that serves as a noun or as an
adjective. Like in these examples:

"A ten-year-old stood at the door." - here, the hypenated words are a
compound in the role of a noun.

"A ten-year-old boy stood at the door." - here, the hyphenated words
are a compound modifier in the role of an adjective relating to the
word "boy".

BUT: "The boy at the door was ten years old." - in this case, the
words do not form a compound that serves as a noun or an adjective, so
there are no hyphens.


Sources:

Capital Community College Foundation: Guide to Grammar and Writing - Capitalization
http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/capitals.htm

Purdue University Online Writing Lab: A Little Help with Capitals
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_caps.html

University of Delaware: English Language Institute - Grammar Hotline
http://www.udel.edu/eli/g03.html

Capital Community College Foundation: Guide to Grammar and Writing - The Hyphen
http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/hyphen.htm


Search terms used:
grammar capitalization "year old"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=grammar+capitalization+%22year+old%22&btnG=Google+Suche
Hyphenation "years old"
://www.google.de/search?q=Hyphenation+%22years+old%22&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
relationships capitalization grammar
://www.google.com/search?q=relationships+capitalization+grammar&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N
grammar capitalization
://www.google.de/search?q=grammar+capitalization&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=80&sa=N
hyphens "year old" "years old"

Hope this answers your questions!
Regards,
Scriptor