In addition, all major style guides indicate that the first word of the title should be capitalized regardless of the word's role as a part of speech. So, yes, even if the first word of the title is not a noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, or adverb, it must be capitalized. As long as you know your parts of speech , you should have no problem identifying the words that require capitalization. Here are some examples:.
In this example, both Grapes and Wrath are nouns, so they should be capitalized. The is capitalized because it is the first word in the title. Here, both Man and Sea are nouns, while Old is an adjective that modifies Man. Because they are nouns and adjectives, these words should be capitalized. Though it is sometimes said that small words in a title do not require capitalization, let's be a bit more specific.
After all, many nouns and verbs are small e. The small words we are referring to in this case essentially include articles, conjunctions, and prepositions, which should not be capitalized again, unless they are the first word of a title. There are only three articles in the English language a, an , and the , so pinpointing these words in a title should be a cinch. Conjunctions like and, nor, but, for, and or should also be written in lowercase.
Let's break down this example from William Faulkner. Sound and Fury are nouns and must be capitalized. Though the is used twice in this title, only the first appearance of this article needs to be capitalized, because it is at the beginning of the title. Finally, and is a conjunction and should be written in lowercase. Prepositions are a different story, as they can be tricky to identify.
Prepositions link nouns or other phrases the objects of the prepositions to the rest of the sentence. Simple prepositions indicate temporal, spatial, or logical relationships between the object of the preposition and the rest of the sentence; these include above, below, after, around, outside, toward, through, into , etc.
Participial prepositions are not linked to nouns and include terms like concerning, considering, regarding, and during. Neither simple prepositions nor participial prepositions should be capitalized in a title.
Though some prepositions can be quite lengthy, they should still be written in lowercase. There are some exceptions to this rule, but we'll get to that a bit later. In this example, at is a preposition that adds spatial information to the sentence and should be written in lowercase. Bury verb , My possessive pronoun , Heart noun , and Wounded Knee proper noun are all capitalized.
Okay, things get more complicated here. When prepositions function as adverbs, they should be capitalized. Near and beneath can act as either prepositions or adverbs. When does a preposition function as an adverb, you ask? A good way to determine this is to identify the part of speech of the term following the word that you are unsure about.
If the word that follows is a noun, then the term you are unsure about is probably functioning as a preposition. If a noun does not follow the term, then the word is an adverb and should be capitalized.
If a title contains a hyphenated compound, then the first element must always be capitalized. The other elements of the compound are generally capitalized, unless they are parts of speech that are not capitalized articles, conjunctions, or prepositions.
In this example, Half-Blood is a hyphenated compound. Blood is capitalized because it is a noun. However, if any of those short words are verbs e. In Chicago style, all prepositions are lowercase unless they are the first or last word of the title. These include the lengthier ones, such as "between," "among," and "throughout. In MLA style, words with three letters or fewer are always lowercase. The exception here is if they are the first or last word of the title.
In sentence case, the title is written as if it were a sentence. This is considered a more casual style and is commonly used in newspapers and on the web for headline capitalization. There are a couple reasons why writers choose sentence case over title case:.
Ordinary nouns and pronouns are not capitalized in sentence case. However, proper nouns within the title are still capitalized:. One of the complexities of the English language is that, for every rule you learn, there's probably an exception. Here are some advanced rules for title capitalization. Capitalize subsequent elements unless they are articles, prepositions, or coordinating conjunctions and, but, for, or, nor :.
Do not capitalize the second element if the first element is a prefix that could not stand alone by itself such as anti- or pre-. An open compound comes to life when a modifying adjective is used in conjunction with a noun. This creates a new noun. Hopefully, warning bells will signal in your mind, as nouns are almost always capitalized.
Both Chicago and AP Stylebook guidelines say you should capitalize the first word after a colon in title case:. In sentence case, you should capitalize the first word after a colon if it begins an independent clause. In sentence case do not capitalize the first word after a colon if the clause cannot stand alone. Prepositions often find themselves on the "do not capitalize" list. However, when a preposition becomes an important part of a phrasal verb , it does need to be capitalized.
When you're in doubt and you do not have a reference guide in front of you, here is one general rule recommended by The U. Government Printing Office Style Manual:. Capitalize all words in titles of publications and documents, except a, an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, or, and nor.
Furthermore, no matter your personal preference, make sure you write the exact titles of books, newspapers, journals, and other publications as they are written on the original document even if they do not follow common capitalization rules.
Knowing the general rules for capitalization in titles can help make the writing process easier. Many of these rules also work for headline capitalization in articles as well. So if you were writing the following title of this novella, you would write it this way, according to Chicago style:.
But if you were following AP style, you would write it this way:. Consider these additional examples of correctly capitalized titles which meet the criteria in any style guide to help guide you:. East of Eden was a popular book by John Steinbeck. The sitcom Two and a Half Men explores the lives of two brothers.
The same rule regarding title capitalization applies to subtitles. See the examples below:. Virginia Woolf wrote Orlando: A Biography. Real-time suggestions, wherever you write. Capitalization in Titles Grammarly. Grammar What Are Modal Verbs? Writing, grammar, and communication tips for your inbox. Write with confidence. Get real-time suggestions wherever you write.
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