Capitalization in Titles: Which Words??

 

Headings, chapter titles, book titles, movie titles……these titles all require proper capitalization. Which words are capitalized in a title, anyway? Or, which words are not?

Here are some rules to help you:

1. The first and last words of a title are always capitalized, no matter what they are.

2. The articles a, and, and the are not capitalized unless they are the first or last words of a title.

3. The conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so are not capitalized unless they are the first or last words of a title. However, sometimes for, yet, and so can be other parts of speech. For can also be a preposition, but you don’t have to worry about that because little prepositions are not capitalized either! However, yet and so can also be adverbs, and adverbs are capitalized in a title. Here are some examples of yet and so:

I am so tired. (So is an adverb.)

I am tired, so I will take a nap. (So is a conjunction here; it is connecting two clauses.)

Are we there yet? (Yet is an adverb here.)

I am tired, yet I can’t sleep. (Yet is a conjunction here, a connecting word.)

You probably won’t have to worry about yet and so too much in titles. My guess is usually they will be adverbs in a title, unless your title is really long. So capitalize them.

4. Small prepositions of four or fewer letters (with four letters you have a choice of whether or not to capitalize) are not capitalized.

Common short prepositions: to, for, by, in, out, up, down, at, with, past, over.

Common longer prepositions (capitalize these): above, below, beyond, between, among, along, beneath, under.

NOTE: Although in is a preposition, if and it and is are NOT! These words need to be capitalized! If is a conjunction, it is a pronoun, and is is a verb.

Here are some titles that are capitalized correctly:

Tender Is the Night

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

Joy to the World

Somewhere over the Rainbow (or Over)

Woe Is I

The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!

Correct Me If I’m Wrong

Algebra Is Tough, yet Fun!

I that last title, yet is used as a conjunction, or connecting word, so it isn’t capitalized. It looks kind of funny to me. If all words except one in a longish title are capitalized, and it looks odd to you, you can capitalize all the words. In a title, ’tis better to capitalize a word when in doubt, than not capitalize one that should be capitalized.

Special Note: Is, Are, Was, Were, Be: These words are all verbs and thus very important and always capitalized in  a title. If you don’t capitalize these, the grammar police will be out looking for you!

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