Capitalising titles

key notes :

General Rule:

  • Capitalize the first and last words of a title, regardless of what they are.

Capitalizing Major Words:

Capitalize all major words in a title. Major words include:

  • Nouns (e.g., book, river, happiness)
  • Pronouns (e.g., he, she, it, they)
  • Verbs (e.g., run, eat, think, is, was)
  • Adjectives (e.g., big, small, red, happy)
  • Adverbs (e.g., quickly, happily, often)
  • Subordinating conjunctions (e.g., although, because, unless)

Minor Words to Lowercase:

Certain short words are not capitalized unless they are the first or last word of the title:

  • Articles (e.g., a, an, the)
  • Coordinating conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet)
  • Prepositions (e.g., in, on, at, by, with, from, about, under)

Examples:

  • Correct: The Lord of the Rings
  • Incorrect: The lord Of The Rings
  • Correct: A Tale of Two Cities
  • Incorrect: A tale Of two Cities

Special Cases:

  • Hyphenated Words: Capitalize both parts of the hyphenated word if both are major words (e.g., The Twenty-First Century).
  • Short Titles: If the title is short, such as a two-word title, capitalize both words (e.g., Gone Girl).

Sentence vs. Title Case:

Sentence case: Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.

  • Example: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Title case: Follow the capitalizing rules above for titles.

  • Example: The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog.

Let’s practice!🖊️