What are the capitalization rules in titles? Here are some essential rules to follow when it comes to writing.
CAPITALIZATION RULES IN TITLES – Some words need to be capitalized in a sentence, and here’s how to do it in titles.
There are certain rules of capitalization in English in writing. Names of people, places, titles of works, nationalities, languages, institutions like companies, historical eras, days, months, holidays, initials, and acronyms need to be capitalized when used in a sentence.
But how do you apply the rules in titles?
Confused about what to capitalize in a title? Here are some rules to follow:
- Always capitalize the first word as well as all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. (The first word must always be in capital letters regardless of its role.)
Example: The Old Man and the Sea (Man and Sea are nouns, Old is an adjective that modifies the noun, The is the first word)
- Articles, conjunctions, and prepositions should not be capitalized. (These should not be capitalized unless they are the first word of the title.)
Example: The Sound and the Fury (“The” is used twice, but the second one is in lowercase. The first “the” is at the beginning of the title, Sound and Fury are nouns, and “and” is a conjunction.)
- Capitalize the first element in a hyphenated compound. (If there’s a hyphenated compound in the title, the first element must always be capitalized. The other parts are capitalized unless the word is an article, conjunction, or preposition.)
Example: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Half-Blood is a hyphenated compound. Blood is capitalized because it is a noun. However, if the hyphenated compound has a prefix that cannot stand as a word on its own, the second element must be in lower case, such as Re-elect, Co-Owner, and others.)
- Capitalize both elements of spelled-out numbers or simple fractions.
Example: One Student Graduates without Honors at a Local High School
- If the scientific name of a species is mentioned, the second portion of the name must be written in lowercase. (This is often applied to academic works in the medical or scientific fields. As mentioned, the second name of a scientific name should be in lowercase.)
Example: Antibacterial Effects of Curcuma longa Extract Against Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: A Comparative In Vitro Study