Deciding how to capitalize words in titles can be more complicated than you’d think. Do you capitalize every word? Just the first? What about in subheadings? While the rules and preferences on this vary among style guides, we’ve put together a simple guide to help you out.
When a title is capitalized using sentence case, it means you capitalize it exactly as you would for a normal sentence. The only words that should be capitalized are the first word and any proper nouns. For example:
Sentence case is arguably easier to follow than title case – which we’ll get into next.
Title case means that you capitalize the first word and all major words in the title. What defines a major word, though, varies between style guides, so check your style guide or your institution’s requirements. Generally, though, title case follows these rules:
● Capitalize the first word.
● Capitalize all proper nouns.
● Capitalize pronouns.
● Capitalize all principal words and longer words (usually four letters or more).
● Keep short articles, prepositions, and conjunctions lowercase.
Here are a couple of examples of title case:
Let’s look at a few of the common style guides and their rules for title case.
● Capitalize principal words.
● Capitalize all words with four letters or more (including prepositions and conjunctions).
● Keep articles, prepositions, and conjunctions with three letters or less lowercase.
● Capitalize the first and last words of the title (even if it breaks the above rules).
● Capitalize To for infinitives.
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● Capitalize all nouns, verbs and verb phrases, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns.
● Keep articles, conjunctions, and prepositions with three letters or less lowercase.
● Capitalize all words with four letters or more.
● Capitalize the first and last words.
● Capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions.
● Keep all articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions lowercase.
These are just a few, and most styles have even further peculiarities. So, if you’re using a guide, make sure you check it carefully. For a more thorough breakdown of the major style guides and their rules on capitalization, check out this page.
To sum up, sentence case means you only capitalize the first word and any proper nouns. Title case means you capitalize every word except for short or minor words.
Unless you’re following a guide or an institution’s requirements, you can choose to capitalize your titles based on your preference. Just remember to keep things consistent.
If you’re unsure about your capitalization, why not have one of our editors take a look at your work? We’ll also check your work for grammar, spelling, consistency, and more. Try it out for free today.
Sentence case means that you capitalize a title like a normal sentence, with everything lowercase except for the first word and any proper nouns.
Title case means that all words in a title are capitalized except for short or minor words, such as articles (e.g., a, an, the).
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