Capitalization: Titles That Deserve a Little Extra Respect
Why do we capitalize titles?
Just like proper nouns (names of specific people, places, or things), titles of certain works and positions deserve to be capitalized. This helps them stand out and shows that they are important or official.
When to Capitalize Titles
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Works of Art:
- Books: The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice
- Movies: The Shawshank Redemption, Star Wars
- Plays: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet
- Poems: “The Raven,” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
- Songs: “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Imagine”
- Paintings and Sculptures: The Mona Lisa, The Thinker
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Official Job Titles:
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When they come before a name:
- President Obama
- Professor Smith
- Doctor Jones
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BUT NOT when they come after a name or are used generally:
- Barack Obama, the president of the United States
- My sister is a doctor.
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Important Rules:
- Capitalize the first and last word of the title.
- Capitalize all other words in the title EXCEPT:
- articles (a, an, the)
- coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor, yet, so)
- prepositions with less than five letters (in, on, at, to, from, by, of)
Examples:
- Correct: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Incorrect: The Lord Of The Rings
Let’s Practice!
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Fix the Capitals: Rewrite the titles with correct capitalization:
- the cat in the hat
- pride and prejudice
- the girl with the dragon tattoo
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Capitalize When Needed:
- the queen of england visited our school.
- we met with mayor johnson to discuss the new park.
- my brother wants to be a doctor when he grows up.
Challenge!
Write a paragraph about a book or movie you enjoyed. Use the correct capitalization for the title and any job titles mentioned.
I hope this helps you master capitalization with titles!
