What Words Do I Capitalize in a Title?
by Tina Blue
August 8, 2000
I am sometimes surprised that so few people know which words are supposed to be capitalized in a title and which are not, because the rules are so few and so simple. ~These are the words that should be capitalized:
~The first and last words of the title
~All nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives
~Any conjunction or preposition of five letters or more --(This is optional. You can choose to go with an older rule that says not to capitalize prepositions or conjunctions regardless of length. The five letters or more standard has developed over the last two decades or so. Either form would be acceptable, as long as you use it consistently.)
~These are the words that should not be capitalized:
~Articles (the, a, an), unless the article is the first or (less likely, of course) last word of the title
~Prepositions of four letters or fewer (unless the preposition is the first or last word of the title)
~Conjunctions of four letters or fewer (unless the conjunction is the first or last word of the title)
~The particle "to" used with an infinitive (unless the "to" is the first or last word of the title)**
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**For an example of the infinitive particle "to" capitalized at the end of the title, take my article "It's My Participle, and I'll Dangle It if I Want To".
