The capitalization of titles is a stylistic choice, so it can be up to the writer to decide. To appear more professional or capture the reader's attention, it's a good idea to follow standard rules. In our case, we will use the Chicago Manual of Style’s Rules for Capitalization, one of the most used and respected standards.
- Always Capitalize the first and last word.
- Capitalize Nouns
- Capitalize Pronouns
- Capitalize Adjectives
- Capitalize Verbs
- Capitalize Adverbs
- Capitalize Subordinate Conjunctions.
- For subtitles, apply the same rules of capitalization as for the composition-title.
- DO NOT Capitalize Articles (a, an, the)
- DO NOT Capitalize Coordinating Conjunctions
- DO NOT Capitalize Prepositions (regardless of length)
- DO NOT Capitalize the second word after a hyphenated prefix
- DO NOT Capitalize the “to” in an infinitive
Example:
The Day after Tomorrow
Example:
Wandering Prince by John B. Crest
Example:
The Day He Became a Legend
Example:
The White Houses of Greece
Example:
How to Leave and Live
Try to Calm Down and Relax
Example:
Handling the Situation Gently and with Care
The Very Tall Houses of Mumbai
A subordinating conjunction connects a dependent clause to an independent clause. A subordinating conjunction shows that a phrase adds to the sentence's main idea. It may be used to illustrate a shift in time or location between two phrases or to demonstrate that one statement is a cause of the other. Examples of subordinate conjunctions include after, although, because, before, even if, since, etc.
Example:
Performance of the Company Before the New CEO Took Over
Example:
Easy PC: A Simple Guide to Using Your Computer
Example:
She Is a Champion in the Making
Trials of an Asian Icon
A Coordinating Conjunction is used to connect two independent clauses, ideas that could stand alone as complete sentences. Coordinating conjunctions are "and," "but," "for, "nor", "or" and "so".
Example:
A Story of Crime and Consequences
The Party Was Fun and We Are Partying Again Next Month
A preposition is a word used before a noun or a pronoun to show direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships. Some examples of prepositions include "on", "of", "in", “beyond” "at" etc.
Example:
The Castle across the River
An Alien from Mars
Examples of Hyphenated prefixes include “self-” (self-serving), “ex-” (ex-girlfriend), “super-” (super-hero) etc.
Example:
The Rise of Super-hero Movies
Example:
We Intend to Win Today
Our style guide is the Chicago Manual of Style's Rules for Capitalization, but other styles may also be used, such as the AP (Associated Press Stylebook), NYT (New York Times Stylebook), etc. Nonetheless, it is essential to choose a single standard and adhere to it consistently.