The (title) case for little words
Which titles are correct?
- Some Like it Hot
- Some Like It Hot
- This is the End
- This Is the End
- We are Marshall
- We Are Marshall
- There Will be Blood
- There Will Be Blood
- How do you Know?
- How do You Know?
- How Do You Know?
- How Green was my Valley
- How Green was My Valley
- How Green Was My Valley
The correct titles are B, D, F, H, K, and N.
Why?
It is a noun.
Is, are, was, be, and do are verbs.
You is a pronoun. My is also a pronoun.
In title-case capitalization, nouns (words that describe a person, a place, or a thing), verbs (words that describe actions), and pronouns (words that stand in for nouns) are always capitalized, regardless of size, along with adjectives (words that describe nouns), adverbs (words that describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs), and subordinating conjunctions (words that join independent and dependent clauses; e.g., because, while, although).
Words that are not capitalized—unless they begin or end the title—include articles (a, an, and the), coordinating conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or), and prepositions of four (4) letters or fewer (e.g., as, of, at, in, to, for, with).
For prepositions, size does matter. Capitalize them when five (5) letters or more (e.g., about, around, between). Note: The threshold for capitalizing prepositions is a point of divergence among style guides, with some recommending capitalization of prepositions of four (4) letters or more.
But as a general rule: when it comes to capitalization of titles, a word’s part of speech trumps its size. Be mindful of the little words—don’t automatically assume that they’re lowercase. If you’re unsure of a word’s part of speech, ask Google or Chat, and then capitalize accordingly.
Beware of title-case converter sites. The site that came up second in my search results provided a title that was incorrectly capitalized, with a lowercase “is.” That tiny word—“is”—is always capitalized, without exception, in every title it appears.
