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What to Capitalize in a Title

This article will help you never forget what words are captialized in a heading.

I love being an admin, but technicalities with words and writing were never my thing. After winning my 2nd grade Spelling Bee, it all went downhill from there. Unfortunately, overlooking seemingly trivial details doesn’t cut it for a top admin. You must be able to catch each and every error and write impeccably.

As you have probably seen all over AdminSecret, my worst grammar flaw is remembering which words in titles to capitalize. I made this cheat sheet for us so that once-and-for-all we know exactly what you should capitalize in the title of documents, article, and subject lines.

ALWAYS CAPITALIZE:

1) The first and last word of the title

2) Words with these functions:

-Nouns
-Pronouns
-Verbs
-Adjectives
-Adverbs

3) Words that are five letters or more, regardless of their function. (This rule is meant to specifically address conjunctions and prepositions. Twenty or so years ago, writers did not capitalize any conjunctions or prepositions. Today, it is accepted and expected to capitalize the larger words.)

Examples of prepositions include: Among, About, Between, Within, etc.
Examples of conjunctions/subordinating conjunctions: Although, Because, Until, Where, While, etc.

NEVER CAPITALIZE (unless they are the first or last word):

1) Prepositions and conjunctions of four letters or fewer

Examples of prepositions: at, by, down, for, from, in, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, onto, over, past, to, upon, with
Examples of conjunctions: and, but, or, yet, for, nor, so, as, if, once, than, that, till, when

2) The particle “to” used as an infinitive (meaning with a verb)

Examples: to Read, to Write, to See, etc.

3) Articles (a, an, the)

CAPITALIZE / NOT CAPITALIZE CHEAT SHEET:

DO NOT CAPITALIZE:
-to + (Verb): to Read, to Write, to See, etc.
-Articles: a, an, the

CAPITALIZE:
-The first and last word of the title
-Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs
-Words that are more than four letters (see table below)

TRICKY WORDS:
as Though
even Though
in Front of
in Order that
Instead of
Rather than

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