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Capital
(or upper-case) letters
are important in
English,
and
there are many
situations when you
should use
them.
Another important use
for capitals is in titles
(names) of articles, books,
and so on.
In titles for written materials,
some letters
are capitalized
and some are
not. Here are some guidelines to help you
know which
words should begin
with capitals:
| 1. |
|
Always
capitalize the first and last
word
of a title. |
| |
|
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| 2. |
|
Capitalize
all nouns in a title. |
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|
|
| 3. |
|
Capitalize
all pronouns in a title. |
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| 4. |
|
Capitalize
all verbs in a title. |
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| 5. |
|
Capitalize
all adjectives in a title. |
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| 6. |
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Capitalize
all adverbs in a title. |
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| 7. |
|
In
general, do not capitalize articles
(a, an, the) in a
title.* |
| |
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| 8. |
|
In
general, do not capitalize coordinating
conjunctions (for example, and, but, or)
in
a title.* |
| |
|
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| 9. |
|
In
general, do not capitalize prepositions
(for example, in, with, for, to)
in a title.* |
Special Notes
| 1. |
|
If
an
article, coordinating conjunction, or
preposition
is the first
word of a title, it is
(of
course) capitalized. |
| |
|
|
| 2. |
|
If
a
title is long and has a break
(after
a colon
[ : ] or dash [ -- ], for example),
capitalize
articles and / or prepisitions
that come directly after the
break. |
| |
|
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| 3. |
|
Some
authorities recommend capitalizing
all prepositions
that have four
or more
letters (for example, through, until, beside). |
Examples:
"Dave's ESL Cafe on the
Web"
"Electronic Postcards--Holiday
Greetings
for
Writing and Reading"
"The Postmodern Shift:
A Real Revolution in
ESOL
Teaching"
The Oxford Advanced Learner's
Dictionary
of
the English Language
Slang American Style: More
than
10,000 Ways
to
Talk the Talk
Plants for Dry Climates:
How to Select,
Grow,
and Enjoy
The Perfect Storm: A True
Story
of Men
Against the Sea
Of Mice and
Men
__________________________________________
(In the examples
above, quotation
marks [ " " ] are
used before
and after titles of
websites and titles of
articles in
magazines and journals and italics are used
for titles of books.)
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