Formatting and capitalizing titles

Learning Objectives Identify 'important' and 'unimportant' words for title capitalization. Correctly capitalize the first and last words of any title. Apply capitalization rules to nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in a title. Correctly use lowercase for articles, coordinating conjunctions, and short prepositions within a title. Differentiate between using quotation marks for short works (e.g., poems, short stories) and underlining/italics for long works (e.g., books, movies). Proofread and correct capitalization and formatting errors in given titles. Have you ever noticed how some words on a book cover are BIG and others are small? 🤔 It's not random; it's a secret code for writers! Today, we're going to learn the special ru...

TermDefinitionExample TitleThe special name given to a piece of work, like a book, movie, song, or story.The title of the book is *Charlotte's Web*. CapitalizationUsing an uppercase letter (a big letter like A, B, C) at the beginning of a word.In the title *The Lion King*, the words 'The,' 'Lion,' and 'King' use capitalization. Important WordsThe main words in a title that always get capitalized. These include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.In *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs*, the important words are 'Cloudy,' 'Chance,' and 'Meatballs.' Unimportant WordsShort connecting words that are not capitalized unless they are the first or last word. These are articles (a, an, the), short prepositions (of, in, to, for), and c...

The 'First and Last' Rule Always capitalize the first word and the last word of a title, no matter what they are. This is the most important rule to remember. Even if the first or last word is normally 'unimportant' (like 'a' or 'the'), it gets a capital letter in these two spots. The 'Important vs. Unimportant' Rule Capitalize all 'important' words. Do not capitalize 'unimportant' words in the middle of a title. Important words are the main subjects and actions (nouns, verbs, adjectives). Unimportant words are short connectors like 'a, an, the, and, but, or, for, in, of, on, at, to'. The 'Long vs. Short' Formatting Rule Use underlining or italics for long works. Use quotation mar...