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Q&A Which words should not be capitalized in Title Case?

If you are referring to "title case," where some words are capitalized and some aren't, there is no one standard rule. The AP stylebook says: Capitalize the principal words, including prep...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:03Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4622
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:05:57Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4622
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:05:57Z (over 4 years ago)
If you are referring to "title case," where some words are capitalized and some aren't, [there is no one standard rule](http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/capitalstitle.htm).

The [AP stylebook](http://www.apstylebook.com) says:

> - Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.
> - Capitalize an article – the, a, an – or words of fewer than four letters if it is the first or last word in a title.

But the [Chicago Manual of Style](http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org) says:

> Use lowercase for articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor), and prepositions, regardless of length, _unless_ they are the first or last word of the title.

Wikipedia has a [list of different ways title case can be applied](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_case#Headings_and_publication_titles). I tend to follow the second version in that list.

![title case variations](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ra9A2.png)

Note that some people prefer using "sentence case" in titles, where you only capitalize words as you would in a normal sentence. This is also known as "Down style." Apparently this is more typical in the UK than the USA, but [opinions vary](http://typophile.com/node/66002) (as you might expect) on which is the correct form, or if there is even one.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2011-12-15T19:10:12Z (over 12 years ago)
Original score: 28