英语语法：105 When Should You Capitalize Titles?

Grammar Girl here.

Last week we talked about capitalizing words in the business world. Today we're going to talk about capitalization in general.

If you recall, in English, we capitalize proper nouns—words that name a specific thing or person, words such as “Richard” and “Helen”—and we lowercase words that are common nouns that could be used to describe general things—words such as “boy” and “girl.”

We also have common adjectives and proper adjectives that follow similar rules.

Honorifics

Let’s start with what we call honorifics – “doctor,” “professor,” and “dean” are honorifics you might find on an academic campus. Then we have “mister,” “judge,” “deacon,” “sergeant,” and so on. Some of those are professional designations; others are courtesy titles. When they directly precede a name, honorifics should be capitalized.

For example, when we write Judge Joseph Smith or Deacon Fred Rutherford, we capitalize “judge” and “deacon” because they are honorifics that come before the name. Some also get abbreviated¹: Prof. Irwin Corey, Dr. Marcus Welby, and Sgt. Joe Friday.

“Mr.” and “Ms.,” of course, are uppercase before a name. “Mrs.,” which is less commonly used than it was several decades ago and which derives² from the honorific “Mistress,” is also capitalized before a name. Same goes for “Miss,” which is usually reserved for a younger girl. A boy takes “Master” (if anything) before his name. (It's a little antiquated³, but still kind of cute.)

In cases where these words stand alone, even in direct address, they are lowercase. “Hey, mister [small m], look out for that pelican⁴!” “Gee, doctor [small d], it hurts when I stick out my tongue.”

Back to School

As you're heading back to the classroom, there are plenty of other capitalization questions. For example, Russ G. from Iowa recently sent in an e-mail message asking whether he should capitalize the name of his grade. “Is 'grade' in 'sixth grade' capitalized?” he asked. “I see both ways ... example: sixth-grade Science."

Russ doesn’t see it both ways because he's cross-eyed, he sees it both ways because sometimes “sixth grade” should be capitalized and sometimes it shouldn't. Let's think about common adjectives and proper adjectives.

Common Adjectives

When “sixth grade” is describing a group of students, it's a common adjective just like “tall” or “noisy.” The tall, noisy, sixth-grade students will arrive any minute.

Course Names

But, when you make “sixth grade” part of a specific class name, it's capitalized because the whole name of the course is a proper noun (1, 2). Just like “Richard” is a name of a specific person, “Sixth-Grade Science” could be the name of a specific class, and if so, it's capitalized. Mr. Fogarty is teaching Sixth-Grade Science at 1:00 this year.

If “sixth grade science” is the formal name of the course, it's capitalized. If it's just a descriptive way of talking about a class that's formally called “Oceans, Clouds, and Weather,” then it isn't capitalized. You only capitalize formal course names.

Disciplines

Let's talk about the difference between course names and disciplines. You now know that official course names are capitalized. What about a discipline name such as “science” when it just stands on its own? Disciplines such as science, chemistry, math, and art aren't capitalized when you're just talking about them generally, but disciplines whose names are derived⁵ from proper nouns are capitalized.

Spain and England are proper nouns because they are country names; therefore, Spanish and English are capitalized. If you’re talking about the language spoken in England in, say, the 11th century, that would be Old English, and the “o” in “old” would be capitalized as well. It’s part of the name of the language.

Centuries

As long as we’ve ventured back to the 11th century, leave “century” lowercase, as recommended by the AP Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style. It's just a generic⁶ descriptor, not a proper noun. Of course, if “century” is part of a proper name, as in 20th Century Fox, it’s capitalized.

Directions

Geography raises its own capitalization issues. “I’m heading East,” which generally means to the Eastern Seaboard or East Coast, is different from the generic, “I’m heading east,” which simply means in the easterly direction. The lowercase “e” might take you only from Des Moines to Iowa City–which is lovely, but not loaded with beaches. You'd have to leave your boogie board at home.

Sounds Like … ?

Other words can be both common nouns and proper nouns, so you change the meaning by making them uppercase or lowercase. For example, what happens if I capitalize the word “august,” meaning “majestic”? It's pronounced differently from the month of August, but the two are spelled the same. If I write about “an august ceremony,” but I uppercase “August” to make it seem more important, it has an opposite and probably misleading effect; “an August ceremony” with “august” capitalized would make readers think the ceremony was being held in the month of August, not think of the ceremony's majesty⁷.

Here, without the benefit of pronunciation, improper⁸ capitalization creates confusion.

Speaking of “confusion,” synonyms⁹ for “confusion” include “pandemonium¹⁰” and “bedlam¹¹.” Fair enough; each serves the purpose. But Pandemonium, with a capital “p,” – in keeping with the topic – the name for the capital of Hell, according to John Milton in “Paradise Lost.”

Bedlam, with an uppercase “b,” was a popular name for the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London, a mental hospital. If you’re talking about mere¹² confusion, or even chaos¹³, propriety¹⁴ and sensitivity suggest you’d want to make a firm distinction and leave the “b” lowercase in “bedlam.” Otherwise, as with Pandemonium, you’d convey a meaning that you probably would prefer to avoid

The Quick and Dirty Tip for capitalization is one that applies to most grammatical and usage instances. Simply ask yourself whether you’re saying what you mean to say. Is this the right word, and would I change its meaning by making it uppercase or lowercase? When in doubt, look it up. Dictionaries can't tell you whether “sixth grade” is part of a formal course title, but they will tell you when a word has a different meaning if it is uppercase or lowercase.

Ragan.com

This podcast was written by Rob Reinalda, executive editor for Ragan Communications (word_czar on Twitter), and I'm Mignon Fogarty, the author of the paperback¹⁵ book Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.

That's all. Thank for listening

 

1 abbreviated   

adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多，令人费解。
• The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。

2 derives   

v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• English derives in the main from the common Germanic stock. 英语主要源于日耳曼语系。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derives his income from freelance work. 他以自由职业获取收入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 antiquated   

adj.陈旧的，过时的

参考例句：

• Many factories are so antiquated they are not worth saving.很多工厂过于陈旧落后，已不值得挽救。
• A train of antiquated coaches was waiting for us at the siding.一列陈旧的火车在侧线上等着我们。

4 pelican   

n.鹈鹕，伽蓝鸟

参考例句：

• The pelican has a very useful beak.鹈鹕有一张非常有用的嘴。
• This pelican is expected to fully recover.这只鹈鹕不久就能痊愈。

5 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

7 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！

8 improper   

adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的

参考例句：

• Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
• Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。

9 synonyms   

同义词( synonym的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If you want to grasp English, you must carefully discriminate synonyms. 如果你想掌握好英语，你必须仔细区分同义词。
• Study the idioms and synonyms l wrote down before your test. 学考试前我给你写的习惯用语和同义字。

10 pandemonium   

n.喧嚣，大混乱

参考例句：

• The whole lobby was a perfect pandemonium,and the din was terrific.整个门厅一片嘈杂，而且喧嚣刺耳。
• I had found Adlai unperturbed in the midst of pandemonium.我觉得艾德莱在一片大混乱中仍然镇定自若。

11 bedlam   

n.混乱，骚乱；疯人院

参考例句：

• He is causing bedlam at the hotel.他正搅得旅馆鸡犬不宁。
• When the teacher was called away the classroom was a regular bedlam.当老师被叫走的时候，教室便喧闹不堪。

12 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

13 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

14 propriety   

n.正当行为；正当；适当

参考例句：

• We hesitated at the propriety of the method.我们对这种办法是否适用拿不定主意。
• The sensitive matter was handled with great propriety.这件机密的事处理得极为适当。

15 paperback   

n.平装本，简装本

参考例句：

• A paperback edition is now available at bookshops.平装本现在在书店可以买到。
• Many books that are out of print are reissued in paperback form.许多绝版的书籍又以平装本形式重新出现。