Just a Teeny-Tiny Little Tip Regarding Title Capitalization

Sceptic

Sceptic

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I see titles like this all the time: "Breaking News: Erik Is Here With A New Writing Trick."
Another variant that I frequently come across is "Breaking news: Erik is here with a new writing trick"

Here's the thing; Title capitalization, just like everything else in the English language, has some rules that you need to follow.

Here's the correct format of the above title: Breaking News: Erik Is Here with a New Writing Trick

Here's where you can find all the capitalization rules, along with a neat tool that you can use to capitalize your titles hands-free: https://capitalizemytitle.com/

You can use that tool to capitalize both your titles and headlines.

PS: Google Docs has an add-on that can do that right from your dashboard, here's how you can https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001744.htm. (We're yet to see something similar for Word though).
 
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Can this be the secret to telling who is really a native writer and who is not :D Thanks
 
raregem009 said:
Can this be the secret to telling who is really a native writer and who is not :D Thanks
Click to expand...
It’s not about whether you're a native or non-native speaker, it's about whether you've taken your time to read some basic rules or not.
 
Nerva said:
It’s not about whether you're a native or non-native speaker, it's about whether you've taken your time to read some basic rules or not.
Click to expand...

Sent you a message few days ago..
 
Nerva said:
It’s not about whether you're a native or non-native speaker, it's about whether you've taken your time to read some basic rules or not.
Click to expand...
That is another good point you got there. I see so many "expert writers" with so little knowledge of grammar, composition, and patience. Writers like you inspire me to take things one at a time.
 
I think there's an iMacro that does the trick in Microsoft Word.
 
Thanks for the Google Docs add-on. That's an issue that I sometimes struggle with.

What about all lower case for when people are sorting through their A pile and B pile :p
 
I wouldn't necessarily say the second is wrong if it were a title of a section or subheading. Depends on site style, but you're right that the first is more proper.

There are also some studies that suggest improper capitalization - like capitalizing every word in your first example - actually increases readability/engagement.

I know - I hate it too. It looks wrong. But if it works, it works. (Doesn't work on me - decreases trust and screams "scammy site!" immediately).



There are also different style guides for titles that can make things confused, like when the title has hyphenated words.

For example:

Ten Ways to Color Your Cat Blue-Green

and

Ten Ways to Color Your Cat Blue-green

...are both correct depending on the style guide.



IMHO it's best to ask the client if they're following any particular style guide for grammar since English is a weird language with conflicting rules.
 
Thx, good to know. And the tool is great. Anyway, since I do not write academic articles, it matters a little more.
 
Nerva said:
Here's the thing; Title capitalization, just like everything else in the English language, has some rules that you need to follow.
Click to expand...

Well, that's not quite correct. Even the site you mentioned says that these are just conventions, while the grammatically correct capitalization would be 'sentence case'.
 
Thanks for the info
sometimes i do it just because i found that capitalizing the first letter of each sentence is nice
 
Nerva said:
I see titles like this all the time: "Breaking News: Erik Is Here With A New Writing Trick."
Another variant that I frequently come across is "Breaking news: Erik is here with a new writing trick"

Here's the thing; Title capitalization, just like everything else in the English language, has some rules that you need to follow.

Here's the correct format of the above title: Breaking News: Erik Is Here with a New Writing Trick

Here's where you can find all the capitalization rules, along with a neat tool that you can use to capitalize your titles hands-free: https://capitalizemytitle.com/

You can use that tool to capitalize both your titles and headlines.

PS: Google Docs has an add-on that can do that right from your dashboard, here's how you can install it. (We're yet to see something similar for Word though).
Click to expand...

This is correct. But lots of websites and themes rely on CSS for capitalization and CSS capitalizes every single letter of a word in a title.
 
"How Are with a Special Jeezus This Tool Is Godsend WTF??????????????????????"

This is something so trivial, yet has a mighty impact.

Thank you so much for this!
 
Nerva said:
Here's where you can find all the capitalization rules, along with a neat tool that you can use to capitalize your titles hands-free: https://capitalizemytitle.com/
Click to expand...
This is so helpful- thank you. I've had moments where I wondered about specific words and capitalization. I didn't think to just look it up so I'm glad I ran into this.
 
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