Capitalisation…

Posted by pepsoid on July 20, 2007 - 13:51

I have given my latest blog entry the somewhat lengthy title of, He Would be Turning in His Grave… if He Had a Grave to Turn in! – which has raised a question I frequently ask of myself…

Are there any hard and fast "rules" regarding capitalisation in titles?

I know there's some sort of vague notion that conjoining words do not need to be capitalised, but what, precisely, constitutes a conjoining word? – "a," "to" and "be" seem obvious, but what about the likes of "he," "his" and "had"?

pe
ps
oid

I learned that the only non-capitalized words are articles and conjoining words. So yes, he his and had should be capitalized. When in doubt, you can try going all caps. Looks decent and simplifies everything.

Thanks, Red... I normally do plump for all out caps, but occasionally I try to look as if I know
the "rules"...!! ;-)

Re "articles"... I may be putting myself up for "he-s-a-writer-who-doesn't-know-about-grammar!!" ridicule here, but I shall nevertheless confess that I don't exactly know what an "article" is... The WordWeb dictionary says...

a determiner that may indicate the specificity of reference of a noun phrase

Like... erm... what? A "noun phrase"? "determiner"?

Grammar afficionados out there, please assist!

pe
ps
oid

Blogs!
"the art of tea"
"that's an odd courgette"

"The" and "A" are articles. In the middle of a title, the don't have to be capitalized.

"A Look Inside the Life"

"What a Day"

etc.

I'm surprised that I remember that. If only my english teacher could see me now. XD

Ahh, I see! :)

So would "this" and "that" and "those" be articles?