MODULE 13: CAPITAL LETTERS

TITLES

13n Capitalize titles.

(1) Capitalize the title of a person when the title comes before the name.
EXAMPLES Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Madame Curie
(2) Capitalize a word showing a family relationship only when the word is used before or
in place of a person’s name.
EXAMPLES Ask if Uncle Horace will be there.
I sent Mom a nice card.
Do not capitalize a word showing a family relationship when a possessive such as Bob’s or
your comes before the word.
EXAMPLE Can Bob’s sister and your cousin Clara ride together?
(3) Capitalize the first and last words and all important words in titles of books,
magazines, newspapers, poems, short stories, movies, television programs, works of art,
and musical compositions.
Unimportant words in titles include:
• articles (a, an, the)
• coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet)
• prepositions of fewer than five letters (such as by, for, on, with)

Type of Name Examples

books Listen to the Crows
magazines National Geographic
newspapers the Baltimore Sun
poems “Another Mountain”
short stories “The Gift of the Magi”
movies Finding Nemo
television programs World News
works of art Guernica
musical compositions “The Star-Spangled Banner”

NOTE The article the before a title is not capitalized unless it is the first word of the title.
For more about italics.
EXAMPLES Here’s the Sumter County Journal.
Yes, I own The Book of Lists.

© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Module 13 1

EXERCISE 7 Using Capital Letters in Titles
For each sentence below, correct the errors in capitalization. Either change capital letters to
lowercase letters or change lowercase letters to capital letters. Write your corrections on the line
below each sentence. Separate your answers with a semicolon.
EX. This latest issue of national geographic world is interesting.
National Geographic World

1. Yes, Professor, my sister donna was in your drawing class.

_________________________________________________________________________
2. A review of that book, the helen keller story, appeared in a newspaper, the beacon.
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3. My painting, called the cattle driver, is based on that old song “ghost riders in the sky.”
_________________________________________________________________________
4. Tomorrow grandfather Matsuda will speak on the topic “bridges in the garden.”
_________________________________________________________________________
5. My family reads A christmas carol and watches Frosty The Snowman around the holidays.
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© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Module 13 2