Capitalization, Titles
Q. If our publication follows your style of italicizing the titles of most works (e.g., books), what would you recommend we do in cases when that title must appear in the headline of an article? Italicization is not possible in our headline fields, and our style for quotation marks in headlines is single quotation marks. Single quotes would likely improve clarity in many cases, but it may also be best to use quotation marks only when needed for clarity. I would appreciate some reinforcement as we try to pin this down for good. Answer »
Q. I am editing an article, and the terms “Cause of Death,” “Manner of Death,” “Natural,” “Accident,” “Suicide,” “Homicide,” and “Undetermined” are all capitalized. If the term is reused later in the article, e.g., “This is a Natural death” and “There has been no finding as to the Manner and possible Cause of death,” should I capitalize “Natural,” “Manner,” and “Cause” in this latter usage? Answer »
Q. According to 8.84 of the 15th edition of CMOS , the names of major sporting events are capitalized. But none of the examples provided include major sporting events made up of multiple games. For the World Series, for example, would it be Game Four of the 1948 World Series, or game four of the 1948 World Series? Answer »
Q. How should I treat names of apps? Answer »
Q. A manuscript I’m working on right now features a quote in running text which refers to the twentieth century. Since the quote is from the New York Times, it says “20th century”—which does not match the number style for the rest of our book. Is spelling out the number a permissible change to the quote? Answer »
Q. I’m helping a French writer edit a book he has written in English. I’ve been following the convention of writing French words and phrases in italics and also using italics for movie titles, book titles, etc. Now I come upon a French song title, and I can’t figure out what to do with it. Here is the phrase: He called it “La non-demande en mariage.” Do I keep the quotation marks? Do I italicize the French song title? Both? Answer »
Q. I am copyediting a website that includes testimonials from authors of various books. If this were a print publication, there would be no question that the book titles would be italicized. However, since it is a website, are the rules different? The Yahoo! Style Guide, which deals specifically with digital content, recommends enclosing book titles in double quotation marks. Several other style guides I have come across recommend using italics. I am the person expected to create the style guide for the organization. What do you say? Answer »
Q. Lately, more and more titles are styled in lowercase—the Broadway show bare , for example, and Ann Hamilton’s 2001 installation the picture is still. When this sort of title appears in a headline or at the beginning of a sentence, would you allow authors to retain the lowercase styling? It sure looks weird, but people do love their high-maintenance names. (Yes, Ke$ha, I am talking about you.) Answer »
Q. My organization holds a lot of events, and we refer to them often on our website and in our member newsletter. Some are large programs (Last Remaining Seats film series); others are one-time events (Haunted Scavenger Hunt). In trying to determine how to format event titles, the closest comparison I found in CMOS was titles of exhibitions, which should be italicized (our events are more like museum exhibitions than world’s fairs). Would you agree that we should italicize all events, regardless of their size or duration? Answer »
Q. Can you please confirm the correct spelling of “TIME magazine”? CMOS 8.169 has Time magazine. However, TIME customer service tells me that TIME Magazine is correct. I think “magazine” should be lowercased, since it does not appear anywhere on the cover, and I do not think it is part of the official name of the magazine, even though they capitalize it on their website. What do you think? Answer »
Q. According to CMOS, the honorific title First Lady should be capitalized in all instances. Does that mean that the phrase “the president and First Lady” is correctly capitalized? Answer »
Q. Should the word “nature” be capitalized in this sentence? “My research goal is to advance a global energy solution copied from Nature itself: artificial photosynthesis.” Answer »
Q. I am editing a cookbook. When I am referring to a recipe by its full name in introductory text—say, Spelt Butterhorn Rolls—would the name be capitalized as I just did, should it be enclosed in quotation marks, or should it just be lowercase? Answer »
Q. I see in section 8.21 of the 16th edition that civil titles, such as “secretary of state,” should be lowercase unless appearing as, for example, “Secretary of State Smith.” What about titles such as “assistant secretary of state for bureaucracy and obfuscation”? Should “bureaucracy and obfuscation” be lowercase to match “assistant secretary of state” or should it be capitalized as the name of a specific department? Answer »
Q. I’m an editor at a law firm. I was recently asked whether there is any difference between “no more than” and “not more than,” as in “Violator will be sentenced to no/not more than five years in prison.” I took a poll in the office, and the other editors said they prefer “no more than,” but they pointed out that “not more than” is common in the legal context. Answer »
Q. Should the name of a conference or event be italicized? How do I find specific answers without your help? Answer »
Q. Hi there. Please advise those of us who have to deal with music questions in our copyediting. How would you style the name of a concert—in roman or italics? For example, One World: The Concert for Tsunami Relief. Answer »
Q. How to treat names of apps? I am copyediting a newsletter for a professional organization. A couple of the articles discuss iPad/smart-phone apps. I am at a loss as to how to treat those names: Initial caps only? Initial caps, roman? Italics? In quotes? Any suggestions? CMOS 16 is mute, alas. I should note that the issue is possibly more complicated because some of the apps carry the same names as the books upon which they are based. Answer »
Q. I’m editing a university press book about the romance genre in England with references and comparisons to the rest of Europe. My question is about CMOS 8.46, which indicates “Continental cuisine; but continental breakfast.” This MS uses “continental” to modify any number of objects and concepts. Which are the exceptions, and which the rule (and why)? Answer »
Q. I understand that a title following a person’s name should be presented in lowercase. Our Human Resources Department defines official job titles at my college. We have titles that are presented with a comma rather than a preposition. For example: director, human resources, rather than director of human resources. What is the correct way to present the title after a name that includes the comma? Should “human resources” be uppercase or lowercase? Should it be Mary Smith, director, human resources? Answer »
Q. My professor has requested that one of our assignments have the titles of tables in headline-style capitalization. What does this mean? Answer »
Q. I am ghostwriting a memoir for a client who once worked at a German motorcycle magazine known as mo, lowercase. I am struggling with capitalization rules for this in the English-language memoir I am writing. The client does not want to write “mo magazine” each time it is referenced, and when written in lowercase, mo seems to get lost in each paragraph, even when italicized. What would CMOS recommend in a situation such as this? Answer »
Q. Should the first letter of all words in the title of a book, movie, or play be capped? I’ve sometimes seen the first letter of prepositions and articles in lowercase. Answer »
Q. Question: When the day of a month is spelled out, as in “the second of January,” should it be capitalized, i.e., “the Second of January”? Answer »
Q. Which is correct: “on January second” or “on January Second”? Answer »
Q. Should I capitalize “the states” when used alone (referring to the United States)? I’m copyediting a novel in which the author capitalizes “the States” when used alone. I think it would be lowercased. Answer »
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