7/20/2023 0 Comments Capital letters![]() Next month I’ll write about initial capitals used to indicate respect and in job titles. I cover capital letters in three of my online courses: An A to Z of Punctuation, Biz Grammar and Styles for Business Writing. ![]() Style guides also don’t agree about whether to capitalise the second word of a hyphenated compound (‘Self-respect’ or ‘Self-Respect’). ( The Chicago Manual of Style makes an exception for prepositions used adverbially or adjectivally, for example, Talk Up Your Business). T he Chicago Manual of Style recommends lower case for all prepositions regardless of length, whereas AP Style recommends capitalising all words of four letters or more. Two major American style guides, The Chicago Manual of Style and AP Style don’t agree about capitalising prepositions (e.g. Knowing what words to capitalise is not straightforward.Writers tend to be inconsistent in their capitalisation when they use title case – a word will be capitalised in one heading, but not in the next.I prefer sentence case for headings and subheadings because: It uses sentence case for subheadings throughout the manual, which I like, but I think the title should be Style Manual! The government style guide’s title is in sentence case ( Style manual), presumably to emphasise the shift towards sentence case. In Australia, there is one notable exception. I notice that American writers tend to use title case in headings and subheadings. Subheadings in titles are also often in sentence case ( Write to Govern: How to write effective board papers). In Australia and New Zealand, titles of business documents, Acts and books are usually in title case, and headings and subheadings are in sentence case. The art of painting portraits in Australia In sentence case, the first word and proper nouns have initial capitals.The Art of Painting Portraits in Australia (‘Important’ words are nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and some conjunctions.) In title case, the first and last words, proper nouns (name of people and places) and ‘important’ words have initial capitals.There are two ways of using capital letters in titles and headings: Job titles should be lower case, except when attributed to a person.Ĭapital letters are always used for The King.By Mary Morel | May 2016 Capital letters in titles and headings nouns when they are followed by numbers or letters, for example, Table 1, Figure AĬhild and infant mortality in England and Wales: 2019įigure 1: In 2018, renewable generation was 11 times greater than in 2003 Compass directions and regionsĬompass directions and regions are always lower case.Ĭentral America, North America, South America Publications.proper nouns, such as the names of countries, months, specific statistical time periods (for example, Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2021), organisations, and specific surveys and indices.the first word of the section heading or subheading.the first word of the title or subtitle.Only the following words should be capitalised: Small Area Headings, titles and subtitlesĪll titles, subtitles, headings and subheadings should be written in sentence case. Use capital letters for proper nouns, which are names that refer to a specific thing. As capital letters are more difficult to read, do not use them in any other context. Capital letters should always be used for proper nouns, at the beginning of sentences and in acronyms.
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