Formatting and capitalising titles: review

Key Notes:

📚 Formatting and Capitalising Titles: Review ✨

Capitalisation Rules for Titles 📝

When writing titles of books, articles, songs, or movies, remember these rules:

1. Capitalise the first and last words 🟢

• Example: The Lion King 🦁👑
• “The” is the first word ✅, “King” is the last word ✅

2. Capitalise all main words 🔹

• Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (because, although) ✅
• Example: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ⚡📖

3. Do NOT capitalise short words (unless they are the first or last word) ❌

• Articles: a, an, the
• Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet
• Prepositions (fewer than 5 letters): in, on, at, by, up, to
• Example: To Kill a Mockingbird 🐦

Formatting Titles ✍️

Books, Movies, and Plays 🎬📚

• Use italics or underline
• Example: The Great Gatsby

Short Stories, Articles, Poems, and Songs 🎶📄

• Use quotation marks
• Example: “The Road Not Taken”

Important: Don’t combine italics and quotes for the same title.

Examples for Practice 🖊️

Type	Correct Format
Book	Charlotte’s Web 🕸️
Movie	Frozen II ❄️
Short Story	“The Tell-Tale Heart” 👁️
Song	“Shape of You” 🎵
Article	“Climate Change in 2025” 🌍

Tips to Remember 💡

• Capitalise all important words in the title ✅
• Use italics for long works, quotes for short works ✅
• Always check the first and last word – always capitalised ✅
• Avoid unnecessary capitalisation of small words ❌

Fun Memory Trick 🎉

C.A.R.T. Rule 🛒:

• C – Capitalise first and last words
• A – All main words
• R – Remember short words don’t get capitalised
• T – Titles are formatted (italics or quotes)

let’s practice!