English Toolkit

<>

13.3Titles
TYPICAL ERROR Have you read a wizard of earthsea?
CORRECTION Have you read A Wizard of Earthsea? OR Have you read A Wizard of Earthsea?

EXPLANATION Just as we use capital letters to begin the names of people, so the long-standing convention has been to use capital letters to begin the first word and any other important words in the title of a film, book, magazine, CD and so on. We don't use capitals for minor words such as in or the (prepositions and articles) unless they are the first word of the title, as in The Diary of Anne Frank. Notice also how titles are underlined or italicised to show that they are titles.

For the titles of shorter pieces - such as a chapter, article, poem or song, which can be put together to make up a collection - capitals are used in the same way, but the title is placed in inverted commas - such as 'The Man from Ironbark'. There is a clear difference between Frankie, a person, and Frankie, the title of a magazine.

With the advent of computers and a variety of typefaces and fonts, the options are changing. Some organisations, such as libraries, now capitalise only the first word and proper nouns in titles. The titles of films, CDs, magazines and books often use special fonts to show titles. It is recommended that students follow the long-standing convention of using capitals for all words except prepositions and articles in titles.

Punctuate the titles in the following sentences, using capitals and single inverted commas where appropriate. (It is not wrong to use double inverted commas, but the answer will validate with single inverted commas.)
a
Katy Perry is promoted as a symbol of girl power but Pink's songs like stupid girls are really about girl power.

b
Clancy of the overflow, the man from ironbark and a bush christening are all well-known poems by Banjo Paterson.

c
To kill a mockingbird is set for study worldwide more often than any other novel.

d
thriller, the best-selling album of all time, was re-released in 2008 under the title thriller 25.

e
The Harry Potter film series began with the release in 2001 of harry potter and the philosopher's stone and culminated in 2011 with the release of harry potter and the deathly hallows - part 2.

Success!