English Toolkit

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21.3Titles
TYPICAL ERROR Aurora Leigh is one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's most famous poems.
CORRECTION 'Aurora Leigh' is one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s most famous poems.

EXPLANATION The titles of assignments, poems, songs, chapters and similar short pieces of work are generally indicated by the use of inverted commas. Thus, if we simply write Aurora Leigh, we are referring to a person but if we put inverted commas around the words 'Aurora Leigh' we are referring to a poem about someone called Aurora.

We use italics or underlining to show the titles of books, magazines, newspapers, films and other long works; inverted commas show the items that are parts of these larger publications.

Note that it does not matter whether one uses single or double inverted commas; just be consistent.

Punctuate these titles appropriately. For this exercise, use single inverted commas.
a
The song Woman Like Me from the album LM5 by the British girl group Little Mix should not be confused with Beyoncé's A Woman Like Me, written as a track for The Pink Panther (2006).

b
The second-last chapter of the book Future Shock is titled Taming Technology.

c
Most Australian children know the poem Clancy of the Overflow.

d
The music for Can You Feel the Love Tonight, a song from The Lion King, was written by Elton John.

e
Life Cycle, a poem from Bruce Dawe's anthology Sometimes Gladness, shows how we are all conditioned in our beliefs.

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