When to Capitalize Titles

February 11, 2017 by Marcy Kennedy • Grammar and Punctuation, Writing • Tags: grammar and punctuation, Grammar for Fiction Writers • 4 Comments

By Chris Saylor

Today, we’re going to talk about when to capitalize titles. What I mean here is when to capitalize mom or dad, military ranks, honorifics, job titles, and so on.

You do capitalize a title when making a direct address (calling someone by “name”). You also capitalize a title that’s being used in place of a name.

How do you like Arizona, Mom?

Before the airplane took off, Dad stowed his bag under the seat.

I was not going that fast, Your Honor.

In each of these examples, you could sub out the title for a name.

How do you like Arizona, Suzanne?

Before the airplane took off, Tom stowed his bag under the seat.

I was not going that fast, Frank.

You do not capitalize a title when you are not making a direct address, when you would use the title to indicate a role.

My mom is in Arizona for the winter.

The lieutenant will hear about this.

The judge only sentenced me to a fine and community service.

Here’s how these would look if you tried to substitute a name.

My Suzanne is in Arizona for the winter.

The Tommy will hear about this.

The Frank only sentenced me to a fine and community service.

This should help you see how in the second set of examples, you would have to change the sentence to make it work with a name. That’s an easy way to tell whether or not to capitalize titles.

Want to hire Chris for a proofread or copy edit? You can find out more about him at https://saylorediting.wordpress.com, or you can email him to talk about rates and availability at christopher.saylor21 [at] gmail.com. You might also want to check out the book he co-wrote with Marcy, Grammar for Fiction Writers, available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, or Apple iBooks.