Should the word with be capitalized

The word “with” is fairly common in titles, so it’s important to know whether it should be capitalized. Unfortunately, the rules are not straightforward. First, the answer depends on which style you are using. It also depends on whether the word is part of a phrasal verb.

Capitalizing “With” in Chicago and MLA Styles

According to the Chicago Manual of Style and MLA style guide the word “with” should always be lowercase in a title unless it is the first or last word in a sentence. This is because “with” is a preposition with four letters which means it should be lowercase.

Examples:

• I Am with You (Chicago Style)
• Come with Me (MLA Style)

Capitalizing Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs consist of a verb and another element, typically either an adverb or a preposition. Since “with” is a preposition, when paired with a verb, the phrase becomes a phrasal verb and phrasal verbs are capitalized because verbs are capitalized in MLA and Chicago.

For example, the phrase “Come Play With Me Now” has the “with” capitalized because it is part of the phrasal verb “play with”.

Capitalizing “With” in APA and AP Styles

However, in APA and AP Stylebook, the word “with” is capitalized because all words longer than four words are capitalized.

Examples:

• I Am With You (APA Style)
• Come With Me (AP Style)

The same rules as “with” apply for the word “within”. You should capitalize it in APA and AP styles, but lowercase it in Chicago and MLA styles unless the word is being used as an adverb or is used in a phrasal verb.

This is taken from a site concerned with Album titles, but can easily be applied to other titles as well.

How should I capitalize album titles and band names?

Please use the following standard guidelines for capitalizing artist names, record labels, album and song titles in the English language. Other rules may apply to other languages.

All titles should be in standard mixed case, where the first letter of each word is capitalized and followed by lower case letters, as noted below:

1. Capitalize all nouns, verbs (including be, been, am, are, is, was, and were), adverbs, subordinating conjunctions (including if and as when it is not used as a preposition), adjectives (including so when used as an adjective), and pronouns (including he, she, we, and it). Examples:

   • Love Is in the Air
   • I Am the Walrus
   • That Was Then, This Is Now
   • You Are So Beautiful
   • This Is As Good As It Gets

2. Do not capitalize:

   a. Articles: a, an, the (unless part of an artist’s name)

   • The Man Who Sold the World
   • In a Safe Place
   • The Best of The Temptations

   b. Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and so

   • Rattle and Hum
   • It’s Now or Never

   • Nothin’ but a Good Time

     Special Notes: The word «but» can function as either a conjunction, preposition, or an adverb. Most of the time, it functions as a conjunction or a preposition and should be lowercase. Much less frequently, it will function as an adverb, and should be capitalized. In that case, the word «but» will immediately follow a verb (without a comma), and can be replaced by other adverbs like «only» or «just» (without changing anything else or adding punctuation) and will convey the same message:

     • Life Is But a Dream
     • Ain’t But a Few of Us Left
     • You Are But a Draft, a Long Rehearsal for a Show That Will Never Play

     If the word «but» is better replaced by the word «except», or if it is used in a phrase that contradicts the first half of the sentence, it is not an adverb and should be lowercase.

     • I Know You Are but What Am I
     • I Don’t Know What It Is but I Like It

   c. Short prepositions: as, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, from

   • Live at Woodstock
   • Face to Face
   • Death Cab for Cutie
   • Pretty in Pink

   • Come in from the Cold

     Special Note: The word «versus» (and its abbreviated form «vs.» or «v.») is commonly left in lower case, despite its being a preposition of more than three characters.

     • Spy vs. Spy
     • Birds v. Worms

     Special Note: The word «etcetera» (and its abbreviated form «etc.») is also commonly left in lower case when used to represent the phrase «and so on» or «and so forth».

     • Time After Time etc.

   d. When used to form an infinitive: to

   • Nowhere to Run
   • How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
   • Song I Love to Sing
   • Reality Used to Be a Friend of Mine

3. If a title is broken up by major punctuation (colon, question mark, exclamation mark, em-dash, parentheses, or quotes), treat each distinct piece of the title as a whole, and always capitalize the first and last words of each division.

   • Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding
   • In Time: The Best of R.E.M.
   • I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band)

4. In compounds formed by hyphens, capitalize each part except where the part would not be capitalized if it were a separate word.

   • The Go-Gos
   • At the Drive-In
   • The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes

5. Only use all caps for acronyms or abbreviations where common use is all caps.

   • R.E.M.
   • N.W.A.
   • R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.

6. Capitalize contractions and slang consistent with the rules above to the extent that such clearly apply. For example, do not capitalize o’ for «of», or n’ for «and», etc.

   • Rock ‘n’ Roll
   • Will o’ the Wisp
   • Sweet Child o’ Mine

7. Proper nouns should always be capitalized appropriately. This includes parts of band names separated by the word ‘and’ (for example) where the two parts could stand alone, grammatically.

   • Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
   • Elvis Costello and The Attractions
   • Huey Lewis and The News

8. Always capitalize the first and last word of a title, even if it would otherwise be lowercase. Examples:

   • Bring it On
   • One Is For
   • And You and I
   • The Greatest Hits Of

[edit] Exceptions

In the case where an artist uses a nonstandard capitalization with an artistic intent, the original capitalization used by the artist should be preserved. Examples include k.d. lang (artist), Yellow mY skYcaptain (release), and «tourette’s» — track 11 on the release In Utero.

Note that there are cases in which the name of an artist or album — or an entire tracklisting — is written entirely in uppercase or lowercase in the art which accompanies a release. These instances do not qualify as an exception, because they do not represent artistic intent regarding capitalization (in most cases, they are written in this manner for aesthetic purposes related to the cover art).

Very few people know which words should be capitalized in a title. In fact, the majority of people adopt rules from others who don’t know either. This usually takes on one of two forms: capitalizing every word, or capitalizing words containing three or more letters.

Where blog posts and internal work communications are concerned you can usually get away with such sins, largely because those in the know tend not to point out the error of your ways. But wouldn’t you rather know the truth? Wouldn’t you rather be an ambassador of proper titling rather than a capitalization criminal? Well, today is your chance to repent for improper form, and learn which words should be capitalized in titles, once and for all!

What to Capitalize in a Title

The cool thing about learning what should and shouldn’t be capitalized is that each category contains three core rules.

Rule 1:

Always capitalize the first and last word of a title, no matter what the word is.

Rule 2:

Always capitalize the following five word categories:

1. Nouns
2. Pronouns
3. Verbs
4. Adjectives
5. Adverbs

We don’t have the time to list every noun, pronoun, verb, adjective and adverb here, but as long as you remember this list, you can Google the word you’re struggling with to find out whether or not it falls into one of the five categories listed above.

Rule 3:

Always capitalize words of five or more letters, regardless of whether the word falls into one of the aforementioned five categories. This rule will help you avoid making errors when using conjunctions and prepositions in your titles. You see, many moons ago, writers did NOT capitalize any conjunctions or prepositions. However, today’s standard practice is to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions of five or more letters.

Here are some examples:

Prepositions (five or more letters):

Within, About, Among, Between.

Conjunctions/subordinating conjunctions (five or more letters):

While, Where, Until, Because, Although.

What Not to Capitalize in Titles

Rule 1:

1) Never capitalize prepositions and conjunctions of four or fewer letters. However, remember the above rule: words with five or more letters, regardless of whether the word is a conjunction or preposition, must be capitalized.

Here are some examples:

Examples of prepositions not to be capitalized (four or fewer letters):

at / by / down / for / from / in / into / like / near / of / off / on / onto / over / past / to / upon / with

Examples of conjunctions not to be capitalized (four or fewer letters):

and / as / but / for / if / nor / once / or / so / than / that / till / when / yet

Rule 2:

Never capitalize the particle “to”, even when used as an infinitive (meaning with a verb). For example: to See, to Read, to Write, etc.

Rule 3:

Never capitalize articles: a, an, the.

Still a Little Confused?

No worries. Below we have created two lists of common words people struggle with when capitalizing titles. Bookmark this page and refer back to the lists when you’re in doubt.

DO Capitalize in a Title

About / Above / Across / After / Against / Along / Although / Among / Around / Because / Before / Behind / Below / Beneath / Beside / Between / During / Except / Inside / Outside / Since / Through / Toward / Under / Underneath / Unless / Until / Whenever / Where / Whereas / Wherever / While / Within / Without

DON’T Capitalize in a Title

and / as / as if / as long as / at / but / by / even if / for / from / if / if only / in / into / like / near / now that / nor / of / off / on / on top of / once / onto / or / out of / over / past / so / so that / than / that / till / to / up / upon / with / when / yet

Tricky Word Groupings

Even when armed with these core rules, people end up making silly mistakes by allowing doubt to make them second-guess their titling. In light of this, here’s a short list of tricky word groupings that often trip people up:

• as Though
• even Though
• in Front of
• in Order that
• Instead of
• Rather than

Start Practicing Today

It’s a lot to take in, we know, and so you’ll need to practice writing a few titles before things begin to click into place. Another great way to learn is to spot mistakes in other people’s work. You’ll be surprised just how many journalists, authors and bloggers (in particular) get titles in a muddle. Bear in mind, though, occasionally a writer will break the rules to suit their preference or to appropriate a concept. For example, a book entitled “Think Like a Genius” might well be adjusted to “Think Like A Genius”, for no other reason than the publishing house or author thinks it looks better on the cover.

That’s it! No more excuses. Start correcting titles today and help make the world a capitalization-friendly place.