The core rule
In title case, capitalize the first word, the last word, and every "major" word in between. Leave "minor" words in lowercase, unless they start or end the title.
What counts as a minor word
Minor words are short, low-content words that don't carry the main meaning of the sentence:
- Articles: a, an, the
- Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
- Short prepositions (usually 3 letters or fewer): in, on, at, to, up, off, out, by, via
Everything else — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and longer prepositions like "between" or "without" — gets capitalized.
Examples
- The Lord of the Rings — "of" and "the" stay lowercase, but the first "The" is capitalized because it opens the title.
- A Tale of Two Cities — "of" lowercase, everything else capitalized.
- What to Do When You're Stuck — "to" and "when" — wait, "when" is a longer word and carries meaning, so it's capitalized; only "to" stays lowercase here.
Why different style guides disagree slightly
AP, APA, MLA, and Chicago style each have marginally different lists of which prepositions count as "short enough" to stay lowercase, and some capitalize words of 4+ letters that others don't. If you're writing for a specific publication or academic paper, check which style guide they require — but for everyday titles, headlines, and general writing, the rule above covers the vast majority of cases correctly.
When title case isn't the right choice
Title case is standard for book titles, movie titles, and some headline styles, but many modern websites and style guides (including AP for many contexts) prefer sentence case for headlines instead — capitalizing only the first word, like a normal sentence. Neither is "more correct" in general; it depends on the house style you're following.
Fastest way to apply this
Working out title case by hand for a long heading is easy to get wrong on the edge cases. The WordlyCounter Case Converter applies these exact capitalization rules automatically — paste your heading and switch it to Title Case in one click, alongside UPPERCASE, lowercase, Sentence case, and more.