Which or what in questions and capitalization? Love on the rocks./ Two Questions

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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What words are capitalized in titles? Is it “what or which”

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Hi Renard74

‘What words’ is more general and open-ended. Example: “What words should be capitalized in a title?” (You’re asking for broad guidance without a predefined set.)

‘Which words’ is typically used when choosing from a specific or known set of options. Example: ‘Which words are capitalized in AP style?’ (You’re referring to a particular set of rules.)

So the first question is correctly formulated, since it is more general and open-ended, asking for broad guidance without a predefined set.

I take it you’re a Neil Diamond fan?

Love on the Rocks. I’ve just capitalized it and your question would be as following: ‘Which words should be capitalized in the title of this song?’ since it is a specific or known set of rules.

So, what words are capitalized in titles, look at the following;

Words that ARE Capitalized

  • First and last words (always)
  • Nouns (e.g., Dog, City, Love)
  • Pronouns (e.g., He, You, They)
  • Verbs (e.g., Run, Dance, Sing)
  • Adjectives (e.g., Beautiful, Strong, Bright)
  • Adverbs (e.g., Quickly, Carefully, Boldly)

Words that ARE NOT Capitalized (unless they are the first/last word)

  • Article (a, an, the)
  • Short prepositions (in, at, on, by)
  • Short conjunctions (and, but, or, nor)

Hope this helps.

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Thank you, Masme,

What is AP style?

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Hi Renard74,

AP style refers to the Associated Press Stylebook, a widely used guide for grammar, punctuation, and word usage in journalism and professional writing.

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In titles, title case is typically used, where the first and last words are always capitalized, along with all major words. Major words include:

  • Nouns (e.g., Dog, House)
  • Pronouns (e.g., He, She, Which, What)
  • Verbs (e.g., Run, Is)
  • Adjectives (e.g., Big, Blue)
  • Adverbs (e.g., Quickly, Very)
  • Subordinating conjunctions (e.g., Because, Although)

Short function words (called minor words) are usually not capitalized unless they’re the first or last word of the title. These include:

  • Articles: a, an, the
  • Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
  • Short prepositions (typically 3 letters or fewer): in, on, at, to, by

So to answer your question:

In title case, both “What” and “Which” are capitalized because they are pronouns.

:white_check_mark: Correct:

  • What Is the Best Way to Learn English?
  • Which Path Should You Choose?

Would you like a quick reference list or a title converted to title case?

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Capitalization in literary titles is also subject to the whims of the author. The poet e. e. cummings usually used only lower case.

I don’t know of the opposite situation where an author capitalized a minor word, but I’ll be on the lookout for an example now.

Keep in mind, though, you need to know the rule before you decide to break it.

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Style guides usually mean there is no universally agree on way of doing it. So the style guide for one publisher might be different than another. Style guides make a given publisher consistent. Newspapers especially want consistency. When newspapers were still paper, they would have several articles on the front page. You wouldn’t want different articles having different styles.

This.

The author and/or publisher can do pretty much anything they want. For a book cover, that would probably not be the author who decides. It would probably be the publisher, or maybe the artist who did the cover art.

It’s pretty common for book covers to have ALL CAPS for the title. It’s even more common for the spine to be all caps. The spine is what you see on the book shelf. I did a quick look at a book shelf. I’d guess about 80% of the spines are all caps.

Company and product names can do whatever they want. For example, eBay, iPhone, etc. These are trademarked names and should be written as they are trademarked.

Personally I just make it up as I go along. To me it’s visual. Sometimes I try it both ways and decide which one looks better. It’s not unusual to use first letter caps for all words, including articles and prepositions. It can also make a difference if I use Italics or put it in quotes, because visually they look different. It’s entirely a visual choice for me.

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I agree, but to be more specific they are interrogative determiners or pronouns. I’m sure you merely forgot to mention that. - It happens, you know. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you for understanding me.

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I like that, really I do, because it does make sense.

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