Title Case Rules
| Style | Always lowercase | Quirk |
|---|---|---|
| AP | a an the and but or nor for on at to from by in of up as with | capitalize words of 4+ letters |
| Chicago | a an the and but or nor of in on at to by up as off via with from into over | ALL prepositions lowercase, any length |
| APA | a an the and but or nor as at by in of off on per to up via | capitalize words of 4+ letters |
Title case is not capitalizing every word - it is capitalizing every word except a short list of small ones, and the list changes by style guide. This converter applies the three that matter, correctly: AP lowercases articles and prepositions of three letters or fewer; Chicago lowercases every preposition regardless of length; APA lowercases only words of three letters or fewer. First and last words are always capitalized in all three, verbs are always capitalized no matter how tiny, and the switch is one click.
The rules exist because The Night of the Hunter and The Night Of The Hunter read differently - and only one is a book title. What trips almost everyone: short verbs and pronouns stay capitalized (Is, Are, Be, It, Its), while longer prepositions like Without follow the guide's own cutoff. The table below shows each guide's lowercase list in full, so the converter's choices are always checkable rather than mystical.
How to use
- Paste your headline and pick a style - AP for journalism, Chicago for books, APA for academic papers.
- Read the result live: small words lowercase per the guide's list, first and last words and all verbs capitalized.
- Swap styles to see exactly where the guides disagree - prepositions like With, From and Over are the battleground.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rules for title case?
Three rules run every style guide: capitalize the first and last words; capitalize nouns, verbs (even short ones like Is and Be), pronouns, adjectives and adverbs; lowercase articles, coordinating conjunctions and prepositions according to the guide's own list. The guides differ only in that list - AP cuts at three letters, APA at three letters with its own word set, and Chicago lowercases prepositions of any length.
What is the difference between AP, Chicago and APA title case?
Prepositions are the battlefield. AP lowercases prepositions of three letters or fewer (at, by, in, of, to) but capitalizes longer ones (With, From, Over, Between). Chicago lowercases every preposition no matter how long - With, From, Between all lowercase. APA behaves like AP for length but with a slightly different word list, and always capitalizes words of four letters or more. Run the same headline through all three with the style switch and the differences announce themselves.
Are short verbs like Is and Be capitalized in title case?
Always - in every guide. The lowercase lists contain articles, conjunctions and prepositions only, and Is, Are, Am, Be, Was and Do are verbs, not prepositions, so they capitalize no matter how few letters they have. My Life Is hurling error into half the internet's headlines; the converter applies the verb rule so you never have to remember which part of speech a two-letter word is.
How do hyphenated words work in title case?
Capitalize both major elements of a hyphenated compound in headlines: Mother-in-Law keeps its lowercase-in, but Self-Aware capitalizes both halves. Single-letter prefixes (X-Ray) capitalize both letters. Style guides quibble at the margins - Chicago lowercases the second element when it is an article or preposition (Follow-up vs Set-Up debates are real) - but both-halves-capitalized is the safe headline default the converter applies.
Should the word after a colon be capitalized?
Yes in all three guides when what follows is a full sentence or an independent clause, and AP capitalizes it in any case for headlines. The converter capitalizes the first word after a colon by default, which matches newspaper practice: The Verdict: Justice Delayed reads right everywhere. Subtitles with their own internal small words get the same lowercase treatment as the main title.