Style/Language/English: Difference between revisions

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{{official capitalization standard|language=English}}
=Capitalization Standard for English=

<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">'''Status:''' This page outlines the capitalization rules for the '''English''' language. It forms part of the [[MusicBrainz]] [[Capitalization Standard|CapitalizationStandard]]. This is an [[Official Style Guideline|OfficialStyleGuideline]] (simplified from the [http://www.musicbrainz.org/style.html#capguide-general original static page]).
</ul>


==In English==
==In English==


All words in a title should be have their first letter capitalized and following letters lower case except as noted below:
All words in a title should have their first letter capitalized and following letters lower case except as noted below:
* (1) '''''Always'' capitalize the first and last word of a title'''. This rule should be followed even if the words would normally be lowercase according to the other rules. If a title is broken up by major punctuation (colon according to the [[Subtitle Style|SubTitleStyle]], question mark, exclamation mark, em-dash, parentheses, or quotes), capitalize each distinct piece of the title as if it were a distinct title. Therefore, for example, always capitalize the first and last words of each section.
* (1) '''''Always'' capitalize the first and last word of a title'''. This rule should be followed even if the words would normally be lowercase according to the other rules. If a title is broken up by major punctuation (colon according to [[Style/Titles#Subtitles|subtitle style]], question mark, exclamation mark, em-dash, or quotes), capitalize each distinct piece of the title as if it were a distinct title. Therefore, for example, always capitalize the first and last words of each section.
* (2) Between the first and last word of a title '''Capitalize all words except''':
* (2) Between the first and last word of a title '''Capitalize all words except''':
** (a) '''Articles''': ''a, an, the''
** (a) '''Articles''': ''a, an, the''
** (b) Coordinate '''conjunctions''': ''and, but, or, nor''
** (b) Coordinate '''conjunctions''': ''and, but, or, nor''
** (c) '''Short prepositions''' (three letters or less): ''as, at, by, for, in, of, on, to'' -- except when used as adverbs or as an inseparable part of a verb
** (c) '''Short prepositions''' (three letters or less): ''as, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, but, cum, mid, off, per, qua, re, up, via'' -- except when used as adverbs or as an inseparable part of a verb (as in [[recording:ac132066-3e1d-4d86-899e-0afa98affac3|"Plug In Baby"]] or [[recording:54029746-25ba-4f88-9885-387ac581e45f|"Shine On You Crazy Diamond"]]).
** (d) When used to form an '''infinitive: ''to'''''
** (d) When used to form an '''infinitive: ''to'''''

* (3) In compounds formed by hyphens, capitalize each part exactly as if they were a separate word.
* (3) In compounds formed by hyphens, capitalize each part exactly as if they were a separate word.
* (4) Capitalize contractions and slang consistent with the rules above to the extent that such clearly apply. For example, do not capitalize o' for "of", 'n' or n' for "and".
* (4) Capitalize contractions and slang consistent with the rules above to the extent that such clearly apply. For example, do not capitalize o' for "of", 'n' or n' for "and".


===Japanese releases===
==Rationale==

I've tried to come up with a simplified rule set that does not generally require in-depth understanding of English grammar, but produces reasonably correct results in almost all cases. The 3/4 letter preposition size limit is used by (I think) most U.S. publishers.

The trickiest part is (2c). Cutting the preposition size down limits the number of exceptional cases. The 3/4 letter split is a rough guideline. I have omitted prepositions like "up" and "out" because they are so infrequently used as prepositions that it's much simpler (and not terribly wrong) to always capitalize them; on the other hand, such 4-letter words as "from", "into", "onto", and "with" are common and almost always used as prepositions, so there is a rather good case for including them. I personally prefer to lowercase these four, but feel it would be easier (and not terribly wrong) to always uppercase them.)

To help determine if a short preposition (2c) is being used as an adverb, check if it's modifying a noun or not. For example, "Dog in Eternity": "in" creates the phrase "in Eternity", "Eternity" is a noun, so "in" is a preposition- vs "Logged In Eternally": "in" is part of the phrase "Logged In", "Logged" is not a noun, so "in" is an adverb.
* Actually in that example, "in" is part of the verb phrase "logged in", not an adverb. "Logged Eternally" would mean something entirely different. Otherwise you're right, though.

I've also omitted "so" from the list: while it is sometimes used as a conjunction, it is overwhelmingly used as an adverb, so the same rationale applies as with "up" and "out".

I am hard pressed to explain "as" and "by" except by grammar rules: both are used as conjunctions (lc), prepositions (lc), and adverbs (ulc); although lc uses predominate, they are not overwhelming.

Not capitalizing "to" in infinitives, which is common but not universal practice, puts it overwhelmingly in the lc camp.

The bottom line here is that we have a list of 15 words (I may have missed a couple more, what are they?) that are not capitalized in most or all cases. We could probably illustrate that list in a second file, as well as build up a deeper list of exceptions and special cases. If we have more examples, we may be able to better formulate the rules.

==Explanations and Exceptions==

The following addenda are still part of this guideline.

===What about parts of titles that are put in parentheses but continue the main title?===

<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">Those are capitalized as if the parentheses do not exist. Mostly. Examples:
* "Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland)" by Jimi Hendrix [http://www.musicbrainz.org/track/7f9b462a-8ac5-472d-a5aa-716b3b3d169c.html track link]
* "What Went Wrong (in Your Head)" by Supergrass [http://musicbrainz.org/track/55016579-15a3-42ab-8b72-976219226dc1.html track link]
* "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" by Elvis Costello [http://www.musicbrainz.org/track/65ad64de-ed6b-4cb3-8ffb-6a9e20ca7018.html track link]
Counter Examples:
⚫
* "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult [http://www.musicbrainz.org/track/963bda54-eed7-47ba-b637-d6110d43db88.html track link] ("(Don't Fear)" could be considered optional, so "The" should be capitalised as though it were at the start of the sentence)
* "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" by Jimi Hendrix [http://www.musicbrainz.org/track/15575d47-6958-4af8-9ecc-6ae5b8249475.html track link] (Anything after the ... is a new sentence, so the "A" should be capitalised).

</ul>


For releases by Japanese artists that contain track names in English, follow the indications on the [[Style/Language/Japanese|Japanese guidelines]].
==Discussion==


===Extra title information===
The comments in this section are opinions of single users or open questions and as this not official.


There are often portions of a title that are considered "extra", such as the name of a remix. Those follow their own rules regarding capitalization. Please see [[Style/Titles#Extra_title_information|the guidelines for extra title information]].
===What about when the first letter of a title is dropped via an apostrophe?===


===Parts of titles inside parentheses===
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">e.g. " 'Cross the Breeze" --[http://musicbrainz.org/track/34bf79db-eeca-4f23-ad11-b6be2203c2f4.html http://musicbrainz.org/track/34bf79db-eeca-4f23-ad11-b6be2203c2f4.html]. It looks somehow wrong capitalized, but that seems to fit with the current rules. --[[User:Gecks|Gecks]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">Yeah, some comments from others on this would be nice.. I also often see "'Em". Unsure about this. --[[User:Shepard|Shepard]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">The rule seems to be that by default, all words are capitalised unless they belong to a small group of exceptions. By this logic, shortened words that would normally be capitalised should be capitalised, even if they look wrong. But then that raises another potential problem: What if after shortening, a word falls into the exceptional category? eg. "Though" -> "tho'" --[[User:MichelleW|MichelleW]]
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>


Those are mostly capitalized as if the parentheses do not exist, with a few exceptions as shown below.
===What about the word 'yet'?===


* [[recording:7f9b462a-8ac5-472d-a5aa-716b3b3d169c|“Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland)”]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">A coordinate conjunction not listed is "yet" and it's also left uppercase by the "guess case" function. Should it not be lowercase? --[[Christopher Price|ChristopherPrice]]
* [[recording:55016579-15a3-42ab-8b72-976219226dc1|“What Went Wrong (in Your Head)”]]
</ul>
* [[recording:65ad64de-ed6b-4cb3-8ffb-6a9e20ca7018|“(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea”]]


''Exceptions:''
===How do we capitalize titles starting with dots?===
⚫
* [[recording:963bda54-eed7-47ba-b637-d6110d43db88|“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”]]. “(Don’t Fear)” could be considered optional, so “The” should be capitalised as though it were at the start of the sentence.
* [[recording:15575d47-6958-4af8-9ecc-6ae5b8249475|“1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)”]]. Anything after the “…” is a new sentence, so the “A” should be capitalised. Compare with [[recording:af7fafda-500d-456f-9550-8e036256c571|“Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter”]] by Iron Maiden, where the sentence continues after the ellipsis.
* [[Release:a76f77de-f702-40eb-b095-ed9dbcd19ecc|“Ramp! (The Logical Song)”]]. Everything after the ! is also a new sentence.
* [[recording:9ec59d6b-de0a-42b6-98bc-797b4ea2ec17|“Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)”]]. This is not a continued sentence, but two unrelated parts which occur at different places in the lyrics.


===Special cases===
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">Example: "...and Justice for All" by Metallica (and this is how I would do it, the "and" is not the beginning of the title). --[[User:Shepard|Shepard]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">But by the rules above, "Anything after the ... is a new sentence", and "and" is the first word of a title. (I don't really have an opinion on this, though.) --[[User:MichelleW|MichelleW]]
</ul>
</ul>


Both parts of “O’Clock” should be capitalised (e.g. [[recording:ffb332f4-37a9-440e-b902-f190203b2bdc|“Nine O’Clock”]]).
----Original Author: [[Tom Hull|TomHull]]


{{StyleBox}}
[[Category:To Be Reviewed]] [[Category:Style]]
[[Category:WikiDocs Page]]

Latest revision as of 01:24, 9 February 2023

Status: This is an official style guideline.

In English

All words in a title should have their first letter capitalized and following letters lower case except as noted below:

  • (1) Always capitalize the first and last word of a title. This rule should be followed even if the words would normally be lowercase according to the other rules. If a title is broken up by major punctuation (colon according to subtitle style, question mark, exclamation mark, em-dash, or quotes), capitalize each distinct piece of the title as if it were a distinct title. Therefore, for example, always capitalize the first and last words of each section.
  • (2) Between the first and last word of a title Capitalize all words except:
    • (a) Articles: a, an, the
    • (b) Coordinate conjunctions: and, but, or, nor
    • (c) Short prepositions (three letters or less): as, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, but, cum, mid, off, per, qua, re, up, via -- except when used as adverbs or as an inseparable part of a verb (as in "Plug In Baby" or "Shine On You Crazy Diamond").
    • (d) When used to form an infinitive: to
  • (3) In compounds formed by hyphens, capitalize each part exactly as if they were a separate word.
  • (4) Capitalize contractions and slang consistent with the rules above to the extent that such clearly apply. For example, do not capitalize o' for "of", 'n' or n' for "and".

Japanese releases

For releases by Japanese artists that contain track names in English, follow the indications on the Japanese guidelines.

Extra title information

There are often portions of a title that are considered "extra", such as the name of a remix. Those follow their own rules regarding capitalization. Please see the guidelines for extra title information.

Parts of titles inside parentheses

Those are mostly capitalized as if the parentheses do not exist, with a few exceptions as shown below.

Exceptions:

Special cases

Both parts of “O’Clock” should be capitalised (e.g. “Nine O’Clock”).

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