Do you capitalize the word 'be' in a title, i.e. Proud to be an American?

Yes. Generally, verbs are capitalized. Be in this case is a verb and should be capitalized.

Using this automatic title capitalization tool, that makes use of different style guides (APA, Chicago, AP, MLA), the word be automatically appears in uppercase.

Choosing the style to use depends if a certain style is required by your teacher, course, or subject/field. For example, MLA style is commonly used in the liberal arts or humanities, while AP style is popularly used in journalism. One suggestion is to choose one style, or check the style required by your teacher, and stick to it.

While there are some exceptions to the rule, here is one general rule that you can apply for capitalizing titles.

In Titles: Do Capitalize

Generally, these parts of speech are capitalized in titles.

Nouns (man, bus, book)

Adjectives (angry, lovely, small)

Verbs (run, eat, sleep)

Adverbs (slowly, quickly, quietly)

Pronouns (he, she, it)

Subordinating conjunctions (as, because, that)

In Titles: Do Not Capitalize

As you have probably noticed "short" words, those with less than five letters, are generally lowercase in titles, unless they are the first or last words in a title.

Generally, we do not capitalize:

Articles: a, an, the

Coordinating Conjunctions: and, but, or, for, nor, etc.

Prepositions (fewer than five letters): on, at, to, from, by, etc.

Learn more capitalization rules on grammar.yourdictionary.com.

Tags: proudadverbslast wordpronounsnouns 

Monday, January 25 2016