Most titles and headings are formatted with headline-style capitalization, which means that the first and last words and all the main words in between are capitalized (as demonstrated in the title of this blog post). But how should you capitalize hyphenated words in titles and headings using headline-style capitalization?
The general guideline is to capitalize all the main words in hyphenated words in titles and headings.
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This guideline is supported by three of our primary style guides:1
The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style)2
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style)3
MLA Handbook from the Modern Language Association (MLA style)4
Exceptions
However, there are several exceptions to this guideline. Let’s look at three of the most common exceptions you may run into in your own writing:
1. Hyphenated words with prefixes
2. Hyphenated words beginning with single letters
3. Hyphenated articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions
See the References section at the bottom of this post for information about these exceptions in relation to the style guides mentioned above.
Exception 1: Hyphenated Words with Prefixes in Titles and Headings
If the hyphenated word in your title or heading starts with a prefix that isn’t a standalone word (e.g., pre, non, de), lowercase the second word.5
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Exception 2: Hyphenated Words Beginning with Single Letters in Titles and Headings
If the hyphenated word in your title or heading starts with a single letter that isn’t a standalone word, lowercase the second word.6
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Exception 3: Hyphenated Articles, Prepositions, and Coordinating Conjunctions in Titles and Headings
In headline-style capitalization, the following parts of speech are lowercased if they follow a hyphen in a compound:
- Articles (i.e., a, an, the)
- Prepositions (e.g., above, under, behind)*
- Coordinating conjunctions (i.e., for, and, or, but, so, yet, and nor).7
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*Note that in some cases, words that normally function as prepositions can instead function as adjectives or adverbs, such as the words thru and through in drive-thru and drive-through shown in the first example in this post. Adjectives and adverbs are capitalized in hyphenated compounds in headline-style capitalization.
Style Guide Alert
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style) recommends lowercasing prepositions and coordinating conjunctions that are three letters or less when using headline-style capitalization. However, all prepositions and coordinating conjunctions over three letters should be capitalized.
Further Reading:
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References
1. The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style) isn’t included in this post because it doesn’t use headline-style capitalization. The Associated Press Stylebook 2020–2022 (New York: Associated Press, 2020), 138.
2. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 8.161.
3. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020), 6.17.
4. MLA Handbook, 8th ed. (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2016), 67–68.
Hyphenated Words with Prefixes
5. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 8.161.
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association doesn’t address hyphenated prefixes directly. However, one of its manuscript editors confirmed in a comment on the APA Style Blog that hyphenated words after prefixes should be lowercased in titles and headings. “Title Case and Sentence Case Capitalization in APA Style,” APA Style Blog, accessed June 20, 2020; See the comment from Chelsea Lee dated March 09, 2017 at 12:20 PM.
The MLA Handbook (MLA style) is seemingly silent on this issue, so its followers should adapt MLA’s general recommendations for headline-style capitalization to work with prefixes in hyphenated compounds.
Hyphenated Words Beginning with Single Letters
6. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 8.161.
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style) doesn’t address words beginning with single letters directly. However, hyphenated single letters are commonly considered prefixes, so APA followers can safely assume that they should lowercase the word after a hyphenated single letter in titles and headings, as explained in note 5 above. In addition, the APA Style Blog lowercased the word book in e-book in one of its own titles. “The Publication Manual Is Available as an E-book,” APA Style Blog, accessed June 20, 2020.
The MLA Handbook (MLA style) doesn’t cover words beginning with single letters, so MLA followers should adapt the general recommendations for headline-style capitalization to work with hyphenated compounds.
Hyphenated Articles, Prepositions, and Coordinating Conjunctions
7. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 8.161.
MLA Handbook, 8th ed. (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2016), 67–68.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association), 6.17.
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