英文标题大写规则

Capitalization in Titles

英文标题大写规则

NIVA follows the general rules for capitalizing words in document titles set out in The

Chi cago Manual of Style (with one minor exception—see the note in rule 3):

在《芝加哥风格指南》中，尼瓦遵循了书写文献标题时应当一贯遵守的字母大写规则。（一些特例将在第三条规则中被加以讨论）

1.Always capitalize the first and the last word.

标题首末的两个单词必须大写。

2. 2. Capitalize all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate

conjunctions ("as", "because", "although").

所有的名词、代词、形容词、动词、副词和从属连词（as,because,althrough）必须大写。

3.Lowercase all articles, coordinate conjunctions ("and", "or", "nor"), and

prepositions regardless of length, when they are other than the first or last word.

(Note: NIVA prefers to capitalize prepositions of five characters or more ("after",

"among", "between").)

所有的文献名、并列名词、介词（不论长短）在不违反第一条规则的情况下都必须小写。

4.Lowercase the "to" in an infinitive.

不定时中的to要小写。（补充：尼瓦更倾向于对由超过4个字母组成的介词采用大写形式，例

如after,aong,between）

Most writers are familiar with these general rules. But some have difficulty identifying the various parts of speech, while others have internalized incorrect "rules" taught in elementary school. These individuals are therefore prone to making mistakes when capitalizing or lowercasing words in titles. The most common mistakes are presented below.

大多数书写者对于这些规则是熟悉的。但有的人存在着识别句子成分的困难；有的人深受小学时错误的引导。因而这些人在标题单词大写小写的问题上容易出错。以下是一些最常见的错误。

Two-Letter Words

Some writers lowercase all two-letter words, probably by extrapolation from the short prepositions "of", "to", "up", and so on, and the word "to" in infinitives. But if a two-letter word is acting as a noun, pronoun, adjective, or adverb, it must be capitalized. For example:

Go Tell it on the Mountain

(wrong; "it" is a pronoun and should be capitalized)

When is a Spade a Spade?

(wrong; "is" is a verb and should be capitalized)

Multipurpose Words

Some writers lowercase words that can function as prepositions when those words are currently functioning in other capacities. For example:

The Man in the Moon Owns a Yellow Balloon

(correct; "in" is functioning as a preposition and should be lowercased)

Bringing in the Sheaves

(wrong; "in" is functioning as an adverb and should be capitalized)

Phrasal Verbs

Some writers find it hard to decide how to capitalize a title containing a phrasal verb. Phrasal verbs are verbs whose meaning is completed by a word called a particle. For example, the verb "to give" has a different meaning than the phrasal verb "to give up".

Like other multipurpose words, words functioning as particles must be distinguished from the same words functioning as prepositions. Particles are always capitalized because they form part of the verb. For example:

My Travels up Nova Scotia's South Shore

(correct; "up" is functioning as a preposition and should be lowercased)

Setting up Your Computer

(wrong; "up" is functioning as a particle and should be capitalized)

Mistaken Notions

Grammar just doesn't sink naturally into everyone's head. To some writers, the fact that one word resembles another is enough reason to treat those words equally when it comes to capitalization in a title. For example:

The Time of their Lives

(wrong; "their" is an adjective and should be capitalized—the writer probably

extrapolated from "the")