Is Are Capitalized in a Title?

Are you wondering, is are capitalized in a title? Even though you may use a title case converter, it helps if you understand when to use them in a title.

If you are wondering what words in a title you have to capitalize, it is easy to get confused. When you are moving from sentence case to title case, you can get thrown off with lowercase and uppercase letters. You might even be wondering, is are capitalized in a title? 

Yes, you always need to capitalize the word “are” in a title. A lot of people instinctively avoid capitalizing short words such as “are” and “is.” It is true that there are a lot of short words that should not be capitalized, but you need to capitalize the word “are” because it is a verb, specifically a linking verb.

What else do you need to know about title capitalization rules and capital letters from the stylebook?

Style Guides: What You Should Know

There are a lot of examples of style guides you may want to follow. For example, the New York Times, the Associated Press, and the American Psychological Association have all published their own style guides. You might even be used to following the Chicago Manual of Style, particularly when you go through school.

Regardless of whether you are following the MLA handbook, AP style, or even APA style, the title capitalization rules are usually the same. This should make it easier for you to figure out when you should and should not capitalize certain words. 

Want to learn more? Read our article about style guide templates.

When To Capitalize The First Letter in Title Case

There are several important rules you should follow if you are trying to figure out which words you need to capitalize. A few key examples include:

• You should always capitalize the first word of the title and the last word of the title. This includes your subtitle, heading, and subheading.
• You should always capitalize words that are longer than three letters, regardless of where they are located in the title.
• You need to capitalize those words if they are part of a hyphenated compound.
• If the word follows end punctuation such as a period, question mark, or exclamation word, you need to capitalize it, just as you do in sentence case.

Finally, you also need to figure out the difference between major words and minor words. This has to do with parts of speech. Examples of major words include nouns, pronouns, proper nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs.

Examples of minor words include short prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and articles. Major words need to be capitalized, and minor words are not capitalized. 

Remember that there are situations where minor words will be capitalized in accordance with the bullet point rules above. You might also find our explainer on if it is capitalized in a title helpful.

Capitalize the Word “Are” in Title Case

Because “are” is a relatively short word, a lot of people instinctively avoided capitalizing it in title case. Even though this is only three letters long, you still need to capitalize this word because it is a verb.

Are is a linking verb, and it is also referred to as a verb of being. Examples of other verbs that fall into this category include it is, was, we’re, bee, being, and been. These are other examples of verbs of being that also need to be capitalized. Because verbs are capitalized in title case, you need to capitalize all of these words, including are, regardless of where they fall in a title. 

Final Word on Is Are Capitalized in a Title?

Ultimately, you always need to capitalize the word “are” in a title, no matter where it is located. This word is only three letters long, but it is a verb. Because verbs are major words, you always need to capitalize them. 

It can be difficult to remember all of these title capitalization rules, but the more you use them in your writing, the better you will get at them. Even though you may have to keep referring back to them for a while, they will eventually become second nature the more you use them. 

Need help with fixing capitalization issues in your sentences? A good grammar checker is ideal. It’ll help you find and fix odd capitalization issues fast.

To find out more, read our Grammarly review 

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