Is 'the' capitalized in a title?

MumblingSage · Jun 1, 2008

I've seen this around a few places, and I give the writer grief for it, but it's appearing often enough that I'm wondering if I'm the one in the wrong.

For any title like 'King' 'Minister' 'Queen' 'Lord' 'High Warden of the Cheesy Fry Stand', is 'the' also capitalized when it comes before it?

The King and The Queen greeted The Minister as they passed him where he was sitting with The Lord of Chutney being served by The High Warden of the Cheesy Fries.

It doesn't look right to me. Alternatively, is this a case of British/American English? Or is it a 'no one way' issue?

Matera the Mad · Jun 1, 2008

Nope.

"The" is not of royal blood - lol

Appalachian Writer · Jun 1, 2008

"THE" is sometimes referred to as an article and sometimes a determiner. Either way, it doesn't require capitalization with preceding a title such as Lord. I love Matera's response. So true.

She_wulf · Jun 1, 2008

When "The" starts the title, it is capitalized.

The Glass Menagerie

when in the middle, it is not.

Gone With the Wind

When in both places...

The Fast and the Furious...

Amy

Jo · Jun 1, 2008

From what I've learnt, the isn't capitalised mid-sentence, and neither is king or queen, etc. unless it is their formal title or name.

e.g. (ellipses used in place of missing sentence)

...Queen Koalabutt.
...the Queen of Tankufairymuch...
...the queen stood in the doorway.

In this last example, queen is not a proper noun, and is used in the same way boy or dog or marshmallow would be.

Kalyke · Jun 1, 2008

Jo said:
From what I've learnt, the isn't capitalised mid-sentence, and neither is king or queen, etc. unless it is their formal title or name.

e.g. (ellipses used in place of missing sentence)

...Queen Koalabutt.
...the Queen of Tankufairymuch...
...the queen stood in the doorway.

In this last example, queen is not a proper noun, and is used in the same way boy or dog or marshmallow would be.

yup

Bing Z · Jun 1, 2008

AFAIK "THE" is not capitalized unless:

- It is supposed to be capitalized like at the start of a sentence;
- It is a part of a pronoun (e.g. "The New York Times", "The Times", where "The" is part of the full name of these newspapers.) You will write "the United Nations" because "United Nations" is already the official full name.

I believe it's the same with king or queen, etc, unless you refer to "King Louis IVXX" or "Lord Bing".

MumblingSage · Jun 2, 2008

Thank you, Lord Bing.

Okay. So I'm not losing my mind. Now I'd better check that I haven't started capitalizing titles like that...

Thanks, all.

StephanieFox · Jun 2, 2008

Queen or King would be capitalized if the word were used in place of a name as in, "Hey, King! How's the army doing?", but not if it were, "I talked to the king today and he said the army is strong and ready."

Is 'the' capitalized in a title?

MumblingSage

Inarticulate Herb

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Appalachian Writer

Somewhere in the hills....

She_wulf

that's me

Jo

Travelling the re-write road

Kalyke

Bing Z

illiterate primate

MumblingSage

Inarticulate Herb

StephanieFox

Maybull the Bulldog