Capitalization of Hyphenated Word in Title

askeladd · Dec 1, 2006

I am proofing a proposal which has "Self-directed" in the title. From what I've read on the Web,

CMS also includes these points:

Capitalize the first element in hyphenated and open compounds in titles.

Capitalize the subsequent elements unless they are articles, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, or modifiers such as flat sharp or natural following musical key elements.

Capitalize second elements attached by hyphens to prefixes only if they are proper nouns or proper adjectives.

Capitalize the final element of a compound that comes at the end of a title (other than one with a hyphenated prefix) no matter what part of speech it may be.

I think that the proper capitalization of this word would therefore be "Self-Directed" (according to the second point), would it not?

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Dec 1, 2006

I would agree.

Silver King · Dec 1, 2006

You could always re-title it to, Directed by One's Self.

Doesn't that sound better?

Provrb1810meggy · Dec 1, 2006

I agree, capitalize both words. The title of my novel is Through Geek-Colored Glasses. That's how I've always written it.

askeladd · Dec 1, 2006

Silver King said:
You could always re-title it to, Directed by One's Self.

Doesn't that sound better?

Slightly more verbose

but it's not mine to re-word.

Thanks, all. I'll stick with uppercase for both elements.

Capitalization of Hyphenated Word in Title

askeladd

Polyglot

Ol' Fashioned Girl

Hand? What hand?

Silver King

Megalops Erectus

Provrb1810meggy

askeladd

Polyglot