Is “their” capitalized in a title? Yes, all major style guides capitalize the word “their.” Why? Because “their” is a pronoun, and pronouns are always capitalized regardless of their form or where they fall in a title. Curious if different style guides share the same capitalization rule about “their?” Read on!
Related:
Title Capitalization Rules per Style Guide
In this section, we’ll break down the title capitalization rules of well-known style guides to help you find your way through capitalizing “their.”
Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago Style)
According to Chicago Style, all nouns, including pronouns like “their,” are capitalized in titles. Even if “their” appears after a colon, you should still capitalize it.
American Medical Association (AMA Style)
Like Chicago Style, AMA Style capitalizes “their” regardless of where it appears in a title. What else should you capitalize in AMA? Here is a list:
- Nouns and proper nouns
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Subordinating conjunctions
- Prepositions that are four letters or more
Associated Press Style (AP Style / AP Stylebook)
The Associated Press Stylebook also requires capitalization of “their,” regardless of its position in a title. Here are two examples of how to use and not to use “their” in a title:
- Correct: Bauhaus Artists: Their Influence on Contemporary Art and Design
- Incorrect: Microbiologists and their Discoveries in Space Exploration
Modern Language Association (MLA Style)
In the MLA Handbook capitalizes all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and some conjunctions. In subtitles, articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions are not capitalized unless they are the first word in a title. Here are examples of correct ways to use “their” in a title and subtitle using MLA Style:
- Correct: Tech Giants and Their Role in Revolutionary Technological Advancements
- Correct: 20th-Century Writers: Their Contributions to Contemporary Literature
American Psychological Association (APA Style)
The APA’s capitalization rules insist you should capitalize all major words in a title, like the pronoun “their.” Minor words like “the” or “a” remain lowercase unless they’re the first or last word of a title or subtitle or come directly after a colon or em dash.
The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage
Similar to CMOS, APA, AMA, and AP, the NY Style also requires you to capitalize the word “their” if it’s part of your title. Again, it doesn’t matter where “their” appears in the title; you should always capitalize it.
Bluebook
When using Bluebook, you also capitalize “their,” as well as nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions. Articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions that are four letters or less are in lowercase.
Wikipedia Manual of Style (Wikipedia Style)
Lastly, we have Wikipedia Style, which also indicates the capitalization of every pronoun, noun, adjective, adverb, and subordinating conjunction in your title.
When Should You Capitalize “Their”
Is “their” always capitalized in a title? Yes, “their” is always capitalized in a title. According to major style guides, whenever “their” functions as a pronoun in a title—which is always—it should be capitalized.
There are no exceptions across Chicago, AMA, AP, MLA, APA, The New York Times, Bluebook, and Wikipedia styles for capitalizing “their” in a title. If the word “their” is the second word or second part of a title, remember to capitalize it.
When Shouldn’t You Capitalize “Their”
Since “their” is always capitalized and there are no exceptions to this rule, there is no instance that you should have “their” in lowercase.
Final Thoughts
So, is “their” capitalized in a title? Yes, all major style guides capitalize pronouns like “their” in titles, subtitles, and headlines. While this universal treatment makes this rule easy to follow, you can utilize this convenient capitalization tool for quick and correct title case and sentence case capitalization.
