Text & writing
Title Case Edge Cases: Hyphens, Acronyms, Verbs
The basic idea of title case is simple: capitalize the main words. The hard part is the handful of words that do not fit neatly — hyphenated compounds, phrasal verbs, acronyms, brand names, numbers, and words after a colon. This guide works through those edge cases and notes where the major style guides agree and differ.
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Hyphenated words
APA Style capitalizes the second part of hyphenated major words — “Self-Report”, not “Self-report”. Many titles follow the same pattern: “Well-Known”, “Long-Term”, “Real-World”.
Short minor words inside a compound, such as the “of” and “the” in “state-of-the-art”, usually stay lowercase: “State-of-the-Art”. Style guides differ on some compounds, so check yours for formal work.
Phrasal verbs and prepositions that are not prepositions
Words like “in”, “up”, “on”, and “over” are often prepositions, which many styles lowercase. But in phrasal verbs — “Log In”, “Set Up”, “Turn On”, “Take Over” — they act as adverbs and belong to the verb. Chicago, for example, capitalizes prepositions used adverbially or adjectivally.
Automatic converters generally cannot tell the difference and keep these short words lowercase, so “How to Log in to Your Account” needs a manual fix to “How to Log In to Your Account”.
Acronyms, brand names, and numbers
- Acronyms stay in capitals: “Using NASA Data”.
- Brand names keep their own styling, including internal capitals: “iPhone”, “eBay”. At the very start of a title, some styles and publications capitalize the first letter anyway; others keep the brand’s styling.
- Numerals are left as they are: “10 Tips for 2026”. Words following a number follow the normal rules.
After colons, dashes, and in subtitles
APA capitalizes the first word after a colon, an em dash, or end punctuation in a title or heading, even if it is a minor word: “Writing: A Guide for the Rest of Us”. Other major styles also treat a subtitle as starting with a capital.
Quick reference
| Case | Usual title case |
|---|---|
| self-report | Self-Report |
| state-of-the-art | State-of-the-Art |
| how to log in | How to Log In |
| using nasa data | Using NASA Data |
| writing: a guide | Writing: A Guide |
Title Case Edge Cases FAQ
- Do you capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word in a title?
- For major words, usually yes. APA explicitly capitalizes the second part of hyphenated major words, as in “Self-Report”. Short minor words inside compounds typically stay lowercase.
- Is it “Log in” or “Log In” in a title?
- “Log In”. In a phrasal verb, “in” works as part of the verb, and styles such as Chicago capitalize prepositions used that way.
- How do I capitalize a brand like iPhone at the start of a title?
- Styles differ. Many keep the brand’s own styling; some capitalize the first letter at the start of a title. Follow your publication’s style guide.
- Should the word after a colon be capitalized in a title?
- In most major styles, yes. APA capitalizes the first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation in titles and headings.
- Why do title case tools get phrasal verbs wrong?
- They classify short words by spelling, not by how the word functions in the sentence, so they cannot tell “in” the preposition from “in” in “Log In”.
Related guides
- Capitalizing Titles of WorksHow APA, MLA, and Chicago capitalize and format the titles of books, articles, and websites — including when APA uses sentence case and when to use italics or quotation marks.
- Title Case in Word, Docs, and ExcelWhat Word’s Change Case, Excel’s PROPER, and Google Docs’ capitalization options actually do, why they are not true title case, and how to get correctly capitalized titles.
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