Monday, September 8, 2014

punctuation - Do you capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word in a title?



Do you capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word in a title?



"My Ex-Wife Hates Me"



or



"My Ex-wife Hates Me"


Answer




Capitalization of hyphenated words in general is really more a question of style than anything else.
In other word, choose a rule and be consistent with it:



From Garbl's writing center:




When capitalizing hyphenated words in a title, choose a style and follow it consistently.




  • Simplest is to capitalize only the first word unless later words are proper nouns or adjectives:





Unique benefits for part-time violinists, 
All-American flag-waving techniques.




  • Second is to capitalize all words except articles, short prepositions and short conjunctions:





Over-the-Counter Acid Reducers for Sale Here, 
A Matter-of-Fact Approach to Guitar Tuning,
A New Park-and-Ride Lot for Commuters.



Optional exceptions to the second style are to lowercase the word after a prefix unless it is a proper noun or adjective and to lowercase the second word in a spelled out number:





Anti-intellectual Conduct, 
Twenty-first Century Values.





In your case, since "ex-" is a prefix:



My Ex-wife Hates Me


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