Comments on: Capitalization of Job Titles

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:47:45 +0000

I was taught to capitalize the title of a person of high rank, such as President, regardless of whether the name followed. However, the rule changed over the years. (I don’t know when.) The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the authoritative source that I use, states that “president” is not capitalized.

By: Terry Frakes

Terry Frakes — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:00:35 +0000

When did it become incorrect to capitalize titles which refer to specific individuals? Other sources say it is correct to write, “the President is onboard Air Force One,” but your site says it should be, “the president is onboard…” I am 60 years old and was an English major; we were taught to capitalize titles when they refer to a specific person, and of course, to capitalize titles used in conjunction with the individual’s name, e.g., President Kennedy.

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:00:27 +0000

The tendency, with technology, is to capitalize words such as “Website” (or Web site), Internet, and Blog until the nouns become part of the vernacular. At that point, we tend to stop capitalizing. I think that “Blog,” which is short for “Web log,” will soon not be capitalized just as many people no longer capitalize “website.”

By: tj

tj — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:50:26 +0000

I’m watching a debate on a popular blog or Blog about the capitalization of the word Blog. Spell check appears to want the word to be capitalized in the text of a paragraph when talking about or referencing a blog.

What do you think?

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:19:12 +0000

I would not capitalize “supervisor” in that last line of dialogue because it is not part of a title. It is debatable whether “supervisor” in the second line of dialogue should be capitalized. “Department” must be capitalized only because it is the first word of the quote.

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:15:30 +0000

You are bringing up the difficulty with capitalization: many of these rules are “rules of thumb.” Your strategy regarding job titles is a widely accepted practice that shouldn’t cause dispute.

By: Jami

Jami — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:50:25 +0000

In further thought, I have another instance I’d like to ask about. I type full transcripts, so it gets confusing. It will probably be easier to give an illustration rather than try to explain what I’m asking without it. Here goes:

“What is John Smith’s title?”
“Department Supervisor.”
“Who do you report to?”
“John Smith.”
“When the incident happened, what did you do?”
“I went directly to the supervisor.”
“Would that be John Smith?”
“Yes, he is my supervisor.”

In the instance that he is speaking specifically about John Smith when he is saying supervisor, would supervisor be capped?

By: Jami

Jami — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:39:17 +0000

In typing a verbatim transcript, titles are not necessarily listed and/or named in a certain way that it’s easy to refer to the rules. Can you please help to shed some light on how to apply these rules in general everyday speech that is written out? For example, I would cap the job title in response to this question: “What is John Smith’s position with the company?” -or- “The last job Mr. Smith held with the company was Finance Director?” What I’ve normally been relying on in these situations is when the question or response is directed at specifically naming a person to a particular title, I will capitalize it. When a position is referenced in general, I don’t cap it. For example, “Who was the supervisor on duty at the time?” -or- “I was trying to get promoted to supervisor.” Do you have any suggestions of ways I can relate these types of situations better to the rules?

By: regena

regena — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:38:26 +0000

abbr. are complecated i see what you mean they are just to hard to explain much less remember!argh

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 01 May 2007 23:21:19 +0000

Don’t capitalize “code” or “council” unless you have named it previously and want to ensure that your reader(s) recognize that you’re still referring to the same “code” or “council.”