6. Titles

By ‘titles’ I don’t mean the title of your book or the titles of each individual chapter. Instead, I mean the titles of the people you write about, whether they are fictional or real persons. In practice, this often refers to their job title. For example:

• President Smith is the president of the United States.

• Governor Brown called for special measures.

• Queen Victoria reigned as queen from 1837 to 1901. She was also Empress of India.

Notice, in these examples, how initial capitals are used for titles when they appear in full or immediately before a personal name (e.g. ‘President Smith’), or when they are used specifically (e.g. ‘She was also Empress of India’).

If titles are used in a general sense, don’t use capitals (e.g. ‘is president’; ‘reigned as queen’).

This rule might sound complicated, but it really isn’t. Imagine you have written a novel with an important character who is a professor. Let’s call her Professor Edwards. Professor Edwards is bound to be addressed as Professor Edwards by a lot of people. If she’s also prone to talking about why she became a professor, the word ‘professor’ will crop up a great deal. If it were capitalized all the time, it would look silly, tire your readers and possibly be confusing. You don’t want that!

Summary

• Use initial capitals for titles attached to people’s names (e.g. Professor Edwards).

• Also use initial capitals for titles used in a specific sense (e.g. ‘I later became Chief Minister for Copyediting’).

• Don’t use initial capitals when such titles are unattached to people’s names (e.g. ‘I wish I were a professor’).

7. Spelling

Choose Your English

There are different kinds of English. Most of the time, you’ll want to work in the English with which you’re familiar. I use UK English because I am English and live in the UK; you use US English because you live in the United States; your friend uses Indian English because she lives in India – you get the picture.

A huge error I have seen time and again is the mixing of UK and US spellings. So, for example, the same sentence will contain the phrase ‘TV programme’ and ‘TV program’. This mixing of spellings should always be avoided:

• Use one kind of English and stick with it!

–ise or –ize?

Next, where there is a choice, decide to use –ise or –ize endings to such words as organise/organize.

US English uses –ize spellings, so if you write in US English don’t use –ise.

UK English (and most other Englishes) can use –ise endings where US English uses –ize. However, the trend is overwhelmingly to the use of –ize even in UK English, so I recommend you also use –ize.

• Always use –ize endings. There, that simplifies things!

But wait a minute! There are a few important words that should always end in –ise:

Always end in –ise

advertise, advise, apprise, chastise, comprise, compromise, despise, devise, disguise, excise, exercise, improvise, incise, prise (open), promise, revise, supervise, surmise, surprise, televise

And there are several common words that should always be spelled –yze in US English and –yse in UK English, e.g.:

US English

analyze

paralyze

UK English

analyse

paralyse

Summary

• Stick to one kind of English.

• Use –ize spellings when there’s a choice.