2. Capitalize the first word in a title.

标题中首个单词要大写

So, in the title The Perks of Being a Wallflower, make sure to capitalize The—it's the very first word, and its capitalization tips off the reader that, hey, the title's officially starting.

在标题壁花少年（The Perks of Being a Wallflower）中，“the”一定要大写，它是第一个单词，大写可以提醒读者，这里开始是标题啦。

3. Capitalize all major words in a title.

标题中的主要单词要大写

How do we define a “major word”? Good question. A “major word” is a subject, noun, adjective, or verb—basically, any word whose meaning impacts the sentence and isn't a short little conjunction or preposition.

什么是“主要单词”呢？这个“主要单词”是主语（subject）、名词（noun）、形容词（adjective）或动词（verb）。基本上，任何一个主要单词的意思都会影响句子，而不是一个简短的连词或介词。

In the title Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, “Tell,” “Mom,” “Babysitter,” and “Dead” are all major words—they're verbs (tell), nouns (mom, babysitter), and adjectives (dead describes the babysitter), and they all very much impact the sentence's meaning.

让我们来举个例子，加深一下印象。在标题“Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead”中，“Tell”、“Mom”、“Babysitter”和“Dead”都是“主要单词”。“Tell”是动词，“Mom和Babysitter”是名词，形容“Babysitter”的“Dead”则是形容词。它们都会对句子意思有影响，所以都应该大写。

4. While you're at it, capitalize every word that is four letters or longer.

4个字母或更长的单词都需要大写

If a word is longer than four letters, it automatically becomes “major”.

如果一个单词长度超过4个字母，就自动变成了“主要单词”。

5. Do a final skim for tricky punctuation that might change the rules of title case.

最后略读一下可能会改变标题大小写规则的标点符号

The English language—and its titles—are rarely simple. They're often broken up by punctuation. Titles, in particular, often feature colons.

英语语言和标题很少会简单。它们通常会被标点隔开。特别是标题，经常会遇到冒号。

Check out the following movie titles featuring colons:

来看看下面这些带有冒号的电影标题：

Notice a pattern? Anything after the colon starts with a capital letter, like it's a brand new sentence (or title)—even if it's a minor, short word,. The same goes for movie titles like Lust, Caution that feature a comma in the middle: anything after the punctuation is capitalized anew.

注意到了吗？冒号后面都以大写字母开头，就像是全新的句子或标题，即使是短小的单词。电影《色·戒》的英文名为Lust, Caution，中间有逗号，逗号之后的单词也要大写。标点符号之后的第一个单词都要大写。

That way, you can apply the movie titles' rules to songs, academic papers, and even PowerPoint headings to determine when to use title case.

以上这些电影标题的规则，你可以应用到歌曲、学术论文甚至PPT标题中。

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