Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Capitalization of Job Titles

With capitalization of job titles, there are rules and then there is the “rule.” The rules are based on some precedent while the “rule” is based on ego. Let’s go over the rules that have precedent first.

Rule: Capitalize job titles immediately preceding the name when used as part of the name.

Example: We asked Chairperson Leong to join us at the meeting.

Rule: Capitalize job titles immediately following the name when the word the does not appear in front of the job title.

Examples: Ms. Leong, Chairperson, will join us at the meeting.
Ms. Leong, Chair, will join us at the meeting.
Mr. Hanson, Editorial Advisor for The Independent Journal, helped draft the article.

Rule: When the appears in front of the job title, do not capitalize.

Examples: Mr. Hanson, the editorial advisor, helped draft the article.
The chairperson, Sarah Leong, will join us at the meeting.
Mr. Cortez was the senior managing director of the Baskin Group.

Rule: Capitalize titles in signature lines.

Examples: Sarah Leong, Chairperson
Craig Hanson, Editorial Advisor

Rule: Do not capitalize titles when used descriptively.

Example: Ms. Leong, who will chair the meeting, is always on time.

“Rule”: The “ego rule” is that you may have to ignore the above rules in real life. If someone in your office (as in your boss) wants his or her title capitalized in all situations, then do so. Generally, the higher in rank someone is in an organization, the more likely his/her title will be capitalized at all times.



Source: Grammarbook

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9 comments:

  1. Happy New Year!!!

    This is great advice, thank you!! I find it weird that the higher up the person is in the organisation, the more acronyms they accumulate! :-)

    Take care
    x

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  2. That makes sense! And I know a few military people with egos like that.

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  3. Hope all is well. Nice reminder, especially about the 'the' before.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  4. Oh, good reminder... presidents, secretaries, gardeners... I need to deal with all sorts of people by title... I knew the 'as part of name' one, but it is good to have all the logistics...

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  5. Thanks for this one. I was writing about the fire chief yesterday and wasn't sure about when to use caps.

    Terry
    Terry's Place
    Romance with a Twist--of Mystery

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  6. Thanks, everyone, for your continued support. It means more to me than you could ever realize. ♥

    PS. Karen! I've been feeling SO much better!! Bless you for asking... ♥

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  7. This really clarifies when I need to capitalize someone's title, and I'm grateful for this post. Thanks for sharing.

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