Is As Capitalized in a Title?

The word as is short and inconspicuous, but it’s one of the most difficult words to capitalize correctly in titles and headlines. It is not hard in every title case style though; there are also styles where its capitalization is straightforward. Let’s explore the different cases.

In these six styles, the capitalization of as depends on its word class. There are three possibilities here: as can be an adverb, a conjunction, or a preposition. The difficulty is determining which word class applies for each occurrence of as.

According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, as is an adverb in the following cases:

1. When it means “to the same degree or amount”:

2. When it has the meaning “for instance; such as”:

3. And finally, to convey “when considered in a specified form or relation”. Merriam-Webster also notes that in this sense, as is typically used before a preposition or participle.

When used as an adverb, as must be capitalized in all six styles:

The word as can also be a subordinating conjunction. In somewhat simplified terms, a subordinating conjunction joins two clauses, and a clause contains at least a subject and a verb. In the following examples, the subject is underlined, and the verb is underlined twice.

According to Merriam-Webster, as is also conjunction when used in comparisons even when there is no verb, probably because the verb is implied:

How subordinating conjunctions are handled depends on the style. In AMA, Bluebook, MLA, and Wikipedia style, they are capitalized:

In AP and APA style, on the other hand, short subordinating conjunctions are lowercased:

Finally, as can be a preposition. This is the case when it is used to refer to someone’s (or something’s) character, function, or role:

When used as a preposition, as is lowercased according to all styles:

In contrast to the six styles discussed so far, the Chicago Manual of Style and the New York Times have a pragmatic way to handle as: They stipulate that it should always be lowercased, independent of its grammatical function (i.e., even when used as an adverb, which is unusual for title case):

I think there are two reasons for this special rule. As shown above, determining the word class of as can be difficult. But furthermore, as is a word that often occurs more than once in a title (for example in the phrase “as fast/good/loud/… as”), and capitalizing the occurrences differently looks odd. The approach by the Chicago Manual of Style and the New York Times solves both issues.

The following phrase from “The Handbook of Good English” by Edward D. Johnson contains as in all three functions: adverb, conjunction, and preposition (in this order):

Here is how this example looks in the various title case styles:

Capitalizing as is considerably easier in Chicago and in New York Times style than in the other styles. If you are free to choose a title case style, this is a factor you might want to take into consideration.

But no matter which title case style you follow, the Title Case Converter will automatically capitalize your headlines and titles according to the rules of the style of your choice.