Is For Capitalized in a Title?

The word for is usually not capitalized in titles and headlines, because it is typically used as a preposition or as a conjunction, and in both functions it is lowercased according to all title case styles. The following examples illustrate this:

The first word in a title is always capitalized:

It is possible for a title to end with the preposition for, for example, “Be careful what you wish for.” (In such a case, for is called a stranded preposition.) Whether it should be capitalized depends on the style guide you are using:

AP, Chicago, MLA, New York Times, and Wikipedia require capitalizing the last word of a title:

Bluebook, APA, and AMA on the other hand don’t have such a rule, so the preposition for remains uncapitalized even if it is the last word:

In rare cases, for is used as an adverb, and must then be capitalized:

In these examples, the lack of a noun or pronoun that acts as the object of for is a clear indicator that it is not used as a preposition here.

If you are using the New York Times style, then you should be aware that this style has a unique rule: If for is used instead of a verb with the meaning “supports” or “advocates,” then it must be capitalized:

Try out the Title Case Converter which automatically applies these rules (with the exception of the New York Times rule)!