# Grammar/Style: Infinitive Verb in a Title (capitalization) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-style-infinitive-verb-in-a-title-capitalization/412275 "2007-07-18T16:19:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-style-infinitive-verb-in-a-title-capitalization/412275/1 "2007-07-18T16:19:56Z")
Okay, in most style guides, you don’t capitalize prepositions in titles. Eg/ The Present She Gave to Me What about infinitives that have “to” as a particle? Is it like: Dog Jumping: What to Expect or Dog Jumping: What To Expect. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-style-infinitive-verb-in-a-title-capitalization/412275/2 "2007-07-18T16:27:33Z")
According to _The Chicago Manual of Style_, “Lowercase the words _to_ and _as_ in any grammatical function, for simplicity’s sake.” § 8.167(6) at p. 367 (15th ed. 2003). ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-style-infinitive-verb-in-a-title-capitalization/412275/3 "2007-07-18T16:29:19Z")
Are you publishing? Or is this for school? More author’s will surface to tell you more, but from my brief authoring adventures, titling is up to the house that publishes it and follows some strict guidlines. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-style-infinitive-verb-in-a-title-capitalization/412275/4 "2007-07-18T16:51:15Z")
Well, I know that “To” is capitalized in _To Kill a Mockingbird_ 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-style-infinitive-verb-in-a-title-capitalization/412275/5 "2007-07-18T17:15:20Z")
[QUOTE=Phlosphr] Are you publishing? Or is this for school? [/QUOTE] It’s part of an advertising piece. I believe it’s actually already gone through our super-awesome proofreader, so I assume it’s correct (he does occasionally miss stuff, but it’s rare). We outsource that stuff to him and he swamped right now, so I don’t want to call and bug him as I often do when I get curious about some of the more nuanced grammar/style questions that I come across at work. I was wondering more about the actual rule. In this case title contains “What To Expect” other prepositions in the title are not capitlaized, but that’s the only one that’s a particle in an infitive. Hence I’m wondering what the real deal is. My style guide doesn’t mention anything one way or the other about such particles, but it’s not very thorough. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-style-infinitive-verb-in-a-title-capitalization/412275/6 "2007-07-18T17:48:07Z")
This probably varies according to style book, but [the Writer’s Block website](http://www.writersblock.ca/tips/monthtip/tipmar98.htm), which mainly follows the Chicago Manual of Style, includes capitalization examples that seem to be on-point: > [@](#): > > **Multipurpose Words** > Some writers lowercase words that can function as prepositions when those words are currently functioning in other capacities. For example: > > _ **The Man in the Moon Owns a Yellow Balloon** _ > (correct; “in” is functioning as a preposition and should be lowercased) > > _ **Bringing in the Sheaves** _ > (wrong; “in” is functioning as an adverb and should be capitalized) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-style-infinitive-verb-in-a-title-capitalization/412275/7 "2007-07-18T21:14:29Z")
[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy] Well, I know that “To” is capitalized in _To Kill a Mockingbird_ 😃 😃 [/QUOTE] The first word of a title is always capitalized. So is the last, though that’s not often an issue.