English Language Arts
Grade 3
15 min
Capitalizing titles
Capitalizing titles
What you'll learn
- Identify at least 3 common Greek or Latin roots (like 'tele,' 'port,' or 'script') in a list of 5 words.
- Explain how the meaning of a root (like 'photo' meaning 'light') helps you understand the meaning of a word containing that root (like 'photograph').
- Apply your knowledge of Greek and Latin roots to guess the meaning of 2 out of 3 new words containing those roots, checking your guesses with a dictionary.
- Solve a word puzzle matching 4 Greek or Latin roots to their correct meanings with 100% accuracy.
Tutorial Preview
1
Introduction & Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
Identify the first and last words in a title.
State the rule that the first and last words of a title are always capitalized.
Identify 'Big Words' (like nouns and verbs) that should be capitalized in a title.
Identify 'Little Words' (like 'a', 'and', 'in') that should not be capitalized in the middle of a title.
Apply capitalization rules to correctly write the titles of books, movies, and songs.
Edit a sentence to fix mistakes in title capitalization.
Have you ever looked at a book cover or a movie poster and noticed that some words start with big letters and some start with small letters? 📚 Let's find out why!
Today, we are going to become title experts! We will learn the special rules for using c...
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Key Concepts & Vocabulary
TermDefinitionExample
TitleThe special name given to a book, story, movie, song, or poem.The title of a famous book is 'Charlotte's Web'.
Capital LetterAn uppercase or 'big' letter used at the beginning of sentences and for important words.A, B, C, D
Lowercase LetterA 'small' letter that is not capitalized.a, b, c, d
Big WordsImportant words in a title that tell us who, what, or what's happening. These are words like nouns, verbs, and adjectives.In 'The Brave Knight', the Big Words are 'Brave' and 'Knight'.
Little WordsShort connecting words that are usually not capitalized in the middle of a title.a, an, the, and, but, or, in, on, of, for
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Key Rules & Conventions
The First and Last Word Rule
Always capitalize the first and last words of a title.
No matter how big or small the word is, if it's the very first or very last word in the title, it gets a capital letter.
The Big Words Rule
Always capitalize the 'Big Words' in a title.
Capitalize all the important words in the middle of the title, like names of people or things (nouns), action words (verbs), and describing words (adjectives).
The Little Words Rule
Do not capitalize the 'Little Words' in the middle of a title.
Short words like 'a', 'an', 'the', 'and', 'but', 'in', 'of' should stay lowercase unless they are the first or last word.
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Challenging
A book has a long title: `Lions at Lunchtime: A Story about Africa`. Why is "A" capitalized after the colon (:)?
A."A" is always capitalized in a title.
B.The colon is a mistake and should be a comma.
C.The part after the colon is a subtitle, and the first word of a subtitle is always capitalized.
D."Africa" is the only word that needs to be capitalized.
Challenging
In the title `James and the Giant Peach`, "and" and "the" are lowercase. In the title `The Land of Stories`, why is "of" lowercase but "Land" is capitalized?
A."Land" is longer than "of".
B."Land" is an important noun, while "of" is a short preposition.
C."The" and "of" are the only words that can be lowercase.
D.Both "Land" and "of" should be capitalized.
Challenging
Sam wrote a story title as `How the Grinch Stole christmas`. His friend said the mistake is that "christmas" should be "Christmas" because it's the last word. Is his friend's reason correct?
A.Yes, the last word of a title must always be capitalized.
B.No, "christmas" should be capitalized because it is a holiday, which is a proper noun.
C.The friend is right about the capitalization but wrong about the reason.
D.There is no mistake in the title.
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Frequently asked questions
What grade level is "Capitalizing titles"?
Capitalizing titles is a Grade 3 English Language Arts lesson on ExcelOS.
What will I learn in Capitalizing titles?
You'll be able to: Identify at least 3 common Greek or Latin roots (like 'tele,' 'port,' or 'script') in a list of 5 words; Explain how the meaning of a root (like 'photo' meaning 'light') helps you understand the meaning of a word containing that….
Is "Capitalizing titles" free to practice?
Yes. You can read the tutorial preview for free, and signing up for a free ExcelOS account unlocks the full tutorial and all practice questions with instant feedback.
How many practice questions are included with Capitalizing titles?
This lesson includes 27 practice questions across multiple difficulty levels, each with instant feedback and explanations.