English Language Arts
Grade 3
15 min
Formatting and capitalizing titles
Formatting and capitalizing titles
What you'll learn
- Identify at least 5 common Greek and Latin roots (e.g., "tele," "port," "ject") and their meanings from a provided list with 80% accuracy.
- Explain how knowing the meaning of a Greek or Latin root (e.g., "auto," "bio") can help you understand the meaning of a new word containing that root in at least 3 out of 4 examples.
- Apply knowledge of Greek and Latin roots to determine the meaning of 4 out of 5 unfamiliar words in a sentence context.
- Create a sentence using a word with a Greek or Latin root, demonstrating understanding of the word's meaning based on the root in 2 out of 3 attempts.
Tutorial Preview
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Introduction & Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
Identify the first and last words in a title to capitalize them.
Capitalize all the 'big' or important words in a title.
Identify 'little' words (like a, and, in, the) and keep them lowercase in the middle of a title.
Underline the titles of books and movies.
Correct titles that are capitalized incorrectly.
Write their own titles for stories using correct capitalization and formatting.
Have you ever noticed that the name of your favorite book or movie has some big letters and some small letters? 🤔 Let's become detectives and figure out the secret code for writing titles!
Today, we will learn the special rules for writing titles. Knowing these rules helps other people understand what you are writing about and makes your writing l...
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Key Concepts & Vocabulary
TermDefinitionExample
TitleThe special name given to a book, movie, song, story, or poem.The title of a famous book is 'Charlotte's Web'.
CapitalizeTo make the first letter of a word a big letter (an uppercase letter).We capitalize the word 'dog' to make it 'Dog'.
FormattingMaking your words look a certain way. For titles of big things like books and movies, we underline them.To format the title of the movie 'Frozen', we write it like this: <u>Frozen</u>.
Big WordsImportant words in a title that tell us what it's about, like nouns (people, places, things), verbs (action words), and adjectives (describing words). These are always capitalized.In the title 'The Brave Little Toaster', the Big Words are 'Brave',...
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Key Rules & Conventions
The First and Last Word Rule
ALWAYS capitalize the first word and the last word of a title, no matter what.
This is the most important rule to remember. Even if the first or last word is a 'Little Word', it gets a capital letter because of its special position.
The Big Words, Little Words Rule
Capitalize all 'Big Words'. Keep all 'Little Words' in the middle of the title lowercase.
After you capitalize the first and last words, look at the words in the middle. If a word is important (like a noun or verb), capitalize it. If it's a short connecting word (like 'and' or 'the'), keep it small.
The Underline Rule
Underline the titles of big works like books and movies.
When you write the title of a book or a movie in y...
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Challenging
The rule is: 'Do not capitalize small words like 'a', 'and', or 'in' unless they are the first or last word.' Which title BREAKS this rule?
A.The Sword in the Stone
B.Of Mice and Men
C.Alice in Wonderland
D.To Kill A Mockingbird
Challenging
Which sentence correctly formats the titles of a book AND a song?
A.In the book "The Hunger Games", they sing the song _The Hanging Tree_.
B.In the book _The Hunger Games_, they sing the song "The Hanging Tree".
C.In the book "The Hunger Games", they sing the song "The Hanging Tree".
D.In the book _The Hunger Games_, they sing the song _The Hanging Tree_.
Challenging
Your friend wrote a title for their drawing: 'the cat on a red mat'. Which choice describes ALL the corrections needed?
A.Capitalize 'The', 'Cat', 'Red', and 'Mat'. Keep 'on' and 'a' lowercase.
B.Only capitalize the first word, 'The'.
C.Capitalize every word in the title.
D.Capitalize 'The', 'Cat', and 'Mat'. Keep everything else lowercase.
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Frequently asked questions
What grade level is "Formatting and capitalizing titles"?
Formatting and capitalizing titles is a Grade 3 English Language Arts lesson on ExcelOS.
What will I learn in Formatting and capitalizing titles?
You'll be able to: Identify at least 5 common Greek and Latin roots (e.g., "tele," "port," "ject") and their meanings from a provided list with 80% accuracy; Explain how knowing the meaning of a Greek or Latin root (e.g., "auto," "bio") can help….
Is "Formatting and 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 Formatting and capitalizing titles?
This lesson includes 27 practice questions across multiple difficulty levels, each with instant feedback and explanations.