Q. On social media platforms, where italics are not an option, what do we do with book titles or other titles that would normally be italicized?
A. You have three choices: (1) Let the capital letters speak for themselves: Main Title: Subtitle. (2) Use quotation marks: “Main Title: Subtitle.” (3) Use all caps: MAIN TITLE: SUBTITLE. The first option is the cleanest but doesn’t do a good job especially with one-word titles; the second and third options will delimit the title more definitively. The third option, favored by some publishers (like @RandomHouse), is a convention that dates to the era of typewritten editorial memos (try underscoring titles on a manual typewriter all day long). Quotation marks are maybe the most sensible option, but there’s no settled convention. Choose your favorite and stick with it.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hello! I work as a proofreader in retail, and we often use “on sale” in headlines. I’m not sure if “on” is acting as a preposition or an adverb, therefore I’m not sure if it should be capitalized in a headline like this: “Now on Sale.” Thank you!
A. In “on sale,” on is a preposition and sale is its object. The expression itself is a phrasal adjective. Your headline is shorthand for “This Item Is Now on Sale” (or “These Items Are Now on Sale”)—in which the phrase “on Sale” modifies the understood item (or items). Chicago’s exceptions to its rules for headline-style capitalization do not extend to the use of prepositions in phrasal adjectives (except in common Latin phrases like “de facto”). So to follow Chicago style, write “Now on Sale.” See CMOS 8.159.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. CMOS 11.9 states, “When the title of a work in another language is mentioned in text, an English gloss may follow in parentheses,” and “if the translation has not been published, the English should be capitalized sentence-style . . . and should appear neither in italics nor within quotation marks.” In texts that discuss in detail such a work (say, a literary analysis of a Chinese-language novel for a predominantly English-speaking readership) and where the English gloss is justifiably preferred to the original, should that gloss stay in roman, capitalized sentence-style throughout, or may it carry the features of a published translation (italics or quote marks) for ease of presentation?
A. Yes, in a case like that it makes sense to use italics (or whatever) for the title. You might introduce the style explicitly to ward off the copyeditor—for example: “In the Chinese novel [Chinese characters or transliteration] (hereafter referred to as Plum Tree at Sunset) . . .”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Do you capitalize the preposition for in headline-capitalization style in this case: “XYZ: what is it good for?” Lowercase or uppercase? Thanks a lot!
A. The last word is capitalized in a Chicago-style headline-capped title, regardless of syntax: “XYZ: What Is It Good For?” Please see CMOS 8.159 (point 1) for this rule.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Dear CMOS, would you please clarify 8.191 in the following example? I understand that Wikipedia should be roman, because it was never available in print. I also understand that The Chicago Manual of Style Online should be in italics, because there are both print and online editions. However, in practice, I find myself with sentences like this, which look “wrong”: “Comparing Music Index and RILM Abstracts with Music Periodical Index for music education topics is challenging.” In this example, which is coming up a lot in a book chapter I’m writing, would you italicize all three? And then, for consistency, would you italicize all three even when they are not together?
A. When similar online references are grouped together like that, it’s a service to readers to treat them all the same. Normally that would mean using roman type, since the majority of websites have no printed counterpart, but if most of the website titles in your book are italic, you could go with that.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Should published reports be italicized or in quotation marks?
Q. It’s up to You. I came across this title. The question is whether to capitalize up. My gut says do it, because it’s an idiom of sorts, and because the typical grammar rules about prepositions and title caps don’t quite seem to address this case.
A. Up in your phrase is actually an adverb, so under Chicago’s headline rules it would be capped. When you’re confused about a part of speech, a good dictionary is a terrific resource, because it provides example sentences for each part of speech. At Merriam-Webster Unabridged under the word up, at adverb definition 5(b), you can see the example “put the problem . . . up to the states,” which is similar to your “it’s up to you.” The examples in the preposition definition of up are different (“up a tree”; “up river”).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m editing a manuscript that mentions a replica of Michelangelo’s David. I know that per CMOS 8.198, David should be italicized. However, should it be italicized in sentences like “David was naked, after all”; “he stumbled forward into David and knocked the statue over onto the pavers; “David’s head parted company with his underendowed body”? I hope to avoid numerous repetitions of the phrase “the statue of David.”
A. Fun manuscript! Italics for the statue would work in all those sentences. The roman version obscures the fact that David is a statue and causes a split-second confusion (who is this person David?) before we remember it’s a statue. Unless the passage is meant to cast the statue as almost alive, say, for the sake of humor, I’d stick with italics. And you can always use “the statue” without adding “of David.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m an event organizer, and one of the themes of my event is “creativity beyond the page.” Should it be “Creativity Beyond the Page” or “Creativity beyond the Page”? Can beyond be capitalized in this case?
A. Chicago style lowercases prepositions, but many style guides uppercase the longer ones. If you want to uppercase beyond, it isn’t incorrect. But take care to send a memo or style sheet—if anyone else on your team is using Chicago style, you may find your slogan presents an inconsistency in your publicity.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How should we style the name of a competition? In quotes, italics, title case? Example: An initiative recently named a finalist in the “Tokyo Vertical Cemetery” competition.