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How to Punctuate a Movie Title

The grammar rules for a movie title may seem a little confusing. One case may call for quotes, another for italics. One case calls for capitalizing a preposition, another doesn’t. There are generally accepted rules that standardize the punctuation, though. One helpful guide is the Associated Press Stylebook, which determines the grammar standards for periodical literature.

Instructions

    • 1

      Underline the title when you write it out by hand.

    • 2

      Italicize the title when you type it. Put the title in quotation marks if the title is going out “over the wire,” because italics aren’t transmittable. This is why the Associated Press style does not use italics for titles.

    • 3

      Capitalize the first and last word of the title.

    • 4

      Capitalize the first and last word of the subtitle. Separate it from the title with a colon.

    • 5

      Capitalize the first letter of all words except articles (a, an, the); prepositions of three letters or fewer (at, on); “to” used with an infinitive; and conjunctions of three letters or fewer. This step is subordinate to steps 3 and 4. For example, “the” at the start of the title will be capitalized.

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