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There is a title for a chapter in a book I'm reading, that reads "SHOULD I DO IT WHILE I'M SICK?". I was wondering, how would this be capitalized using the formatting suggested by the Chicago Manual of Style? I'm mostly just confused about the 'do' and the 'it'.

Thank you very much!

tchrist
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Lēctia Landau
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  • This question is specifically about this specific title, not about general rules. – Lēctia Landau Aug 25 '13 at 18:56
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    There are infinitely many specific titles, and they all follow the same rule. In English, titles generally follow the rules of headline case, not sentence case. There is nothing new to be added here: if it is about a specific case, then it is Too Localized. – tchrist Aug 25 '13 at 18:56
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    That's what the rules are for, just apply them to your specific title. – terdon Aug 25 '13 at 19:01
  • I would capitalize every word. Do it is a stressed idiom and while is too long to treat as a particle. So there's no reason to uncapitalize anything. As for the Chicago Manual of Style, I hope somebody is paying you to follow it; there's no other good reason. – John Lawler Aug 25 '13 at 19:17
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    @JohnLawler can you suggest alternatives? Is there a "Lawler Endorsed®" style guide :)? – terdon Aug 25 '13 at 19:38
  • Sure. Though I only recommend it, understand; I don't officially Endorse® it. The Linguistic Society of America has a style sheet which is followed by the journal Language. If it doesn't cover your needs, then satisfying them is up to you, provided you make your conventions consistent and clear. – John Lawler Aug 25 '13 at 20:43
  • You don't say where you intend to use your title. British usage is generally to use less capitalisation that American usage does. I don't know (or care) what the Chicago Manual of Style says. Personally, I wouldn't capitalise anything in that title other than I would if it were a standard sentence. – TrevorD Aug 25 '13 at 22:56

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