Capitalizing "The"

Question

If there is a place with a "the" in the title, is "the" capitalized when the place is talked about? For example:We are going to The Tiger's Tail. Thanks.

Canadian45 · Accepted Answer

SnarfWe are going to The Tiger's Tail.

If 'The' is part of the name of something, it should be capitalized.

Snarf · Answer

Okay, thank you. Now let me ask you this: What if the name is then put in a title. For example:

Wagging the Tiger's Tail.

In that case, should "the" be lowercase, even though the name of the place is still being referred to, this time in a title? I ask because Wagging The Tiger's Tail looks strange to me.

Thanks.

Canadian45 · Answer

SnarfOkay, thank you. Now let me ask you this: What if the name is then put in a title. I'm not sure what you mean by "put in a title" . For example:Wagging the Tiger's Tail.In that case, should "the" be lowercase, even though the name of the place is still being referred to, this time in a title? Again I am not sure what your meaning of "title" is. We are talking about names. I ask because Wagging The Tiger's Tail looks strange to me.Thanks.

This is one of those messy topics, and I don't think there is universal agreement on the capitalization of names. First of all, any company or establishment can generally have any kind of name it wishes, including deciding what is capitalized and what isn't. Generally speaking, names are capitalized, but not infrrequently words like 'the' and 'of'', especially when in the middle of names, are not capitalized. So sometimes capitalization of names copies the rules of sentence capitalization, always capitalizing the first word, no matter what it is. So I think generally you will not find very strict unanimous rules for the capitalization of names. I think there is something to be said for capitalizing all the words in a name of a movie or restaurant, for example, but I am not able to tell you anything too definite. Again, in the name in your first post I think "The" should definitely be capitalized.

Capitalizing "The"

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