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Capitalize A Job Title

  • 24-11-2016 11:23am
    #1
    De Bhál
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,956 ✭✭✭


    I am writing a college paper on construction and was wondering do I capitalize a job title, for example, Structural Engineer or structural engineer?


Comments

  • #2
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,762 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    It is really a stylistic matter whether you capitalise all job titles or just those directly before or after the person's name. IMO, titles that come immediately before/after a person's name must always be capitalised - e.g. Professor Smith or Mr Smith, Structural Engineer.

    If it's a title that is being used passively within a sentence, I generally wouldn't capitalise - e.g. the internal supporting walls were marked by the structural engineer - but that is just my own style.

    It might be easier to just capitalise every time because it is more important to be consistent in your styling than to have an argument around whether capitalisation is appropriate or not.


  • #3
    Yakuza
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,141 ✭✭✭Yakuza


    I think it depends on context; I would capitalise if it were referring to a specific role / title / person in a company, but if referring to a group then just use lower case.
    "John Smith is the Chief Structural Engineer of the company, and there is a team of six structural engineers who report to him".


  • #4
    Creol1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 554 ✭✭✭Creol1


    Yakuza wrote: »
    I think it depends on context; I would capitalise if it were referring to a specific role / title / person in a company, but if referring to a group then just use lower case.
    "John Smith is the Chief Structural Engineer of the company, and there is a team of six structural engineers who report to him".

    I would take a similar view, albeit slightly broader. I would say it depends on whether we are talking about a broad/vague category or a role with a clear and fixed meaning, but not necessarily a role filled by one person; you wouldn't really capitalise lawyer, but you would capitalise Senior Counsel or perhaps Solicitor. You probably wouldn't capitalise accountant, but you might capitalise Chartered Accountant. Capitals wouldn't generally be used for "civil servant", but they would be used for Clerical Officer, Executive Officer, Principal Officer, etc.

    There are grey areas, but that would be my guiding thinking.


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