e-Learning Webboard

Dear Ajarn,

Refer to the course book on
page 34 sentence#3 I work as an election officer. and
page 37 sentence#19 I work in the position of Policy and Plan Analyst.

Could you please help clarify when job titles are capitalized?

Thank you in advance and have a nice day

Capitalizing job titles can be a confusing task because they aren’t always supposed to be capitalized. I’m talking about job titles such as analyst, president, sales director, chairperson, project manager, professor, and so on. Generally speaking, titles that come before names are capitalized, and titles that come after names are not. The trickiest thing you have to figure out is whether the word is part of an official title (in which case it is capitalized) or just describing someone's role (in which case it is not capitalized; traditionally, such titles were never capitalized). Also, remember that when "the" comes before job titles, they do not need to be capitalized but often are nowadays. Furthermore, you should capitalize job titles when directly addressing someone or giving a job title in the signature line of a letter or memo.

Examples:

1) I work as an election officer. (There is an indefinite article in the sentence and no name is attached to it, so the job title is not capitalized.)
2) I work in the position of Policy and Plan Analyst (This one could technically be either; because of the definite article, it can be capitalized because you could argue that is an official title. However, because there is no name attached to it, capitalization is not required.)
3) Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has many admirers and many critics. (Here is another example that could be either; due to the high position and formality of the job title (position), president MAY be capitalized. However, because it follows the president's name, capitalization isn't required.)
4) Hello, President Smith. I look forward to our meeting this afternoon. (You are directly addressing a person by his/her title, so it should be capitalized.)
5) Chairperson Tuttle will be teaching the English grammar course next term. (Because the title comes before a person's name, it is capitalized.)
6) ________________________________ (letter signature line)
Alan Davis, English Language Specialist, STOU School of Liberal Arts (Here the job title is capitalized, even after the name, because it is in the signature line of a letter.)


I hope this is helpful. If you have further questions about capitalization rules, please do not hesitate to ask.