Knowing exactly what and when to capitalize has always been somewhat problematic, but the recent proliferation of informal communication, e.g., email, has added to the problem. One area that seems to stump a lot of us is job titles.

When in doubt, the default seems to be to capitalize, but there actually is a clear and simple rule. When the job title is literally a title, it is capitalized; otherwise, it is not. For example, in the sentence "John Allard is vice president of operation, the job is not part of John’s title and is not capitalized. On the other hand, in the sentence "Vice President of Operations John Allard visited the Phoenix office," it is John’s title and is capitalized.

Actually, most of us easily recognize the difference in some specific instances. We intuitively know that the title would be capitalized in referring to Queen Elizabeth, but that it would not in saying she became queen in 1952. Similarly, we would refer to someone as "Dr. Michaels," but not capitalize in writing that he is a doctor at the Uptown Clinic. Easy, right?

Marketing Consultant Greg Kagan (Or, if you prefer, Greg Kagan, marketing consultant)