Updated March 18, 2025
Spotlight on Initial “The”
A “the” at the beginning of a word or phrase that would normally be capitalized—including the name of an organization or the title of a work—presents a dilemma. When is the “the” capitalized? In Chicago style, the answer will depend on four additional questions.
1. Is It the Name of an Organization or Place?
Except at the beginning of a sentence or heading, an initial “the” used with a name that wouldn’t normally be in italics or quotation marks can usually remain lowercase. This includes the names of universities and other institutions as well as the names of musical groups, place-names, and the like (as covered in chapter 8):
students at the University of Chicago
precedents set by the Supreme Court
the music of the Grateful Dead
agriculture in the Netherlands
the topography of the Rocky Mountains
stars in the Milky Way galaxy
but
the Dutch city known as The Hague (a rare exception; see CMOS 8.46)
or, at the beginning of a sentence,
The Netherlands is also known as Holland.
Many such names don’t begin with “the” (Harvard University, Chicago, Holland), in which case there’s nothing to decide. And some organizations style their own names with a capital T (The New School), but Chicago normally disregards such outliers for the sake of consistency with other such names (see CMOS 8.69).
2. Is It the Title of a Book or Other Work?
When a capitalized word or phrase is in italics or quotation marks—as is the case with the titles of books, stories, articles, blog posts, movies, plays, TV episodes, and other works (see CMOS 8.164)—an initial “the” is usually capitalized.
Note, however, that the “the” must be part of the title (something that can usually be determined by looking at the source, as on the title page of a book or at the head of an article or story):
recommendations in The Chicago Manual of Style
the author of The Invisible Man (H. G. Wells)
allegory in “The Tell-Tale Heart” (Edgar Allan Poe)
When an initial “the” isn’t part of the title—and unless it would normally be omitted altogether (as in the first example below)—it precedes the italics or quotation marks and is lowercased except at the beginning of a sentence:
readers of Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
etymologies in the Oxford English Dictionary (or the OED)
or, at the beginning of a sentence,
The Oxford English Dictionary has been available online since the year 2000.
In some cases, an initial “the” that would normally be capitalized as part of a title doesn’t fit with the grammar of the surrounding text and is therefore omitted (or, if retained, treated as part of the surrounding text), as when a title is used attributively to modify another noun (see CMOS 8.171):
a Chicago Manual of Style recommendation
3. Is It the Name of a Periodical?
Starting with the 18th edition, Chicago treats the names of newspapers, magazines, and journals much like the titles of books: “When newspapers and other periodicals are mentioned in running text, an initial The that appears on the masthead or cover or is otherwise considered part of the official title is usually capitalized and italicized along with the title of the publication” (CMOS 8.172).
Many periodicals feature an initial “The” on the masthead or cover (links below are to the About pages for the respective publications or, in the case of The New York Times, the home page):
an article in The New York Times
a review in The New Yorker
research in The Journal of Modern History
but, in shortened form,
an article in the Times (but The Times [UK])
Many others do not, though a “the” is often still required before the name for grammatical reasons (as it was for the Oxford English Dictionary in the previous section):
a feature in the Chicago Tribune
a review in Harper’s Magazine
an article in the Journal of Labor Economics
or, at the beginning of a sentence,
The Chicago Tribune was founded in 1847.
As with books, the grammar of the sentence may require omitting an initial The (or treating it as part of the surrounding text), as when a title is used attributively:
the latest New York Times opinion piece
But there’s one important loophole: An initial The in the name of a periodical that includes one may be dropped in source citations (see CMOS 14.69), as in this footnote citing an article in The China Journal (see also CMOS 14.70)
1. Tan Zhao, “Professionalizing China’s Rural Cadres,” China Journal 89 (January 2023): 48, https://doi.org/10.1086/722215.
CMOS has always recommended dropping the initial article from the name of a periodical in a source citation; outside of source citations, the article was treated in previous editions as part of the surrounding text: the China Journal.
Chicago’s new rule favors fidelity to the sources themselves (now that they can be checked more readily than in the past), while giving publishers of scholarly articles and books an out when it comes to source citations.
4. Is It a Creative Exception?
There’s always room for some creative exceptions. For stage names that begin with a definite article, the decision may depend on usage in published sources and, if it can be determined, the preference of the bearer. If in doubt, and a capital T seems like a good fit, go for it—especially for names that otherwise consist of a single word.
For example, you might decide to refer to the Big Bopper (J. P. Richardson) with a lowercase t while making an exception for The Weeknd (see CMOS 8.6).
In fiction and other creative genres, exceptions may depend on a different set of considerations. For example, a restaurant called The Last Meal may read as more ominous with that capital T.
Takeaway
In Chicago style, an initial “the” is treated as part of the surrounding text unless it forms part of an italicized or quoted title. As of the 18th edition of CMOS, this rule now extends to the names of newspapers and other periodicals. And—as always— exceptions can be made for special cases.
Top image: The Daily News by Reservoir Dots / Adobe Stock.
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