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Joe's Cafe, 24/7 pit stop for ESL learners and teachers | June 2009
Egg's off, bacon's off, bread's off, tea's off. English is on though.

The King is dead. Long live the King!

I received the following question from Jeanette about using capitals:

“I am a writer and always have problems with the following:
‘The king is dead. Long live King Edward.’
‘She told me Captain Lorca read the book. The captain could read.’
I am referring to the same king in the first sentence, and to the same captain in the second.  Why wouldn’t both be capitalized? Thanks for your help. I have no rule to follow with this problem.”

It’s a good question, with (quite) a simple answer.

In the case of “King Edward” and “Captain Lorca” we are using a person’s name. As you know, names in English are always capitalized. We write Edward, not edward. We write Lorca, not lorca.

When we also use a title with a name, we capitalize the title too. So we write King Edward, not king Edward. We write Captain Lorca, not captain Lorca.

But when we use the title just as a common noun, there is usually no need to capitalize it.

  • My taxi-driver could speak English
  • The waitress was tall.
  • Our doctor is nice.
  • The pilot spoke to the passengers.
  • Do you know the president?
  • The captain could read.

Just occasionally we may use an initial capital to show respect for a specific person with a very high title such as king or president. Usually this is when there is only one such personage (in a country, or perhaps in a company or ship). When we do this everybody knows exactly who we are talking about - it is like using the person’s name. Look at these examples, which show specific titles (capitalized) and non-specific titles:

  • The Prime Minister met the King last night.
  • Who is the King’s doctor?
  • The doctor prescribed some medicine.
  • There are many presidents in the world.
  • He is the president of this company.
  • The President wants to see you now.
  • Who will be the next president?
  • Who is the king of this country?
  • What is the King’s name?
  • The Titanic sank in the Atlantic. The Captain went down with the ship.
  • President Hu Jintao is General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.

This is also a question of style, and some writers might capitalize when others might not. When we are writing about a title or titles in general there is almost always no need to capitalize. Almost all writers would agree on the following examples:

  • Would you like to be a king?
  • Yesterday I met two kings and a president.
  • There were some kings at the meeting.
  • Each ship has a captain.
  • This hospital has twenty doctors.

So Jeanette is perfectly correct to write “The king is dead. Long live King Edward.” And the title of this post is also correct “The King is dead. Long live the King!”)

The important thing to remember is that when you use a title + name, they must both be capitalized

  • Queen Elizabeth
  • President Obama
Joe | Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 | Filed under Writing

19 Responses to “The King is dead. Long live the King!”

  1. Wajdi Gary says:
    18th June 2009 at 9:18 am

    I learned a lot from this lesson.. Thanks A Bundle!

  2. Linda k (Hollywood) says:
    19th June 2009 at 12:00 am

    Hi everyone
    ” The king is dead” Is the announcement of
    monarch who has just died.
    “Long live the king” refer to the heir who is
    immediately the successor to the to a throne upon
    the death of the preceding monarch.

    “The king is dead.Long live the king”
    (French:Le roi est mort,vive Roi)

    Best wish
    Linda k (Hollywood USA)

  3. Linda k (Hollywood) says:
    19th June 2009 at 12:09 am

    The king is dead is the announcement of monarch
    who has just died.
    Long live the king refer to the heir who is
    immediately the successor to a throne upon the
    death of the preceding monarch.

  4. fa says:
    27th June 2009 at 6:51 am

    ……… ‘When we do this everybody knows exactly (WHO or WHOM) we are talking about’

  5. Vespid says:
    9th July 2009 at 1:08 am

    Good day !
    And good lesson , the king is dead , Long live Vespid …. aha ha …
    every one have a nice day !
    (China )

  6. Jackie says:
    9th July 2009 at 5:46 am

    This is common mistakes, we are used to ignoring!!

    Good lesson

    The King is dead, Long live the King

  7. JUASHO says:
    20th July 2009 at 6:29 pm

    i didn’t understood anything

  8. Duy says:
    22nd July 2009 at 3:26 am

    Thanks Budle, it’s good lesson

    have a nice day, evry one

  9. BADRIA AL-MUTAIRI (kw) says:
    31st July 2009 at 6:01 pm

    Hi all,

    I only wants to Thank u for this lesson.

  10. yara says:
    3rd August 2009 at 2:20 pm

    This lesson is really benefited me a lot since my major is TEFL.

  11. Anushka says:
    18th August 2009 at 4:17 pm

    THis was a great lessons. The king is dead, after that long live King Edward was confusing.

    thanks for explaning

  12. Mohammad Rawoof says:
    10th September 2009 at 6:41 am

    the lesson was really helpful for improving writing skills, I would suggust including a paragraph, letter or a story as well to such lessons for readers to read so that it will be found more interusting.

    Thanks,

  13. Christian says:
    16th September 2009 at 2:39 pm

    Thank you
    that lesson is very useful

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  15. Cynthia Lee says:
    17th October 2009 at 9:57 am

    cynthia

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    26th October 2009 at 7:10 pm

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  17. Koteswara Rao says:
    15th November 2009 at 10:45 am

    Excellent.This is what I am searching for.Thank you.

  18. Long Nguyen Huu says:
    18th November 2009 at 3:05 am

    Pls help me to learn E!

  19. Keogh says:
    19th November 2009 at 12:50 pm

    Thanks a lot. The lesson was useful. Now I get it whwhwh.. Thanks Again ^^

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