capitalization - When should titles like "captain" or "admiral" be capitalized?


Please excuse the contrived example below, but I am wondering if this example is properly capitalised? I'm assuming that capitals are used when addressing someone directly, but lower case is used elsewhere. Can someone give some rules on this?



The captain walked into the room.
"Hi, Captain," said the admiral.
"Hi, Sir," replied the captain.
"Call me Admiral."
"Hi Admiral."
The captain and admiral stepped forward.
"Prime Minister, this is Captain Jones," said Admiral Brown.
"Pleased to meet you," said the prime minister.




Answer



It looks right to me. The rules of capitalisation (based on the Chicago Manual of Style) are explained quite well on this page. One of the rules relevant to this question is as follows:


Rule 3



Capitalize a person's title when it precedes the name. Do not capitalize when the title is acting as a description following the name.



Examples:



Chairperson Petrov


Ms. Petrov, the chairperson of the company, will address us at noon.



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