capitalization - Should "Project Manager" be capitalized?


I am pretty sure it shouldn't, but want to make sure that I am doing this correctly in a proposal that I am working on.


Should job titles like "Project Manager" ever be capitalized, and if so when?


In particular I am concerned about capitalization in sentences like this where the title refers to a specific person, not the role in general.



"The Project Manager will evaluate the alternatives and offer a solution."



I'm a lot more certain that it should NOT be capitalized in sentences like this.



"A project manager is the person who manages the budget and deliverable for a project."




Answer



Agreed on both counts regarding the examples in the OP. That is, job titles should be capitalized when they are taking the place of a single person (or otherwise acting as a name of an entity). However, there is no need to capitalize in other cases, and it would be strange if capitalized in the second example, unless it were in a company operations manual, for example.


A similar example is when you capitalize "dad" in the sentence:



I'm going fishing with Dad tomorrow.



However you don't capitalize it in the following version:



I'm going fishing with my dad tomorrow.



The former replaces a name, where the latter simply states the relationship of the person.


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