West is directly opposite east. Thus people who live in southern California may prefer to write Southern California. If you are merely referring to a . Everyone on the bus tour enjoyed the southern food in Tennessee. Guidance to capitalize proper nouns in APA Style. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Lowercase north, south, northeast, etc. It's a site that collects all the most frequently asked questions and answers, so you don't have to spend hours on searching anywhere else. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this websites owner is strictly prohibited. Capitalize the first word of a document and the first word after a period. There may be disagreement about where the border of Southern California begins, just as there was and is about the border of the Wild West, but the fact that the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Orange County, and San Diego are all located in Southern California is beyond debate. Am I a midwesterner or a Midwesterner? Are you captivated by capitalization? When words like northern, southern, eastern, and western precede a place name, they are not ordinarily capitalized, because they merely indicate general location within a region. the Deep South. O needs to be capitalized since it is at the beginning of the sentence, I needs to be capital, Pisces is a specific constellation so it is a proper noun, and likewise North is proper noun. Using Kolmogorov complexity to measure difficulty of problems? For example, we capitalize north, south, east, and west when the terms refer to regions or cultures: Customs in the East differ from those in the West. When writing or proofreading manuscripts, names of regions and their capitalization rules could be tricky to discern or ascertain. Words Which Should Not Be Capitalized in a Title. States should also be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. For example, "western Massachusetts", "northern New Jersey". Should north East south West be capitalized? Instead of using the frequently used double-space, only use one space after a period to properly follow AP style guidelines. Use the US Postal Services symbol system, which is a two-letter abbreviation that consists of a two-letter abbreviation in which both letters are capitalized and no periods are used when giving an address or in tables or other uses where space is limited. Some common examples of when you should capitalize north include: down North. If youre referring to the Western States, for example, youre referring to a group of proper nouns. So, should you capitalize regions when writing? Capitalizing southern and capitalizing south have the same rules. When we write the days of the week, we always use a capital letter. When used as part of a short-form political affiliation, states should also be abbreviated. This is known as 'title case'. By prevailing usage, roughly the most southerly one-third or two-fifths of California is referred to as Southern California, in initial caps. If these geographic areas are part of a name, however, such as "River Thames", capitalize the term. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); You can also upload a document to get an instant quote. Despite that, knowing how to capitalize names of places, regions, geographical features, directions, etc. Some common examples of when you should capitalize south include: down South the Deep South You should always capitalize Southerner since it refers to a group of people who are proper nouns. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. In 1963, the state postal codes were formalized into two character abbreviations. If youre referring to a collection of proper nouns, such as the Southern States, this is the case. MLA style followsThe Chicago Manual of Style (8.47) for geographic terms. But southerner and northerner are capitalized when they refer to people on either side of the civil war in the United States: Knowing whether to capitalize directional adjectives can be challenging. But because it has defined boundaries and administration, it's a "region". Prepositions, such as at, around, by, after, along, for, from, of, on, to, with & without. Our primary dictionaries, Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary, Websters New World College Dictionary, and The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language all capitalize U.S. geographic regions when used as adjectives or indicate that these adjectives are typically capitalized.4, Like adjectives, the decision to capitalize or lowercase geographic populations in the United States will depend on your style guide. It does not store any personal data. Proper nouns should always be capitalized. When did they standardize state abbreviations? Southern, according to a co-author, should not be capitalized because it is an adjective rather than a noun. Please note that my close-vote reason was 'lack of reasonable signs of research'; I believe that there are differences between the 'northern Europe' example and this one. After all, it was named after its inventor, Edwin Southern, and therefore the use of the capital is justified. Names of regions should be capitalized if those are proper nouns or denote a country, city, continent, etc. However, if instead you reference a general location, such as "the southern winds," then the word southern should be lowercase. Otherwise, not. The mines are located in the western part of the plateau. Capitalize these words when they designate regions. North, South, East and West as Proper Nouns You should capitalize North, South, East, and West when theyre part of a proper noun (i.e., the name of a unique thing). However, there are a few exceptions you should learn about. , Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence. However, it is accepted that these are capitalized when discussing the American Civil War, for example, and, as mentioned in this article in the final Summary section, some style guides prefer north and south to always be capitalized when referring generally to these areas of the United States. Does the word federal need to be capitalized? (Cap or no cap on east and west). Lowercase with names of nations (southern France) unless they indicate a political division (South Korea). seems less related to the usual descriptivist process, more opinion-based. Clearly, LA, OC, and SD are part of Southern California, but there are a lot of other places that are located in southern California that are not located in Southern California, such as Palm Springs, Salton Sea, Joshua Tree, Blythe, etc. Capitalize the pronoun. In all cases, though, you should: Check your style guide (if applicable) for advice on specific terms. The concept of a "region" is significant and used widely among the several geography branches, each of which could describe the areas or zones in region-based terms. However, some people also suggest capitalizing the names of: The uniting theme here is the idea of naming a well-known or well-defined region. The word white is not usually capitalized in this situation; men would never be. For example, Silicon Valley isn't a proprietary name or legally defined area, but it receives initial caps anyway. As a compass direction, south and southern are not capitalized: Capitalize each term when it is used as a proper name or as part of a proper name, and if the region . My friend is a southerner. The direction word makes it a proper noun. However, as in the case of plant names, animal names are not capitalized ("I spotted a red-tailed hawk," not "I spotted a Red-Tailed Hawk"), except when an element of the name is a proper noun, as in "Steller . We lowercase the terms when they refer to directions: The United States is located north of Mexico. However, the forms bachelor's degree, bachelor's, master's degree and master's are acceptable as general terms. Todays post explains when to capitalize geographic regions in the United States. Whether it's an "official" name or not and how well the thing is defined have no bearing whatsoever. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the days of the week. In a June 11 statement, the National Association of Black Journalists issued a recommendation "that whenever a color is used to appropriately describe race then it should be capitalized . When these words are included in the place name, however, they must be capitalized. Other assets have a wide range of liquidity. Use lower case for generic or plural references. When these words are included in the place name, however, they must be capitalized. Capitalize such words as Northerner, Southerner, and Midwesterner. Most style guides say that compass points and the terms derived from them are lowercased if they just mean direction or location. The AP Stylebook, which is the guiding stylebook for a number of news organizations, including The Daily Tar Heel, advises against using the Oxford comma in most basic series. The Content Authority is where you will find great content, written by amazing writers, around topics like grammar, writing, publishing, and marketing. "southern California" is not the same as "Southern California". Examples: southern France, northern Canada. Do you like West Asia? Southern United States, for example, is appropriate because it is located in a specific region. You should read both Western and Eastern philosophy. For example: When words such as "northern", "southern", "western", and "eastern" precede a region or place's name, do not capitalize them as they are only indicating a general location in a region. The West Coast has beautiful scenery. Bulk update symbol size units from mm to map units in rule-based symbology. Thus, here are 10 capitalization rules you should know for a well written write-up: Capitalize the first word of every sentence. When does a locational distinction change its suffix and capitialization in a proper name? Southern belle (from French belle 'beautiful') is a colloquialism for a debutante in the planter class of the Antebellum South. Copyright 2022 - TheContentAuthority.com, Reindeer Vs. Moose: Main Differences, How To Tell Them Apart. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. Others may argue that the word simply denotes the direction of the region the individual lives and must not have the capital letter. Capitalize such words as northern, southern, eastern, and western when they refer to the people in a region or to their political, social, or cultural activities. The basic guidelines for using capital letters in English appear simple enough: Capitalize the first word in a sentence. When proofreading or editing documents, we often find that writers are confused about when to capitalize these terms. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. If a is used, go with prime minister.). If it's a general noun such as a river, lake, ocean, etc., the region need not be capitalized. (I have no authority for this opinion, other than my intuition as an English speaker. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. So: North Carolina is north of South Carolina and east of West Virginia. Dont capitalize the word when it precedes the states name unless its included in a states title. When referring to a specific region, you should capitalize the words East Coast such as Im traveling to the East Coast since East Coast is a proper noun in this case. Capitalize a persons title when it precedes the name. Capitalize the traditional geographic regions in the United States: the Midwest, the North, the South, the West, and the combined regions (i.e., the Northeast, the Southeast, and the Southwest). The state abbreviations are always in the same format: two letter abbreviations where both letters are uppercase and no periods or spaces between each letter. Each morning, the sun rises in the east . But it would be unusual to do this for a less well-known location, such as south Coventry.. Sallie Ward, a Southern belle. In most forms of writings, not capitalizing direction names when they could have been capitalized doesn't bother the readers much. Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: AP style, capitalization, Chicago style, dictionaries. A title like this would appear as: A Guide to English: Perfecting Grammar in an Academic Paper. For example, The hurricane move north towards the Gulf Coast. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic, as are those lacking any signs of reasonable research. However, they should be capitalized only in such contexts; names of compass points in sentences such as "I drove southeast for several hours" or "Have you been to any of the southwestern states?" are not capitalized. Did the Allman Brothers Band play southern rock or Southern rock? Which Teeth Are Normally Considered Anodontia? Do you capitalize Southern in southern United States? It is also a great option for general business writing. Hi, Mary. In general, Midwesterners are friendly and down to earth. In some cases, like country and city names, this is clear. The seasons arent proper nouns, so theyre not usually capitalized. Here are a few more examples: When the directional terms are not proper names and are affixed to proper nouns simply to denote direction, they are written in lowercase for example, "southern France", "northern New York", etc. Do you capitalize Pacific Northwest? Thor and Norway are capitalized because they are proper nouns. You should only capitalize directions, such as south, when you are referring to it as the proper noun, such as "in the South." If you are merely referring to a direction, such as "go south on I-90," then you should keep south lowercase.