Hi, Lynne. The word states would remain lower case if states is referred to in a general way, such as There are two senators for each state.. Consult your dictionary if your preferred style guide doesnt address this issue. However, I was recently advised by someone who I consider to be educated to capitalize "southern" in this context. Is south capitalized when referring to Southern states? In general, midwesterners are friendly and down to earth. If you are referring to a group of proper nouns such as the Southern States. However, if youre referring to a general location, such as the southern winds then southern should be lowercase. In all cases, though, you should: And if you need help, our expert proofreaders are ready! When Should You Capitalize Geographic Regions in the United States? In "the eastern portion of Colorado", however, "eastern" is written in small letters since it doesn't denote people or specific culture or practice. Others may argue that the word simply denotes the direction of the region the individual lives and must not have the capital letter. The storm is heading east. Usage guide. The word "southern" is not part of the official name of California or any city or county, so I never capitalize it. Which Teeth Are Normally Considered Anodontia? When these words are included in the place name, however, they must be capitalized. It was first put into effect for large businesses, but it was gradually adopted as a standardized format by everyone. When Should You Capitalize Geographic Regions in the United States? Which sentence is capitalized correctly on a cloudless night? Hi, Kelly. Example: "War-weary ministers in London asked themselves why they fought a costly war in the [north] when they had friends in the Carolinas and Georgia.". For example, Southern US is proper because it is a specific region. English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. By convention, however, southern is capitalized when it refers to the region of California: I live in Southern California. Should You Capitalize Western? (Western World, Culture - Grammarlookup You should capitalize the words East Coast when referring to a specific region, such as Im traveling to the East Coast, because East Coast is a proper noun in this case. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! . @SvenYargs This is a very useful answer; I'm processing it. The Content Authority is where you will find great content, written by amazing writers, around topics like grammar, writing, publishing, and marketing. Do I Capitalize Western Blot? - Advansta Inc. For example, NY for New York, use the US Postal Services symbol system. A diathermal wall between two thermodynamic systems in thermodynamics allows heat transfer but does not allow for the transfer of matter across it. AP Style states that when referring to the names of a nation, directions should . However, if instead you reference a general location, such as "the southern winds," then the word southern should be lowercase. When used to refer to direction and location, dont capitalize the names of directions like north, south, east, or west; however, when they appear in the names of places and regions, do capitalize these words. What is the rule for state abbreviations? For example, you would write "the Southern United States," but "the southern way of . rev2023.3.3.43278. Geographic Regions Used as Adjectives This format is the official USPS postal abbreviation. On a cloudless night, I studied Pisces, a constellation in the North sky. 2023 Caniry - All Rights Reserved How do I style geographic terms such as - MLA Style Center Capitalize common nouns such as party, river and street when they are part of a proper name. Once again, refer to your dictionary if your preferred style guide doesnt address this issue. For example, The hurricane move north towards the Gulf Coast. Names of racial and ethnic groups are treated as proper nouns, which means they are capitalized (e.g., African American, Asian American, Black, European American, First Nations, Hispanic, Native American, Latinx, White). In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs (even short ones, like is), all adjectives, and all proper nouns. Colorado is part of the Southwest. There's not enough context in your example to offer any solid advice (e.g., the "north" of where? What about capitalizing western or Westerner? Should Southeast be capitalized? - Wise-Answer Broadly speaking, a region is an area that's divided by: Geographic regions are usually depicted by their not-so-clearly defined, and at times transitory boundaries. However, I was recently advised by someone who I consider to be educated to capitalize "southern" in this context. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Capitalization Unless the word is part of a formal name, do not capitalize federal, state, department, division, board, program, section, unit, or other similar words. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. That means you should lowercase articles, Lowercase north, south, northeast, etc. When And When Not To. Should southern hemisphere be capitalized? Explained by Sharing Culture For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook. Rule 1. Should southern be capitalized? The English language has grammar and usage rules by the boatload. Here are the types of words that should be capitalized: Proper nouns. Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Report Content | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. 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 . If youre referring to the Western States, for example, youre referring to a group of proper nouns. Capitalization in APA, Chicago, MLA, and AP - ProofreadingPal Not capitalizing when referring to a general direction. Do you capitalize the S in Southern California? - TipsFolder.com Do you capitalize Pacific Northwest? My name is Erin. Why Do Cross Country Runners Have Skinny Legs? For example: The words are also not capitalized if they only indicate locations or the climate or geography of a region. Which Is More Stable Thiophene Or Pyridine. I work in marketing, and I'm wondering if lowercasing the words "off" and "under" in these headlines is correct: "50% off Body Wash" and "Gift Sets under $40.". 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. Capitalize regional terms when they refer to a commonly accepted proper name of an area. You should capitalize "North," "South," "East," and "West" when they're part of a proper noun (i.e., the name of a unique thing). "I" is always capitalized, along with all its . But the AP Stylebook says to always capitalize "Southern" when referring to "the South" in the United States, regardless of whether you're discussing the Civil War. Lowercase to when it functions in an infinitive. If you are merely referring to a direction, such as "go south on I-90," then you should keep south lowercase. When combining with another common noun to form the name for a region . Each morning, the sun rises in the east . Here are some rules to follow. Everyone on the bus tour enjoyed the Southern food in Tennessee. Do not capitalize these words when they merely indicate general location or refer to the geography or climate of the region. Should Southern colonies be capitalized? But when these terms are part of an actual place's name, capitalize them, as in "Western Australia", "Northern Ireland", etc. Should southern be capitalized? The word 'southern' shouldn't be capitalized in a sentence unless it is a proper noun. This confusion can also be attributed to the fact that certain region names have direction names in their official names, such as "the Middle East". hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(42679, '809ac5c4-ef90-4489-8311-03d2c90632ee', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Topics: Some common examples of when you should capitalize north include: down North. 6 Does the word federal need to be capitalized? (I have no authority for this opinion, other than my intuition as an English speaker. When to capitalize North East south west? The state postal codes were formalized into two character abbreviations in 1963. U.S. However, when these words are actually part of the place name, they must be capitalized. Is the s capitalized in southern hospitality? - Answers In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs (even short ones, like is), all adjectives, and all proper nouns. In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate compass direction. For instance, the term "ecoregion" is used commonly in environmental geography, "bioregion" in biogeography, etc. I am a technical writer and editor who shares writing-related software tutorials on this website and on YouTube. Explanation: Because Pisces is a verb. Dates. North, east, south, and west are the four cardinal directions, often marked by the initials N, E, S, and W. East and west are at right angles to north and south. The following examples illustrate not only the principles sketched in [an earlier section of CMOS] but also variations based on context and usage. As explained in the post, some people do capitalize terms like "the North" when they refer to a well-established geographical area. Is Southern California capitalized AP style? When common nouns like party, river, and street are included in a proper name, capitalize them. I live to the west of Detroit Michigan. For places names and proper names, the word "Southern" should be capitalized, but in other contexts, it is not. You wouldnt normally unless north and south are part of a proper noun (e.g., South Africa). As Sven Yargs' answer shows, there is a strong descriptivist argument involved. 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. 5 Free French-to-English Translation Services, Broad geographical regions (e.g., the North or the Far East), People from a specific region (e.g., Northerners, Southerners), Cultures or movements related to a region (e.g., Western philosophy). In contrast, The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style) recommends lowercasing specific U.S. geographic regions used as adjectives:3. So it would be best to check your style guide if you have one and to make sure whatever you choose is used consistently. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Direction-denoting terms such as north, south, east, west, etc. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. We also lowercase the terms when they refer to people: My friend is a southerner. (There is a lot of leniency on whether to capitalize "The." Few would argue that the region is called "The North" as . Have you ever visited the Western United States? Capital offenses - The Daily Californian Hi, Chris. To capitalize or not quoted text after be form, How to handle a hobby that makes income in US. CMOS looks at what a large relevant tranche of people do; this ultimately defines what is acceptable. Should states and territories be Capitalised? 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. These should not be capitalized unless they are the first or last word of the title. On a cloudless night, I studied Pisces, a constellation in the North sky. In some cases, like country and city names, this is clear. Hi, James. Keep reading to learn everything there is to regions and their capitalization, rules for related terms and phrases, what a region is, etc. The word god is generally not capitalized if it is used to refer to the generic idea of a deity, nor is it capitalized when it refers to multiple gods. Are Directions Capitalized? Easy Ways to Know When Topic Q&A List - The Chicago Manual of Style Online southern Atlanta; But capitalize compass points when part of a proper name. Home-buyers pay a 1.75% fee up . Note that it doesn't seem to be treated as a compound proper noun (e.g., searching for "Southeastern Albania" produces an error since Ngrams is case sensitive and there don't seem to be any instances of that capitalization in the Google Books database). Rule 2. When writing or proofreading manuscripts, names of regions and their capitalization rules could be tricky to discern or ascertain. More answers below capitalization, maps, writing tips. Be consistent (e.g., dont use south England in one part of a document and South England in another if youre referring to the same place). doesn't shout the need for "capitalization", it's safe to write it in lowercase. North, South, West, East Capitalizing Can Be a Beast - ProofreadNOW.com Chicago style is best for writers who want to adhere to traditional publishing standards and academic writers in non-scientific fields. In general, Midwesterners are friendly and down to earth. When words like northern, southern, eastern, or western precede a place name, they aren't usually capitalized because they only indicate a general location within a region. seems less related to the usual descriptivist process, more opinion-based. Why distinguishes money from other assets in the economy. For example, we capitalizenorth,south,east, andwest when the terms refer to regions or cultures: Customs in the East differ from those in the West. The following formal names of specific degrees should always be capitalized in AP style: As you can see, master's degrees are capitalized when abbreviated. But it would be unusual to do this for a less well-known location, such as south Coventry.. Here are a few sentences with the word "region" in them: If part of a title or headline, the word "region" can be capitalized to conform to title capitalization rules. The name of a theatrical play, but this is also a conventional geographical region that would be capitalized anyway. When it's an adjective ("bicentennial year"), I agree that no cap is needed . When Do You Capitalize Geographic Terms? - dummies When to Capitalize Directions - Writing Explained 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.

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