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 . The other concern I have is that southern is a geographical term, that I feel shouldn't be usurped in this way. Best Book Writing Software and Book Writing Apps, Cursive Text Generator , Buscador de palabras y descifrador de palabras. Racial and ethnic groups are designated by proper nouns and are capitalized. We also lowercase the terms when they refer to people: My friend is a southerner. proofreading, The FHA insures mortgages for buyers with low credit scores and down payments as low as 3.5%. What about capitalizing western or Westerner? when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. 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. So: North Carolina is north of South Carolina and east of West Virginia. Strength Vs. Strong: Differences, How To Tell Them Apart? in the southwestern part an eastward direction These words usually do get capitalized when they describe a region of the world or of a country, but there are some exceptions. It was first put into effect for large businesses, but it was gradually adopted as a standardized format by everyone. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions, and prepositionshowever, some style guides say to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions that are longer than five letters. 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. Use lowercase when referring to directions on a compass. As a result, noun will always be the first capital letter. Capitalizing southern and capitalizing south have the same rules. southern Atlanta; But capitalize compass points when part of a proper name. However, if youre referring to a specific region, such as the east coast of the United States, keep the words lowercase. For example: But when the terms are used to indicate a region, they are capitalized for example, the "West Coast". So it would be best to check your style guide if you have one and to make sure whatever you choose is used consistently. The United Kingdom, for instance, is a region that comprises four countries: Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. When proofreading or editing documents, we often find that writers are confused about when to capitalize these terms. Yes, Southern is capitalized because it refers to the South (= the southern US). Do Men Still Wear Button Holes At Weddings? What about capitalizing a Southerner or a Southerner? The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. To properly follow AP style guidelines, only use one space after a period, as opposed to the often used double-space. So, should you capitalize regions when writing? The state abbreviations are always the same: two letter abbreviations with uppercase letters and no periods or spaces between them. Despite that, knowing how to capitalize names of places, regions, geographical features, directions, etc. Do you capitalize state when referring to a state? 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. Capitalize these words when they designate regions. Do you capitalize Pacific Northwest? English Proofreading and Copyediting Prices, Spanish Proofreading and Copyediting Prices, northern New Jersey, western Massachusetts. It only loosely defines a region of California and its border is not officially defined either. 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 . Posted by Do you know "what is the Western Hemisphere?" For example, "western Massachusetts", "northern New Jersey". 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. 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". 1 The Midwest is the breadbasket of the United States. 4 Is Southern California capitalized AP style? Bulk update symbol size units from mm to map units in rule-based symbology. The same applies for related adjectives and other compass directions: We live in the eastern part of the country. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions, and prepositionshowever, some style guides say to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions that are longer than five letters. In terms of "human geography", the regions and their subregions are elucidated by the ethnography discipline. Should I capitalize "the north" and "the south" in my work on the southern campaign of the Revolutionary war? 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. Rule 2. South-Eastern Albania? For example, capitalizing "Southerner" in the sentence "As a Southerner, she had a distinct drawl" can be up for debate. The mines are located in the western part of the plateau. Everyone on the bus tour enjoyed the southern food in Tennessee. It might be amusing to look for instances of "southern Southern California" or "northern Southern California". But in other cases, it is more a matter of convention and habit. "The State Finance Department," for example, is a good example. is considered basic and should be known by people who claim to have a good command of the language. 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. Capitalize names of organizations, institutions, stores, businesses, teams, political parties, and government bodies. The Department decided on the current two-letter abbreviations in October 1963. However, there are a few exceptions you should learn about. Are you captivated by capitalization? As an Amazon Associate, CapitalizeMyTitle.com earns from qualifying purchases. Except for Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah, the name of a city and state should be abbreviated when they are used together. The Department provided an initial list of abbreviations in June 1963, but many had three or four letters, which was still too long. Proper nouns are names of particular individuals, places, or things, such as Josephina, Michigan, Oreo, and United Auto Workers. Why are trials on "Law & Order" in the New York Supreme Court? Most of the north is sandy, and the northern coast is mountainous. The correct answer is option C. In option A, the word Chemistry is only capitalized leaving the other proper noun in lower case. There is room for variation here: if you live in Coventry and youre writing for other Coventry residents, then perhaps writing South Coventry would make sense. On a cloudless night, I studied Pisces, a constellation in the North sky. For example, "Global is a proper noun." . Most style guides recommend capitalizing "West Coast" when referring to the western seaboard of the U.S. hi, should i capitalize 'west' in 'west Africa' or 'north' in north Africa'? Terms that denote regions of the world or of a particular country are often capitalized, as are a few of the adjectives and nouns derived from such terms. the Deep South. It's similar to why your name is always capitalized. A title like this would appear as: A Guide to English: Perfecting Grammar in an Academic Paper. Explanation: Because Pisces is a verb. 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. Lowercase to when it functions in an infinitive. Capitalizing "North," "South," "East," and "West" when they're part of a proper noun (i.e., the name of a specific geographical region or culture). the East, the North, the South, the West (of a country) northern, southern, eastern, western (parts of a country) down South. Meaning of Western world and alternative terms, Specifying geography with cardinal directions, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup, Meaning of " Western world" and alternative terms. For example, Silicon Valley isn't a proprietary name or legally defined area, but it receives initial caps anyway. The term "region" is a general noun, and it's usually not capitalized, as a result. U.S. Hi, Lynne. As a general thumb rule, if a particular direction (north, south, etc.) Is "Southern California" considered a proper noun? AP Style says it should be capitalized while the Chicago Style Manual says it should be lowercased. For example, Southern France is capitalized because it is a proper noun and . Words Which Should Not Be Capitalized in a Title. Otherwise, the word should be lowercased, as in "the god of war.". The same rule applies for specific regions when you add -ern onto the end of a direction. Should compass directions (i.e., north, south, east, and west) ever be capitalized? (Most uses will be uppercase.) The obvious examples of this are countries, states, cities, and other geographical areas: We study the history of Eastern Europe. As explained in the post, some people do capitalize terms like "the North" when they refer to a well-established geographical area. How to tell which packages are held back due to phased updates. In contrast, The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style) recommends lowercasing specific U.S. geographic regions used as adjectives:3. If you are referring to a group of proper nouns such as the Southern States. However, if instead you reference a general location, such as the southern winds, then the word southern should be lowercase. Capitalizing western and capitalizing west have the same rules. Proper nouns should always be capitalized. 3. ), but I'd suggest not capitalizing it unless you're certain it is necessary. Direction-denoting terms such as north, south, east, west, etc. I don't think there's an established norm for identifying regions of Albania in English (although you might get a different answer if you asked an Albanian, I suppose), but looking at Google Ngrams, "southeastern Albania" seems to be the most common option: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=southeast+Albania%2Csoutheastern+Albania%2Csouth-east+Albania%2Csouth-eastern+Albania&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Csoutheast%20Albania%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Csoutheastern%20Albania%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Csouth%20-%20east%20Albania%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Csouth%20-%20eastern%20Albania%3B%2Cc0 Usage guide. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. If it's a general noun such as a river, lake, ocean, etc., the region need not be capitalized. States should also be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. 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. ), Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Report Content | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. Otherwise, not. Regardless of what side of the debate table you are on, the different thoughts clearly illustrate how differing opinions could be on the matter, causing people to use capitalization rules the way they deem appropriate. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. 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. In the case of prime minister, either both words begin with a capital letter or neither, except, obviously, when it starts a sentence. But when the term is used in a formal name, it's capitalized, as in "the Hudson River". If a is used, go with prime minister.). The street is named Bolton Avenue. northern New Jersey, western Massachusetts Northern Ireland, Western Australia 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.. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Erin Wright with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(42679, '809ac5c4-ef90-4489-8311-03d2c90632ee', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Topics: Q. Hello! If you have a question about whether a specific word should be capitalized that doesn't fit under one of these rules, try checking a dictionary to see if the word is capitalized there. Copyright 2022 - TheContentAuthority.com, Reindeer Vs. Moose: Main Differences, How To Tell Them Apart. Is summer a good time? The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". You can even submit asample document for free to see how our services work. 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).1. Which sentence is capitalized correctly on a cloudless night? 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. I is always capitalized, along with all its contractions. Sallie Ward, a Southern belle. CMOS looks at what a large relevant tranche of people do; this ultimately defines what is acceptable. Do you capitalize north? However, the forms bachelor's degree, bachelor's, master's degree and master's are acceptable as general terms. @Devil07, the geographical adjective "southern" is not usurped -- it just means something different. Do you like West Asia? What does it mean that the Bible was divinely inspired? When these words are included in the place name, however, they must be capitalized. I am a technical writer and editor who shares writing-related software tutorials on this website and on YouTube. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? Theoretically Correct vs Practical Notation. To know what other words you should capitalize, try our free title capitalization tool. 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). When you're talking about America's West Coast or the Middle East, the directional word is also part of a proper name, and it gets a capital letter. Similar is the case with the following set of words: Here are a couple of sentences for further clarity on the matter: When terms such as "southern district" and "western region" are used as names for specific units within an organization, capitalize them. Do not capitalize these words when they merely indicate general location or refer to the geography or climate of the region. The word "southern" is not part of the official name of California or any city or county, so I never capitalize it. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic, as are those lacking any signs of reasonable research. Without capitalization, it could refer to anyone in the southern hemisphere, or perhaps southern England. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. If it's a name, it's a proper noun. As explained in the post, there is no need to capitalize these words when used generically (only when they're part of a proper noun). The name of a theatrical play, but this is also a conventional geographical region that would be capitalized anyway. Other assets have a wide range of liquidity. It was put into effect at first for big businesses, but was then gradually adopted by everyone as a standardized format. Do not capitalize them when they follow possessive pronouns such as her, his, my, our, your. What about capitalizing a Westerner or a Westerner? So, if a person is from South Africa, south would be capitalized since it's the proper name of the country. Do you capitalize the word state when referring to a state? Proper nouns include the specific names of people, places, and things. Western (and Northern) blots however, were not named after inventors but were given these names in honor of . More answers below 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. However, if, like Northern Ireland and North Korea, the direction is part of the proper name, it should be capitalized. It's the inconsistency or the abrupt switching between capitalized letters and lowercase letters is what that puts readers off. When common nouns like party, river, and street are included in a proper name, capitalize them. Capitalize regional terms when they refer to a commonly accepted proper name of an area. Chicago style is best for writers who want to adhere to traditional publishing standards and academic writers in non-scientific fields. But when these terms are part of an actual place's name, capitalize them, as in "Western Australia", "Northern Ireland", etc. . Only when it's very apparent or writing the direction names in small letters looks completely off, capitalize them. Hi, Kelly. However, be consistent and do not write: "Visitors to southern California climbed while visitors to northern California fell." Should south be capitalized? In most forms of writings, not capitalizing direction names when they could have been capitalized doesn't bother the readers much. The first letter of someone's first, middle, and last name is always capitalized, as in John William Smith . There's not enough context in your example to offer any solid advice (e.g., the "north" of where? These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. If youre referring to the Western States, for example, youre referring to a group of proper nouns. The capitalization of as depends upon its function. 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.