For example, capitalizing "Southerner" in the sentence "As a Southerner, she had a distinct drawl" can be up for debate. English Proofreading and Copyediting Prices, Spanish Proofreading and Copyediting Prices, northern New Jersey, western Massachusetts. (1) often capitalized: of or relating to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin (black Americans) (2) : of or relating to the African-American people or their culture (black literature) (a black college) (black pride) (black studies) From Merriam-Webster Dictionary Part of the definition for white If you are referring to a group of proper nouns such as the Western States. However, if youre referring to a general location, such as the western winds then western should be lowercase. Capitalize the first word of every sentence. Should I capitalize "the north" and "the south" in my work on the southern campaign of the Revolutionary war? However, if you are referring to a general region, such as the east coast of the United States then you should keep the words lowercase. The rules are fairly standard for title case: Capitalize the first and the last word. 2 Do you capitalize state when referring to a state? Capitalization Do not capitalize federal, state, department, division, board, program, section, unit, etc., unless the word is part of a formal name. I assume CMOS have done reasonable research before arguing against a rigid insistence on 'the principles sketched in [an earlier section of CMOS]' and have thought carefully before arguing against ignoring authors' strong preferences. Does Counterspell prevent from any further spells being cast on a given turn? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. However, a co-author argues that southern should not be capitalized, because it is an adjective, not a noun. However, if instead you reference a general location, such as "the southern winds," then the word southern should be lowercase. 'I have no authority for this opinion, other than my intuition as an English speaker.' States should also be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. Not capitalizing when referring to a general direction. What does it mean that the Bible was divinely inspired? Hi, Victoria. The periods are omitted in headlines. For example: The words are also not capitalized if they only indicate locations or the climate or geography of a region. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Circling back to the "title" rule, if the headline is in sentence case and the word "region" is not the starting word of the title, "region" should be written in lowercase. The street is named Bolton Avenue. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook. Here are the types of words that should be capitalized: Proper nouns. But when these terms are part of an actual place's name, capitalize them, as in "Western Australia", "Northern Ireland", etc. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. ), Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(42679, '809ac5c4-ef90-4489-8311-03d2c90632ee', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Topics: How to Export PDF Tables from Adobe Acrobat to Excel (PC & Mac), How to Insert Images into Shapes in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac), How to Align the Periods in Numbered Lists in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac), How to Password Protect Files in Microsoft Word, How to Password Protect PDFs in Adobe Acrobat (PC & Mac). The geographical areas "The North," "The East," "The South," and "The West" are treated like proper nouns. To Capitalize or not to Capitalize Independence? PepsiCo, based in Purchase, New York, owns Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC, all of which have 29,000 locations, Money differs from other economic assets in that it is the most liquid asset available. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Certain public figures get capitalized, but others dont. down South. Are you supposed to capitalize north south east and west? Words such as one, it, its, its, him, and own should all be capitalized no matter where they appear in a title. 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. The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style) suggests capitalizing terms like Midwesterner, Northerner, Southerner, and Westerner:5. Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Most style guides say that compass points and the terms derived from them are lowercased if they just mean direction or location. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as play with), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. South-Eastern Albania? Sallie Ward, a Southern belle. 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. However, capitalization may depend on the style guide you're using. The FHA insures mortgages for buyers with low credit scores and down payments as low as 3.5%. Hope all that helps! It only takes a minute to sign up. 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.. Names of regions should be capitalized if those are proper nouns or denote a country, city, continent, etc. At the most basic level, the standard advice is to lowercase north, south, east and west when used as compass directions and to capitalize them when they are used as part of a proper noun or adjective or refer to regions or geographic areas. What about capitalizing western or Westerner? These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate compass direction. If as is used as a preposition, it is lowercase; if as is used as an adverb, conjunction or pronoun, it is uppercase. You should always capitalize Westerner since it refers to a group of people who are proper nouns. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); You can also upload a document to get an instant quote. 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 . Is north capitalized there? Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions (regardless of length). The correct sentence is Carlotta and I love Halloween. The main style guides all agree on this, although . 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? The obvious examples of this are countries, states, cities, and other geographical areas: We study the history of Eastern Europe. And "north" in that sentence refers to a direction (i.e., where you turned), not the place (i.e., Bolton Avenue). However, it is only compulsory to do so when "North" is part of a proper noun. Capitalizing western and capitalizing west have the same rules. This is the sentence that is capitalized correctly. She moved from the East Coast to the West Coast. For example, "western Massachusetts", "northern New Jersey". 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. On a cloudless night, I studied Pisces, a constellation in the North sky. Keep reading to learn everything there is to regions and their capitalization, rules for related terms and phrases, what a region is, etc. Names of gods are capitalized, including Allah, Vishnu, and God. I studied Pisces, a constellation of the North sky, on a cloudless night. When used as part of a short-form political affiliation, states should also be abbreviated. Do not drive, Five Below Job Opportunities Earning consideration for Five Below jobs begins with meeting the companys minimum employment age, which is 16 years old. NOTE: Within certain regions it is not uncommon for many who live there to capitalize the adjective because of the special importance they attach to the regional designation. Duck Vs. Loon: How Are These Words Connected? When the word "state" comes after a state's name, it should be capitalized. In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs (even short ones, like is), all adjectives, and all proper nouns. When referring to regions, capitalize these words. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this websites owner is strictly prohibited. Should southern be capitalized? Human settlements and their impact on the physical geography, and, The communication between the environment and humanity, The precipitation is the maximum in the interior, Cattle-breeding techniques or practices could vary across, Urundi and Ruanda are fertile, healthy, high-lying, and thickly populated, This text isn't a law but an abstract of the several special usages obtained in those, She passed the Lake Amadeus and the Reynolds range in that direction but had to turn, Many scholars are now studying the global. In most forms of writings, not capitalizing direction names when they could have been capitalized doesn't bother the readers much. For example, NY for New York, use the US Postal Services symbol system. But it would be unusual to do this for a less well-known location, such as south Coventry.. Do not capitalize them when they follow possessive pronouns such as her, his, my, our, your. As Sven Yargs' answer shows, there is a strong descriptivist argument involved. 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. Youd also capitalize the first word and (according to most guides) the last word of a title, regardless of what part of speech they are. September 18, 2013, at 9:56 pm. What is the rule for state abbreviations? Why distinguishes money from other assets in the economy. The United Kingdom, for instance, is a region that comprises four countries: Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. More answers below 3. How should "Northern Europe" be capitalized? However, when these words are actually part of the place name, they must be capitalized. However, the Associated Press Stylebook does not recommend capitals in that case. "The South" is capitalized because it designates a definite region, e.g., "I was born and raised in the South." More answers below With names of states The same rule applies as with names of nations. 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. 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 such words as Northerner, Southerner, and Midwesterner. Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: AP style, capitalization, Chicago style, dictionaries. southern Atlanta; But capitalize compass points when part of a proper name. A recognized geographical region. Though a direction is a general noun, it could at times be not that straightforward to ascertain whether it's a common noun or a proper noun. Capitalize north, south, east, west, and derivative words when they designate definite regions or are an integral part of a proper name. What about capitalizing a Westerner or a Westerner? But southerner and northerner are capitalized when they refer to people on either side of the civil war in the United States: We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Currently, Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary capitalizes Midwesterner, Northerner, Southerner, and Westerner, while Websters New World College Dictionary and The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language only capitalize Midwesterner and allow northerner, southerner, and westerner to be capitalized or lowercased.7. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions, and prepositionshowever, some style guides say to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions that are longer than five letters. I often have to write north, west in reference to an entrance or exit, for example, the patron exited through the north turnstile. The name of a theatrical play, but this is also a conventional geographical region that would be capitalized anyway. Do you capitalize the word state when referring to a state? The obvious examples of this are countries, states, cities, and other geographical areas: We study the history of Eastern Europe. Colorado is part of the Southwest. In October 1963, the Department settled on the current two-letter abbreviations. Do you capitalize the word state when referring to a state? The Starved Rock Lodge offers world-famous Midwestern hospitality in a scenic environment. 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. Time arrow with "current position" evolving with overlay number. The pronoun "I" Capitalize proper nouns and most adjectives formed from proper nouns. Should north southeast and West be capitalized? Bulk update symbol size units from mm to map units in rule-based symbology. Is Colorado in the west or the West? Erin Wright, 20122023. Lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, and other lowercase letters are used when indicating compass direction. @SvenYargs This is a very useful answer; I'm processing it. Does the word federal need to be capitalized? But things become tricky once we get down to the details. Which sentence is capitalized correctly on a cloudless night? And Wisconsin is known as the Badger State (not "the badger state") even though its official name is Wisconsin. 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. As a result, noun will always be the first capital letter. Generally, you do not need to capitalize the names of the seasons. The water and land global areas are further divided into subregions bounded by huge geographical features influencing large-scale ecologies. [Relevant examples:] the South, southern, a southerner (of a country); the South, Southern, a Southerner (in American Civil War contexts); the Deep South; Southern California; the South of France (region); Southeast Asia; South Africa; South African (referring to the Republic of South Africa); southern Africa (referring to the southern part of the continent); south; southern; southward; to the south (directions). Lowercase with names of nations (southern France) unless they indicate a political division (South Korea). Copyright 2022 - TheContentAuthority.com, Reindeer Vs. Moose: Main Differences, How To Tell Them Apart. For example, The hurricane move north towards the Gulf Coast. If it's a general noun such as a river, lake, ocean, etc., the region need not be capitalized. By convention, however, southern is capitalized when it refers to the region of California: I live in Southern California. As an aside, when we toured through the San Francisco Peninsula earlier this year, our guide told us that the natives generally didn't like the name 'Silicon Valley'. 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. When referring to Greek, Roman, and other groups of gods and goddesses, only the name is capitalized. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. However, when the terms southerner and northerner refer to people on either side of the United States civil war, the civil war was fought between Southerners and Northerners. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic, as are those lacking any signs of reasonable research. Hi, Lynne. Do You Capitalize the Word "Queen" in a Sentence? AP Style holds to the general rule of lowercasing compass directions and capitalizing regions. Strength Vs. Strong: Differences, How To Tell Them Apart? 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. 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). For example, The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style) recommends capitalization:2. @EdwinAshworth I didn't notice any argument in his answer at all. Of course, they should be capitalized at the start of sentences and in titles, as they are with other nouns. The question as to whether something should be considered a name or not is one of style, and as such you should adhere to the discipline of your editor, publication, or organization, or in the absence of a house style, you should adopt a suitable. If youre referring to a collection of proper nouns, such as the Southern States, this is the case. Likewise, the rules for sentences apply: capitalize the common name at the . When these words are included in the place name, however, they must be capitalized. 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. If states is being referred to in a general manner, such as There are two senators for each state, then the word states would remain lower case. Here Chemistry and Spanish are the proper nouns. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. To capitalize or not quoted text after be form, How to handle a hobby that makes income in US. Here are directions capitalized in sentences: Words such as "southerner" and "northerner" are usually not capitalized if they denote people. Proper nouns include the specific names of people, places, and things. Use a hyphen to show a range of dates and do not repeat 20 (2012-13, not 2012-2013). CMOS looks at what a large relevant tranche of people do; this ultimately defines what is acceptable. When to capitalize North East south 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. So, if a person is from South Africa, south would be capitalized since it's the proper name of the country. When proofreading or editing documents, we often find that writers are confused about when to capitalize these terms. Capitalize regional terms when they refer to a commonly accepted proper name of an area. 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. Best Book Writing Software and Book Writing Apps, Cursive Text Generator , Buscador de palabras y descifrador de palabras. But the AP Stylebook says to always capitalize Southern when referring to the South in the United States, regardless of whether youre discussing the Civil War. 1. That's when even the most exhaustive style . The word white is not usually capitalized in this situation; men would never be. When And When Not To. This seems a difficult case; as this discussion at. Posted by The official USPS postal abbreviation is this format. ), but I'd suggest not capitalizing it unless you're certain it is necessary. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Shawn Manaher is the founder and CEO of The Content Authority. Whether youre writing an essay, email, or cover letter, youll likely use parentheses. It was first put into effect for large businesses, but it was gradually adopted as a standardized format by everyone. When did they standardize state abbreviations? By prevailing usage, roughly the most southerly one-third or two-fifths of California is referred to as Southern California, in initial caps. Title Case Capitalization (APA 7th) Sentence Case Capitalization (APA 7th) Explanation: Because, Pisces is a noun. Short story taking place on a toroidal planet or moon involving flying, Doubling the cube, field extensions and minimal polynoms. I tried to describe the difference in my answer below. You should only capitalize directions, such as north, south, east, and west, when you are referring to the direction as a proper noun, such as in the South or up North. If you are merely referring to a direction, such as go south on I-90, then you should keep the direction lowercase. "southern California" is not the same as "Southern California". Theoretically Correct vs Practical Notation. Are both letters capitalized in state abbreviations? In domains such as ecology, physical geography, environmental geography, and zoogeography, regions are typically based on ecosystems, biomes, natural regions, drainage basins, soil types, mountain ranges, and other natural features. Capitalize words that are part of the formal name, but lowercase in less formal uses: he crossed the Hudson River; but: he fell into the river. 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). (Cap or no cap on east and west). Filed Under: Do you capitalize north? Everyone on the bus tour enjoyed the southern food in Tennessee. When does a locational distinction change its suffix and capitialization in a proper name? 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. When using a U.S. geographic region as an adjective, the decision to capitalize or lowercase will depend on your style guide. In what contexts would I capitalize "city" and "county"? You should capitalize "North," "South," "East," and "West" when they're part of a proper noun (i.e., the name of a unique thing). However, when giving an address, or in tables or other uses in which space is limited, use the US Postal Services symbol system, which consists of a two-letter abbreviation in which both letters are always capitalized and no periods are used (for example, NY for New York). When in doubt, lowercase. I live to the west of Detroit Michigan. These should not be capitalized unless they are the first or last word of the title. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. To know what other words you should capitalize, try our free title capitalization tool. Despite that, knowing how to capitalize names of places, regions, geographical features, directions, etc. In contrast, The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style) recommends lowercasing specific U.S. geographic regions used as adjectives:3. Dont capitalize names of directions like north, south, east, and west when used to refer to direction and location, but do capitalize these words when they appear in the names of places and regions. Instead, I have compiled a partial list of things people shouldn't capitalize but commonly do anyway. Hi, Mary. So capitalize The Pacific Northwest and Central Texas, but not We drove west for two hours., The States that make up The South are usually considered to be: Virginia Tennessee Arkansas Louisiana North Carolina South Carolina Mississippi Alabama Georgia Florida Texas. 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