The FHA insures mortgages for buyers with low credit scores and down payments as low as 3.5%. That's when even the most exhaustive style . When to Capitalize Directional Words - Ellii Blog So: North Carolina is north of South Carolina and east of West Virginia. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". When Should You Capitalize Geographic Regions in the United States? "I" is always capitalized, along with all its . 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. Is summer a good time? Lowercase north, south, northeast, etc. As an Amazon Associate, CapitalizeMyTitle.com earns from qualifying purchases. The geographical areas "The North," "The East," "The South," and "The West" are treated like proper nouns. The term "region" is a general noun, and it's usually not capitalized, as a result. It only loosely defines a region of California and its border is not officially defined either. Q. Debating with an editor over capitalization of the word bicentennial. When combining with another common noun to form the name for a region . When to Capitalize North, South, East and West - Proofed The pastor prayed that God should deliver us from our sins. Do you capitalize the word state when referring to a state? 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 is widely known: The Civil War pitted the South against the North. Check your style guide (if applicable) for advice on specific terms. South Pacific. The correct answer is option C. In option A, the word Chemistry is only capitalized leaving the other proper noun in lower case. Surely not one word Southeast? Otherwise, not. 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. 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. Keep reading to learn everything there is to regions and their capitalization, rules for related terms and phrases, what a region is, etc. South-Eastern Albania? If it's a name, it's a proper noun. Characteristics. Should colonies be Capitalised? - TimesMojo [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). The same rule applies for specific regions when you add -ern onto the end of a direction. It only takes a minute to sign up. The pronoun "I" The word "southern" is not part of the official name of California or any city or county, so I never capitalize it. 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 did states go to 2 letter abbreviations? Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic, as are those lacking any signs of reasonable research. Before capitalizing words like east, west, north, and south, check whether you are using them as part of a proper noun or merely to refer to direction or location.Don't capitalize directions (we sailed due east) and locations (western India), but do capitalize compass points when they occur in proper nouns (North Korea, South Sudan, East Dunbartonshire, the Great Western Plains). Thus people who live in southern California may prefer to write Southern California. The water and land global areas are further divided into subregions bounded by huge geographical features influencing large-scale ecologies. The West Coast has beautiful scenery. What states in the US are consider southern states? Explanation: Because, Pisces is a noun. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The obvious examples of this are countries, states, cities, and other geographical areas: We study the history of Eastern Europe. When the word "state" comes after a state's name, it should be capitalized. 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. 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 races, should 'black' and 'white' be capitalized? (MLA) As explained in the post, some people do capitalize terms like "the North" when they refer to a well-established geographical area. When to Capitalize People's Titles - The Blue Book Of Grammar And 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. Seasons. Southern, on the other hand, is capitalized by convention when it refers to California: I live in Southern California. Pronouns that refer to any god or gods should be lowercased. References to God (s) The word "god" should be capitalized if it is being used as a proper name of a monotheistic god, as in God in Christianity and Judaism. 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. To put it another way, capitalize words like Mother, Father, Grandmother, Grandfather, Son, Daughter, and Sis in place of the persons name. It only loosely defines a region of California and its border is not officially defined either. 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.". These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Use lower case for generic or plural references. "The State Finance Department," for example, is a good example. Chicago style is best for writers who want to adhere to traditional publishing standards and academic writers in non-scientific fields. When in doubt, lowercase. However, when these words are actually part of the place name, they must be capitalized. Capitalize a persons title when it precedes the name. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. 10 Do I capitalize southern as in the US region? What is thought to influence the overproduction and pruning of synapses in the brain quizlet? ANS: Demand, Copyright 2023 TipsFolder.com | Powered by Astra WordPress Theme. However, the forms bachelor's degree, bachelor's, master's degree and master's are acceptable as general terms. And "north" in that sentence refers to a direction (i.e., where you turned), not the place (i.e., Bolton Avenue). Should northern be capitalized - 650.org Capitalize these words when they designate regions. 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). You should capitalize North, South, East, and West when theyre part of a proper noun (i.e., the name of a unique thing). 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. However, there are a few exceptions you should learn about. 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. Otherwise, the word should be lowercased, as in "the god of war.". Capitalize proper nouns in APA Style. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. When youre talking about Americas West Coast or the Middle East, the directional word is also part of a proper name, and it gets a capital letter. However, when these words are actually part of the place name, they must be capitalized. Is South capitalized when talking about the Civil War? However, to, not a dash, should be used when from introduces a range of dates (from 2012 to 2013, not from 2012-13). By attaching itself to a common object, the language or country name takes on a new meaning. So, option 2 is correct. Do you capitalize north? 5 Should states and territories be Capitalised? MLA style followsThe Chicago Manual of Style (8.47) for geographic terms. Do not capitalize them when they follow possessive pronouns such as her, his, my, our, your. 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. Is north capitalized there? Biden administration should avoid subsidies for risky mortgages 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. So the upshot of my answer is that you didn't miss the memo (or perhaps I should say The Memo) on this issue, but at the same time you didn't notice a larger phenomenon in accordance with which initial-capping Southern California is by no means a unique, inexplicable, or indefensible treatment of a regional name. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. 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. When these words are included in the place name, however, they must be capitalized. But things become tricky once we get down to the details. States and territories Use initial capitals for words in the formal name. The sentence which is capitalized correctly is My easiest classes are Chemistry and Spanish. Hi, Michael. Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. (Most uses will be uppercase.) When possessive pronouns like her, his, my, our, and your are used, do not capitalize them. It was put into effect at first for big businesses, but was then gradually adopted by everyone as a standardized format. Capitalization in APA, Chicago, MLA, and AP - ProofreadingPal The first instance of when "global" should be capitalized is when used as the first word in a sentence. I studied Pisces, a constellation of the North sky, on a cloudless night. Erin Wright, 20122023. 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. 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. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. North, South, West, East Capitalizing Can Be a Beast - ProofreadNOW.com Some authorities also capitalize titles if they immediately follow the name without the word "the.". Use a hyphen to show a range of dates and do not repeat 20 (2012-13, not 2012-2013). 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 Do You Capitalize Geographic Terms? - dummies They live in the western part of the country. The seasons arent proper nouns, so theyre not usually capitalized. CMOS recognizes that common usage and context determine conventional approaches to capitalization in connection with the treatment of certain terms related to regions. Should 'southern' be capitalized in a sentence such as 'These - Quora Is South Capitalized? - Capitalize My Title 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. One exception to this rule: common objects with a country or nationality as part of the name ( french fries, scotch whiskey, venetian blinds, and so forth). The administration's solution: Ease credit for riskier borrowers. Do You Capitalize North, South, East and West? CMOS looks at what a large relevant tranche of people do; this ultimately defines what is acceptable. Names of regions should be capitalized if those are proper nouns or denote a country, city, continent, etc. West is directly opposite east. Here is part of that discussion: 8.46 Regions of the world and national regions. Capitalization Rules-A Quick Guide | Grammarly However, the Associated Press Stylebook does not recommend capitals in that case. Should I capitalize "the north" and "the south" in my work on the southern campaign of the Revolutionary war? What about capitalizing a Westerner or a Westerner? This format is the official USPS postal abbreviation. the Deep South. If youre referring to the Western States, for example, youre referring to a group of proper nouns. (I have no authority for this opinion, other than my intuition as an English speaker. I am a technical writer and editor who shares writing-related software tutorials on this website and on YouTube. 1. But when the term is used in a formal name, it's capitalized, as in "the Hudson River". Hi, Victoria. By convention, however, southern is capitalized when it refers to the region of California: We also lowercase the terms when they refer to people: Butsouthernerandnorthernerarecapitalized when they refer to people on either side of the civil war in the United States: The civil war was fought between Southerners and Northerners. Why are trials on "Law & Order" in the New York Supreme Court? are not capitalized when they merely denote compass direction. You don't even want to know what he calls pancakes. They are written with capital letters. Should north southeast and West be capitalized? The rules are fairly standard for title case: Capitalize the first and the last word. Do not capitalize these words when they merely indicate direction or general location. APA Style 6th Edition Blog: Do I Capitalize This Word? Words such as one, it, its, its, him, and own should all be capitalized no matter where they appear in a title. MLA style follows The Chicago Manual of Style (8.47) for geographic terms. The days of the week are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The state abbreviations are always the same: two letter abbreviations with uppercase letters and no periods or spaces between them. However, if, like Northern Ireland and North Korea, the direction is part of the proper name, it should be capitalized. 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. ), Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Rules for Capitalizing Academic Degrees in AP Style Others may argue that the word simply denotes the direction of the region the individual lives and must not have the capital letter. There's not enough context in your example to offer any solid advice (e.g., the "north" of where? Whether it's an "official" name or not and how well the thing is defined have no bearing whatsoever. Do I capitalize southern as in the US region? Is Colorado in the west or the West? But when the words are used in specific contexts, denote people belonging to a particular region, or refer to their social, political, or cultural activities, they are capitalized. When And When Not To. States should also be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. Southern belle (from French belle 'beautiful') is a colloquialism for a debutante in the planter class of the Antebellum South. Also, if "region" is the first word in a sentence, it is capitalized. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. Capitalizing southern and capitalizing south have the same rules. To know what other words you should capitalize, try our free title capitalization tool. In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs (even short ones, like is), all adjectives, and all proper nouns. 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. TimesMojo is a social question-and-answer website where you can get all the answers to your questions. Do you capitalize the word state when referring to a state? Not capitalizing when referring to a general direction. For example, you would write "the Southern United States," but "the southern way of . Everyone on the bus tour enjoyed the Southern food in Tennessee. When to Capitalize Animal and Plant Names - Daily Writing Tips When dealing with geographic terms, capitalize nouns such as "river", "lake", etc. In short, it says to capitalize northern, southern, eastern, western and related words when they refer to the PEOPLE in a region or what they DO (i.e., their political, cultural or social activities) or are part of the place name. Did I miss the memo on this issue? Hi, Mary. However, capitalization may depend on the style guide you're using. Likewise, the rules for sentences apply: capitalize the common name at the . When they indicate compass direction, lowercase north, south, northeast, and so on, but capitalize when it indicates a region: the West Coast. By convention, however, southern is capitalized when it refers to the region of California: I live in Southern California. Capitalization For WebCT Users in Writing Classes: The "caps" icon (usually immediately before a word) indicates either that the following word ought to be capitalized (for one of the reasons listed here) or, if it is already capitalized, that it shouldn't be. In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate compass direction. 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. To find out when to capitalize North, South, East, and West, read our guide to capitalizing directions below. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this websites owner is strictly prohibited. Is south capitalized when referring to Southern states? Capitalizing western and capitalizing west have the same rules. Should global south be capitalized? Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! Do You Capitalize Regions When Writing? When & When Not To Southern California; West Texas; the Lower East Side of New York; If in doubt, use lowercase. If a law is new but its interpretation is vague, can the courts directly ask the drafters the intent and official interpretation of their law? But if someone prefers "African American," use that term rather than a more generic "black." 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. When it's an adjective ("bicentennial year"), I agree that no cap is needed . Do not capitalize these words when they merely indicate general location or refer to the geography or climate of the region. 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 . Only a few signs of the zodiac are automatically capitalized (Capricorn, Gemini, Sagittarius, Taurus). Yes, Southern is capitalized because it refers to the South (= the southern US). Should You Capitalize Western? (Western World, Culture - Grammarlookup The mines are located in the western part of the plateau. Knowing whether to capitalize directional adjectives can be challenging. Western (and Northern) blots however, were not named after inventors but were given these names in honor of . 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. 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. 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. When to capitalize North East south west? You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Instead, I have compiled a partial list of things people shouldn't capitalize but commonly do anyway. Everyone knows that Southern blot is written with a capital "S". That means you should lowercase articles, Lowercase north, south, northeast, etc. The Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA Handbook, for instance, say to only capitalize Southern when referring to the American Civil War. 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. How do I connect these two faces together? 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. If youre referring to a specific location, such as the southern winds, southern should be lowercase. Proper nouns - American Psychological Association Is "southern" capitalized in this sentence? - Quora We also lowercase the terms when they refer to people: My friend is a southerner. What are some examples of how providers can receive incentives? If these geographic areas are part of a name, however, such as "River Thames", capitalize the term. Generally, you do not need to capitalize the names of the seasons. 3. I live to the west of Detroit Michigan. Related, but not duplicates (in my opinion): As definitive as it gets. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. 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). With the passage of time, some words originally derived from proper nouns have taken on a life, and authority, of their own and no longer require capitalization. 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. What about capitalizing a Southerner or a Southerner? 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. 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. Should Southeast be capitalized? - Wise-Answer So, if a person is from South Africa, south would be capitalized since it's the proper name of the country. 2022 - 2023 Times Mojo - All Rights Reserved Do you know "what is the Western Hemisphere?" 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). However, a co-author argues that southern should not be capitalized, because it is an adjective, not a noun. 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. Did any DOS compatibility layers exist for any UNIX-like systems before DOS started to become outmoded? After all, it was named after its inventor, Edwin Southern, and therefore the use of the capital is justified. 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.. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions, and prepositionshowever, some style guides say to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions that are longer than five letters. the Southern States the Eastern Seaboard Northern Ireland the Western Hemisphere Home-buyers pay a 1.75% fee up . In general, Midwesterners are friendly and down to earth. Who wrote the music and lyrics for Kinky Boots? The main thing is to be consistent with whatever you choose. The key factor here is that were using these words descriptively (i.e., to specify the direction or location of something), not to name something. It might be amusing to look for instances of "southern Southern California" or "northern Southern California". 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. In contrast, The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style) recommends lowercasing specific U.S. geographic regions used as adjectives:3. Posted by These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Explanation: Because Pisces is a verb. Do you capitalize Pacific Northwest? capitalization, maps, writing tips.