should southern be capitalized should southern be capitalized

To find out when to capitalize North, South, East, and West, read our guide to capitalizing directions below. the East, the North, the South, the West (of a country) northern, southern, eastern, western (parts of a country) Along with the proper nouns listed in the table above, you should also always capitalize: the first word after a colon when what follows the colon is an independent clause, most nouns when they are followed by numerals or letters (e.g., Table 1, Figure 2, Panel A; see section 4.17), and. You should capitalize "North," "South," "East," and "West" when they're part of a proper noun (i.e., the name of a unique thing). Common nouns are the names of things. For example: I live in The North. Hi, Michael. 2023 Caniry - All Rights Reserved 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 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. U.S. Best Book Writing Software and Book Writing Apps, Cursive Text Generator , Buscador de palabras y descifrador de palabras. Southern California; West Texas; the Lower East Side of New York; If in doubt, use lowercase. Do Men Still Wear Button Holes At Weddings? In "the eastern portion of Colorado", however, "eastern" is written in small letters since it doesn't denote people or specific culture or practice. 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. To capitalize or not quoted text after be form, How to handle a hobby that makes income in US. Western (and Northern) blots however, were not named after inventors but were given these names in honor of . It might be amusing to look for instances of "southern Southern California" or "northern Southern California". When Should You Capitalize Geographic Regions in the United States? The Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition (2010) has a useful and detailed discussion of this issue. However, when these words are actually part of the place name, they must be capitalized. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. However, there are a few exceptions you should learn about. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. However, the Associated Press Stylebook does not recommend capitals in that case. 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). Capitalizing western and capitalizing west have the same rules. When people form a group and give it a name, it should be capitalized. The pastor prayed that God should deliver us from our sins. You should capitalize North, South, East, and West when theyre part of a proper noun (i.e., the name of a unique thing). The mines are located in the western part of the plateau. The North, The East, The South, and The West. You don't even want to know what he calls pancakes. 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. 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. are not capitalized when they merely denote compass direction. In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs (even short ones, like is), all adjectives, and all proper nouns. When did they standardize state abbreviations? Of course, they should be capitalized at the start of sentences and in titles, as they are with other nouns. Only a few signs of the zodiac are automatically capitalized (Capricorn, Gemini, Sagittarius, Taurus). Chicago style is best for writers who want to adhere to traditional publishing standards and academic writers in non-scientific fields. 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 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. AP style is primarily for journalists and writers who want to conform to traditional journalism styles. "southern California" is not the same as "Southern California". These should not be capitalized unless they are the first or last word of the title. I tried to describe the difference in my answer below. Is "Southern California" considered a proper noun? Capitalization Do not capitalize federal, state, department, division, board, program, section, unit, etc., unless the word is part of a formal name. To know what other words you should capitalize, try our free title capitalization tool. Don't capitalize these words when they refer to the general location, geography or climate of a region. Hi, Kelly. Whether youre writing an essay, email, or cover letter, youll likely use parentheses. You should always capitalize Westerner since it refers to a group of people who are proper nouns. 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. 2022 - 2023 Times Mojo - All Rights Reserved Theoretically Correct vs Practical Notation. 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. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? Many scholars now study the global South. Todays post explains when to capitalize geographic regions in the United States. 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). capitalization. is considered basic and should be known by people who claim to have a good command of the language. I have published a variety of other capitalization posts related to time periods, geographic features, people, and product names. When writing or proofreading manuscripts, names of regions and their capitalization rules could be tricky to discern or ascertain. Time arrow with "current position" evolving with overlay number. Characteristics. Please include the research youve done. When proofreading or editing documents, we often find that writers are confused about when to capitalize these terms. As a general thumb rule, if a particular direction (north, south, etc.) Usage guide. The main thing is to be consistent with whatever you choose. 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. English Proofreading and Copyediting Prices, Spanish Proofreading and Copyediting Prices, northern New Jersey, western Massachusetts. "The State Finance Department," for example, is a good example. The word white is not usually capitalized in this situation; men would never be. Capitalize such words as Northerner, Southerner, and Midwesterner. Guidance to capitalize proper nouns in APA Style. Do you know "what is the Western Hemisphere?" States should also be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. The seasons are not proper nouns and are therefore not normally capitalized. Hi, Lynne. But in other cases, it is more a matter of convention and habit. These are not governed entities, but they are official designations. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. 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. Proper nouns should always be capitalized. Q. Debating with an editor over capitalization of the word bicentennial. The argument I hear is this is a region of the building not a direction, so it should be capitalized. Capitalize common nouns such as party, river and street when they are part of a proper name. The following sentence is capitalized correctly : I learned that Thor is the god of thunder when I read a book about myths from Norway. 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.". 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. Besides the global continents, there are also atmospheric and hydrospheric regions that encompass the oceans, discrete climates, or environments above the water and landmasses of earth. Hi there! However, a co-author argues that southern should not be capitalized, because it is an adjective, not a noun. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic, as are those lacking any signs of reasonable research. However, when these words are actually part of the place name, they must be capitalized. 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 word "southern" is not part of the official name of California or any city or county, so I never capitalize it. Proper nouns include the specific names of people, places, and things. Drive south for five miles. In what contexts would I capitalize "city" and "county"? - thanks! This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. ), but I'd suggest not capitalizing it unless you're certain it is necessary. Do not capitalize them when they follow possessive pronouns such as her, his, my, our, your. How can I find out which sectors are used by files on NTFS? If the designation is widely known, the "direction" terms are capitalized for instance, "Southern California". It only loosely defines a region of California and its border is not officially defined either. Hope all that helps! Did I miss the memo on this issue? Sallie Ward, a Southern belle. The difference between the phonemes /p/ and /b/ in Japanese. Capitalizing the Word States If a writer refers to the United States and refers to it only as the States, states must be capitalized. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". proofreading, The first instance of when "global" should be capitalized is when used as the first word in a sentence. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this websites owner is strictly prohibited. The AP Stylebook the guiding stylebook for many news outlets, including The Daily Tar Heel advises against using the Oxford comma in most simple series. 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. Explanation: Because Pisces is a verb. 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. Most of the north is sandy, and the northern coast is mountainous. You capitalize state only when it follows the name of the state, as in New York State is also called the Empire State, or when its part of a traditional name for a state, like Empire State or Lone Star State. When it precedes the name of the state, dont capitalize the word unless its part of a title of . Related, but not duplicates (in my opinion): As definitive as it gets. 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.. Others may argue that the word simply denotes the direction of the region the individual lives and must not have the capital letter. 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. Hello! On a cloudless night, I studied Pisces, a constellation in the North sky. 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 Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style) suggests lowercasing terms like midwesterner, northerner, southerner, and westerner, except when referencing the Civil War, in which case Northerner and Southerner should be capitalized:6. Pronouns that refer to any god or gods should be lowercased. You have entered an incorrect email address! However, if instead you reference a general location, such as "the southern winds," then the word southern should be lowercase. This is the sentence that is capitalized correctly. 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. You should read both Western and Eastern philosophy. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. 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. Capitalize directions that are names; North, South, East, and West when used as sections of the country, but not as compass directions. Why Do Cross Country Runners Have Skinny Legs? 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. Filed Under: Southern United States, for example, is appropriate because it is located in a specific region. You wouldnt normally unless north and south are part of a proper noun (e.g., South Africa). Is that an argument?