North Dakota; West Virginia; Also capitalize compass points when used in denoting widely known sections. Everyone on the bus tour enjoyed the southern food in Tennessee. One reason partisans capitalize "White" or "Black" is to denote its importance in messages, even subliminally, magnified by lowercasing the "other." As always, we believe that labels can oversimplify, and that a specific description is better. If you are merely referring to a . To properly follow AP style guidelines, only use one space after a period, as opposed to the often used double-space. Is "Southern California" considered a proper noun? For example, "western Massachusetts", "northern New Jersey". Not capitalizing when referring to a general direction. Only a few signs of the zodiac are automatically capitalized (Capricorn, Gemini, Sagittarius, Taurus). In other words, capitalize words such as Mother, Father, Grandmother, Grandfather, Son, Daughter, and Sis when they are used in place of the persons name. Duck Vs. Loon: How Are These Words Connected? CMOS looks at what a large relevant tranche of people do; this ultimately defines what is acceptable. Whether it's an "official" name or not and how well the thing is defined have no bearing whatsoever. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as play with), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. When the word "state" comes after a state's name, it should be capitalized. Guidance to capitalize proper nouns in APA Style. The mines are in the plateaus western region. 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. You should capitalize North, South, East, and West when theyre part of a proper noun (i.e., the name of a unique thing). English Proofreading and Copyediting Prices, Spanish Proofreading and Copyediting Prices, northern New Jersey, western Massachusetts. Hi, Victoria. TimesMojo is a social question-and-answer website where you can get all the answers to your questions. The English language has grammar and usage rules by the boatload. When dealing with geographic terms, capitalize nouns such as "river", "lake", etc. Southern, on the other hand, is capitalized by convention when it refers to California: I live in Southern California. However, if, like Northern Ireland and North Korea, the direction is part of the proper name, it should be capitalized. 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. Whether youre writing an essay, email, or cover letter, youll likely use parentheses. Everyone on the bus tour enjoyed the Southern food in Tennessee. Q. Debating with an editor over capitalization of the word bicentennial. 10 Do I capitalize southern as in the US region? He's one part content manager, one part writing ninja organizer, and two parts leader of top content creators. 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. Keep reading to learn everything there is to regions and their capitalization, rules for related terms and phrases, what a region is, etc. My name is Erin. [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). Knowing whether to capitalize directional adjectives can be challenging. Others may argue that the word simply denotes the direction of the region the individual lives and must not have the capital letter. Here is part of that discussion: 8.46 Regions of the world and national regions. When did states go to 2 letter abbreviations? Chicago style is best for writers who want to adhere to traditional publishing standards and academic writers in non-scientific fields. 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). 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. Opportunities exist on the east and west sides of the city. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the days of the week. By convention, however, southern is capitalized when it refers to the region of California: I live in Southern California. Which Teeth Are Normally Considered Anodontia? If youre referring to a collection of proper nouns, such as the Southern States, this is the case. 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. The West Coast has beautiful scenery. And "north" in that sentence refers to a direction (i.e., where you turned), not the place (i.e., Bolton Avenue). Otherwise, the word should be lowercased, as in "the god of war.". A region can be a city, town, village, country, continent, or any area that comes under the jurisdiction or administration of a state. Best Book Writing Software and Book Writing Apps, Cursive Text Generator , Buscador de palabras y descifrador de palabras. You should read both Western and Eastern philosophy. 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. Did the Allman Brothers Band play southern rock or Southern rock? The obvious examples of this are countries, states, cities, and other geographical areas: Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox. Updated on December 22, 2018. A title like this would appear as: A Guide to English: Perfecting Grammar in an Academic Paper. Use lower case for generic or plural references. If youre referring to a specific location, such as the southern winds, southern should be lowercase. Characteristics. However, to, not a dash, should be used when from introduces a range of dates (from 2012 to 2013, not from 2012-13). Likewise, the rules for sentences apply: capitalize the common name at the . down South. It was first put into effect for large businesses, but it was gradually adopted as a standardized format by everyone. The Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition (2010) has a useful and detailed discussion of this issue. For example, capitalizing "Southerner" in the sentence "As a Southerner, she had a distinct drawl" can be up for debate. 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. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions, and prepositionshowever, some style guides say to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions that are longer than five letters. It's the inconsistency or the abrupt switching between capitalized letters and lowercase letters is what that puts readers off. 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. Are you captivated by capitalization? (Most uses will be uppercase.) They are written with capital letters. Consult your dictionary if your preferred style guide doesnt address this issue. Binomial nomenclature is, of course, also used for animals, including the singularly curious one designated as Homo sapiens. So, if a person is from South Africa, south would be capitalized since it's the proper name of the country. To summarize the advice above, we suggest: However, capitalization may depend on the style guide youre using. The image of a Southern belle is often characterized by fashion elements such as a hoop skirt, a corset, pantalettes, a wide-brimmed straw hat, and gloves. So it would be best to check your style guide if you have one and to make sure whatever you choose is used consistently. So, noun will be always first capital letter. Why Do Cross Country Runners Have Skinny Legs? The main style guides all agree on this, although . In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs (even short ones, like is), all adjectives, and all proper nouns. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Automatically capitalize your email subjects, essay, headline, and article titles. Why are trials on "Law & Order" in the New York Supreme Court? 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). (Cap or no cap on east and west). For example, The hurricane move north towards the Gulf Coast. When And When Not To. only if it's a proper name. For example, Southern US is proper because it is a specific region. And if so, when? 2023 Caniry - All Rights Reserved 1 Is south capitalized when referring to Southern states? Do you capitalize Pacific Northwest? doesn't shout the need for "capitalization", it's safe to write it in lowercase. States should also be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they indicate a region: the West Coast. Of all the various names or terms, direction names could be the trickiest to handle. are not capitalized when they merely denote compass direction. 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. We lowercase the terms when they refer to directions: The United States is located north of Mexico. 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. You would capitalize "Southern" when referring to the people, or their culture, politics, or social activities, e.g., Southern hospitality, Southern cuisine, Southern accents. Should southern be capitalized? 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.