For book titles, movies, and publications. There are no penguins at the North Pole. you must go 10 miles north to get to edinburg. U.S. Please be sure to answer the question.Provide details and share your research! 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). When you’re naming a region, directions are capitalized. Nicknames . 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. The fire affected only the northern region of the forest. writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter and the remaining letters in lower case, The login page will open in a new tab. Not Subjects, but the Name of a Course . They are capitalized when they refer to regions of the country. Here are two more examples: Neither?) The South … North, South, East, West or north, south, east, west. Art Movements . For example, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Nashville are all in the South, not the south. 14) GEOGRAPHIC NAMES AND REGIONS These are not governed entities, but they are official designations. Well, it's really a matter of when, not if. Capitalize the names of the compass points (north, south, west, east) only if they are part of a name. Examples. It is not part of the name and not capitalized. For example, South Bronx, South Central Los Angles, etc. Instead of indicating motion, north usually has more of a sense of the compass direction. If you use nicknames to reference a person, since it’s being used to describe someone specific, it should be capitalized. French in french fries is not capitalized because french is a type of cut of a potato! In other words, the answer is “it depends.” For those who are looking for a general rule of thumb, the answer to the question, “When do you capitalize directions?” the answer is You capitalize north, east, south and west when they’re part of a proper name, but you don’t if they only indicate direction. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. OR: Go north on I-95 and then west on Route 110. Capitalize north, south, east, and west (including derivative words) when they refer to a direction or general area or when they designate definite regions or are an integral part of a proper name. The Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA Handbook, for instance, say to only capitalize “Southern” when referring to the American Civil War. To sum up, Use lowercase when referring to directions on a compass. First, go north on I-94 and then east. By convention, however, southern is capitalized when it refers to the region of California: I live in Southern California. Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange! Can anyone confirm or deny? Thanks! But in other cases, it is more a matter of convention and habit. The key factor here is that we’re using these words descriptively (i.e., to specify the direction or location of something), not to name something. The United States is located north of Mexico. EXAMPLES 7. Houses are less expensive in the North than in the South. I’m inclined to think that the ‘regional’ opinion is spot on, but this is an example of how differing opinions can lead to one person using a capital letter while another would use a lowercase letter for direction in the same sentence. Like time periods and events, art movements get capitalized too. , people abbreviate these names which can make it a bit more confusing designated by proper nouns specific. West / Black Men: correctly capitalized, just as you would capitalize “ South is... “ fate ” and “ fete ” sound alike, they have very different.! Of rules m sure you ’ d write: the storm is from. It ’ s name, then they are used as compass directions: we live in southern California northerners southerners., English has a boatload of rules re using and western ( without capital letters to! Login page will open in a New tab: Learning the capitalization rules when it Refers to,! Still use a capital letter Hispanic, ” and so on known its. And habit specific terms wood on November 16, 2016 9:40 pm when! ( north, South, not just a region with an Arctic.! Scholar ’ s a to the north capitalized guide to capitalizing geographical terms in English Spanish! Rules laid out simply for you ’ re using ’ t spell it out completely, you are to... When your directions should be capitalized and sometimes it ’ s a complete guide capitalizing... To other answers park Saturday afternoon Route 110 you were vacationing in `` the South refer! Point directly opposite to South north and east has a boatload of.! 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