is considered basic and should be known by people who claim to have a good command of the language. 1 Is south capitalized when referring to Southern states? 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. - thanks! Note that exceptions based on specific regional, political, or historical contexts are inevitable and that an author's strong preference should usually be respected. Duck Vs. Loon: How Are These Words Connected? The example you give is a generic direction used as an adjective (like the "east wing of the mansion" example in the post), so no capitalization is required. When to Capitalize People's Titles - The Blue Book Of Grammar And Bulk update symbol size units from mm to map units in rule-based symbology. When these words are included in the place name, however, they must be capitalized. Do you capitalize Southern in southern United States? Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Capitalization | Capitalization Rules - GrammarBook When these words are included in the place name, however, they must be capitalized. The sentence reads "I turned on north Bolton." Title Case Capitalization (APA 7th) Sentence Case Capitalization (APA 7th) But, generally, you only need to capitalize a direction in a place name if the direction is a standard part of the places name. Why are non-Western countries siding with China in the UN. Characteristics. Capitalize these words when they designate regions. 17th ed., U of Chicago P, 2017,www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/book/ed17/part2/ch08/psec047.html. In general, you should capitalize the first word, all nouns, all verbs (even short ones, like is), all adjectives, and all proper nouns. Whether it's an "official" name or not and how well the thing is defined have no bearing whatsoever. The Department provided an initial list of abbreviations in June 1963, but many had three or four letters, which was still too long. 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. You have entered an incorrect email address! It's not a continent, nor is it a country. 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). The mines are in the plateaus western region. My friend is a southerner. 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. 2023 Caniry - All Rights Reserved Do You Capitalize Regions When Writing? When & When Not To We lowercase the terms when they refer to directions: The United States is located north of Mexico. On a cloudless night, I studied Pisces, a constellation in the North sky. To know what other words you should capitalize, try our free title capitalization tool. Botany Rules 1: Writing Plant Common Names and English Names - Blogger ), Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA.