In what contexts would I capitalize "city" and "county"? . In headlines, the periods are omitted. Lowercase north, south, northeast, etc. In other words, directions can be tricky! 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. If as is used as a preposition, it is lowercase; if as is used as an adverb, conjunction or pronoun, it is uppercase. Is summer a good time? Capitalize proper nouns in APA Style. The Midwest is the breadbasket of 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). North, east, south, and west are the four cardinal directions, often marked by the initials N, E, S, and W. East and west are at right angles to north and south. Capitalize these words when they designate regions. It is also a great option for general business writing. Words Which Should Not Be Capitalized in a Title. Southern belle (from French belle 'beautiful') is a colloquialism for a debutante in the planter class of the Antebellum South. Thus, we have rigid goldenrod but Missouri goldenrod, azure penstemon but Torrey's penstemon and California penstemon. However, widely known designations are capitalized: the Upper East Side, Southern California. U.S. When there is no proper name, lowercase "mountain", "gorge", "valley", "beach", and other geographical features. For example, "western Massachusetts", "northern New Jersey". 5 Should states and territories be Capitalised? If youre referring to a collection of proper nouns, such as the Southern States, this is the case. If a is used, go with prime minister.). What's the difference between a power rail and a signal line? The pastor prayed that God should deliver us from our sins. Do you capitalize the word state when referring to a state? A title like this would appear as: A Guide to English: Perfecting Grammar in an Academic Paper. As a result, noun will always be the first capital letter. 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. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". You should always capitalize Southerner since it refers to a group of people who are proper nouns. 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. Most of the north is sandy, and the northern coast is mountainous. West is directly opposite east. The difference between the phonemes /p/ and /b/ in Japanese. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. 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. There's not enough context in your example to offer any solid advice (e.g., the "north" of where? The correct answer is option C. In option A, the word Chemistry is only capitalized leaving the other proper noun in lower case. Rule 1. Hi there! 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. With states, lowercase in most uses: northern New York. It only loosely defines a region of California and its border is not officially defined either. 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). Have you ever wondered when its okay to capitalize north, east, south, and west? Do not capitalize these words when they merely indicate general location or refer to the geography or climate of the region. Should north southeast and West be capitalized? Do I capitalize southern as in the US region? When referring to regions, capitalize these words. Use lowercase when referring to directions on a compass. are not capitalized when they merely denote compass direction. By convention, however, southern is capitalized when it refers to the region of California: I live in Southern California. Do you like West Asia? 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. "The State Finance Department," for example, is a good example. It's not a continent, nor is it a country. The street is named Bolton Avenue. That means you should lowercase articles, conjunctions, and prepositionshowever, some style guides say to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions that are longer than five letters. Popular usage sets the rules for standard practice especially in the case of region names. Did any DOS compatibility layers exist for any UNIX-like systems before DOS started to become outmoded? The correct sentence is Carlotta and I love Halloween. However, I was recently advised by someone who I consider to be educated to capitalize "southern" in this context. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. If youre referring to a specific location, such as the western winds, western should be lowercase. . 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. Colorado is part of the Southwest. 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). Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. The Department decided on the current two-letter abbreviations in October 1963. 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 . I tried to describe the difference in my answer below. It's the inconsistency or the abrupt switching between capitalized letters and lowercase letters is what that puts readers off. Certain regions of California (Bay Area, Southern California, Central Coast, etc.) To know what other words you should capitalize, try our free title capitalization tool. As a general thumb rule, if a particular direction (north, south, etc.) Hi, Mary. 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 . Do not capitalize these words when they merely indicate direction or general location. When did states go to 2 letter abbreviations? 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. Chicago style is best for writers who want to adhere to traditional publishing standards and academic writers in non-scientific fields. 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. If you are merely referring to a direction, such as "go north on I-90," then you should keep north lowercase. Home-buyers pay a 1.75% fee up . Federal or federal? Proper nouns are names of particular individuals, places, or things, such as Josephina, Michigan, Oreo, and United Auto Workers. Keep reading to learn everything there is to regions and their capitalization, rules for related terms and phrases, what a region is, etc. 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. Southern, according to a co-author, should not be capitalized because it is an adjective rather than a noun. 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. Everyone knows that Southern blot is written with a capital "S". Do you capitalize state when referring to a state? Therefore, use "Black" and "White" instead of "black" and "white" (do not use colors to refer to other human groups; doing so is considered pejorative). Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: AP style, capitalization, Chicago style, dictionaries. Southern California; West Texas; the Lower East Side of New York; If in doubt, use lowercase. Be the first to read new posts and updates about MLA style. When to Capitalize North, South, East and West. NOTE: When terms like western region and southern district are used to name organizational units within a company, capitalize them. 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. 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. However, capitalization may depend on the style guide you're using. Do you know "what is the Western Hemisphere?" More answers below What does it mean that the Bible was divinely inspired? The word "southern" is not part of the official name of California or any city or county, so I never capitalize it. When possessive pronouns like her, his, my, our, and your are used, do not capitalize them. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 'I have no authority for this opinion, other than my intuition as an English speaker.' In general, midwesterners are friendly and down to earth. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Have you ever visited the Western United States? 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.