The sun sets in the west, and looks spectacular over the River Thames. So if you live in the City, head to East London, find an open space by the river, and look back across the city.
What is going on here? The words river and city, and compass points, are capitalised in one place but not in another. What are the rules? Are there any rules?
Well, yes and no. The rules for ‘river’ are clear enough. As a common noun it takes a lower case ‘r’; but in the title of a particular geographical river, it then becomes a proper noun – the River Severn.
The rules for ‘city’ are also simple. It’s a common noun, lower case ‘c’ – unless referring to The City as a shortened form of The City of London, which is a geographical place.
These rules apply in many contexts – an uncapitalised word takes a capital when it refers to a particular place or person:
King Edward held two kings, an ace and a three
The exchange took place outside the Stock Exchange
The Copacabana Beach is one of the most glamorous beaches in the world
Compass points are more complex. Usually they take lower case – I am heading north, you need to go further east. When they refer to a particular place – West Virginia, North Yorkshire – they take upper case. Similarly when -ern is added, capitalisation depends whether it is a general description – I had a holiday in northern Europe, he spoke with a southern accent – or a specific place – Northern Ireland, Western Sahara.
But the rules here are less rigid. Even New Hart’s Rules* says: ‘Usage in this area is very fluid’. This may discourage you if you are keen to do the right thing. But it does mean you can sometimes go with what looks better. To me, east London just doesn’t look right, because it’s a defined area with a proud history – it has to be East London. I’d more happily talk about south London because I don’t see it as such a distinctive area. This is blatantly subjective. The more clearly defined the area is, the more it seems to need a capital – the largest park in South London, erosion on the South Devon coast.
New Hart’s Rules also distinguishes among words derived from names: capitalise ‘Shakespearean’, where ‘the link with the noun is still felt to be alive’ but not ‘quixotic’, where is it ‘remote’ or ‘merely allusive’. The same applies to Shetland pony and morocco leather.
If you’re writing for any sort of publisher they probably have house rules – check these and go back to them whenever you need to.
Of course, the key is consistency. This is where a proofreader can be especially valuable; s/he is trained to spot a reference to, say, southern Africa, when a few chapters earlier – maybe written six months earlier – you wrote Southern Africa. Neither is wrong, but to use both in the same document is something to be tidied up.
* New Hart’s Rules is an essential style guide for writers, publishers, etc, setting out rules for style and clarity in all the key aspects of writing.
Accuracy Works 