English Language Discussion Forums

Nordic Bill · #1 08-Dec-2005, 11:14

Which would be more correct?:

He was in western Canada last month.

He was in Western Canada last month.

I figure an adjective pertaining to direction should only be capitalized when part of an official country, state name:

North Korea
West Virginia

Then again, we are also distinguishing between west/western, north/northern here, etc., which may also determine the use of capital letters.

Does anybody know if there is a rule?

Thanks,
Bill

**Tdol** · #2 09-Dec-2005, 03:04

Michael Swan gives the rule as applying to names and well-established regions and says that there's no difference between the use of North and Northern in names.

Nordic Bill · #3 09-Dec-2005, 10:54

Thanks, tdol. I've made a note of that for future reference.

Just to confirm what you wrote, I am assuming "Western Canada" would be the correct choice here. (ie. it is an "established region", not to be confused with "They travelled out west to Vancouver").

Thanks,
Bill

**Tdol** · #4 10-Dec-2005, 03:47

Yep

Nordic Bill · #5 10-Dec-2005, 10:56

Thank you muchly!

Have a great weekend.

Bill