capitalization

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kanar380

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In this sentence ( especially the north and the South Poles where the weather is so cold that water is always changed to ice. )
Do I need to capitalize the word " north "?
 

Raymott

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In this sentence ( especially the north and the South Poles where the weather is so cold that water is always changed to ice. )
Do I need to capitalize the word " north "?
You can write "the north and south poles" if you're talking about the poles.
If you're referring to the names of the places, it's the North Pole and the South Pole.
There doesn't seem to be any reason to mix them up as you have done in your sentence.
 

bertietheblue

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In this sentence ( especially the north and the South Poles where the weather is so cold that water is always changed to ice. )
Do I need to capitalize the word " north "?

Your text should read "(especially [at] the North and South Poles, where the weather is so cold that water immediately changes to ice)" or "especially [in] the Arctic and Antarctic ...", depending on sense.

To explain, here's the definition from the Oxford English Dictionary:

"pole - either of the two locations (North Pole or South Pole) on the surface of the earth (or of a celestial object) which are the northern and southern ends of the axis of rotation"

As far as I'm aware, there is no style guide that uses lower-case 'north pole' or 'south pole' in reference to the northern- and southern-most ends of the Earth, and certainly nowhere have I seen a distinction between 'north/south pole' and 'North/South Pole' in this regard.

The Arctic is the name for the regions around the North Pole; Antarctica is the name for the continent around the South Pole ('the Antarctic' is another word, used to mean the region around the South Pole). Having said that, people sometimes refer to these regions colloquially as the North Pole and South Pole, although this is best avoided as the words have very definite meanings.

Hope that helps!
 
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