Do You Capitalize “East Coast” Or Not? Learn When To

It can be confusing to learn whether to capitalize or lowercase the term “East Coast”.However, it´s much simpler than you’d imagine. We will show you how to figure this out.

You will capitalize the term “East Coast” if you use it as a proper noun referring to a particular well-known place. On the other hand, you will write lowercase “east coast” if you use it as a general direction term.

The following rules and examples will guide you on when to capitalize or lowercase certain geographic words such as “East Coast”. It is all connected to the way of capitalizing or not geographic terms.

When Do I Capitalize Geographic Terms?

The rules for capitalizing the words East Coast go hand in hand with styling terms of directions.

But first, let’s go back to the basics. In English, we capitalize the first letter of a starting word of a sentence. We also always capitalize the pronoun I and the proper names; this is one of the first things we learn in school. So going back to the basics should make it easier to master your grammar skills.

The first thing you should do is determine whether the word is a proper noun or a common noun. Leaning on our basic grammar knowledge, we learned that specific nouns name a particular person or place. Within this article context, a proper noun refers to one specific location or region. In this case, we capitalize these names.

Common nouns are words that explain or describe a general thing, object, or place. In this case, when you offer generic directions, such as “take the east to go to Georgia,” the term east will be lowercase.

After revisiting the essential grammar knowledge for common and proper nouns, here are some specific rules to follow when deciding if a geographic word is capitalized:

Region Names

Many well-known locations within the United States identify a specific region. Think about these regions as independent locations within the United States, with their traditions, accents, and beliefs or known for a historical reason. For example, the East Coast of the United States is also known as the thirteen original states region. The word East Coast describes a specific group of States. We should capitalize it because it is a proper name.

Here are some examples:

• The cold winds are coming from the Eastern Coast.
• I am going to travel to the East Coast.
• My cousin is from the East Coast.

-ern Ending Direction Terms

If you add the suffix -ern after a regional name, it becomes a descriptive word of a specific location. In this case, you should always capitalize the direction term ending in -ern and the common noun that follows it. For example, when we say Maine belongs to the Eastern Seaboard, we use the word Eastern as an adjective to describe Maine, a state that belongs to this specific region.

Region-Specific Tradition Description

Another example of when to capitalize directions words is when referring to a specific region’s cultural practice. For example,

• The East Coast English pronunciation can be different from other United States regions.
• The East Coast medicine practice has improved during Covid times.

Are You Still Confused On When To Capitalize Or Not Geographic Terms? Change The Perspective

If you believe this is confusing, you can analyze it from another perspective. When trying to figure out if a geographic term should be capitalized or not, think about the compass direction words. We all know we have four main compass directions: north, south, east, west. We do not capitalize on these terms because they refer to a person or object’s general direction or location. They do not describe the name of a specific place.

A good example is when you explain to a friend how to get to your house. You will tell them that your home is located “north of the neighborhood.” The word “north” refers to a general location, and it should be in lower case.

Some examples can include:

• Go south on Denver st. and you will find the restaurant.
• Keep driving east when you see the yellow sign.
• Travelers can watch giant whales on the east coast of Samaná.

We should also need to lowercase the geographic terms when we refer to people. For example, if my friend Sam is from the South, we will call Sam a southerner. In this example, the southerner should be lowercase because it is describing a person.

Alternatives Rules

Capitalize Geographic Terms According To Style Manuals: Apa vs. CMO vs. Gregg Reference Manual

For every grammar rule, there are some exceptions or alternative ways to determine if a word should be capitalized or not. It most likely depends on your preference. There are several “style guides” that you can use to determine if you will capitalize a geographic term. The style guides are manuals with formatting grammar rules, and it will be your choice to follow one or another. However, if you decide to follow a specific style guide, you should be consistent. When deciding to capitalize a geographic term, the AP style guide establishes that word like Southerner has to be capital letters. However, if you choose to follow the Chicago Manual of Style rules, they prefer to keep these words lowercase.

APA is a common standard writing manual from the American Psychological Association. Researchers widely use it for academic papers. APA capitalizes North, South, East, and West when they talk about a region or people from that region. However, they do not capitalize the words when they speak about references from a specific area.

On the other hand, CMOS stands for the Chicago Manual of Style, and they capitalize these terms when they speak about places. However, CMOS does not capitalize the terms to refer to people from a specific region. They also have some exceptions depending on the context. For example, they will only capitalize certain words when the text is referencing the American Civil War. In this case, CMOS capitalize the term Southern but only in this context.

The Gregg Reference Manual will keep it more simple. Their rules for capitalizing these types of terms in either way: they capitalize northern, southern, eastern, western when they refer to a specific region and the people from that region and their cultural habits. Otherwise, they will lowercase these terms if they are general location, geography, or climate concepts.

As you can see, their rules can conflict, but either way is correct as long as you are consistent using one or the other.

Use Grammar And Writing Tools.

Another way to capitalize a directional word can be relying on the web for grammar and writing tools.

Nowadays, we have a lot of valuable online resources that can help us write correctly. If you are still struggling to determine whether or not to capitalize a word, here are some tools that will help you master your grammar:

Use Online Applications And Websites.

Capitalize my title is a website that allows you to capitalize your words correctly. You can find helpful resources such as title cases, sentence cases. They also give you the option to check for capitalization based on different styles guides. Grammarly is a great tool that can help you write correctly.

If You Do Not Know The Answer, Use Lowercase As A Default.

Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. If you are still confused on whether to capitalize the East Coast, play it safe and use lowercase as a default!

Lastly

To summarize what we have learned and answer our initial question, capitalizing “East Coast” depends on the context and if we are using a specific style manual. But to make it more simple, always remember to capitalize specific regions’ names and do not capitalize general compass directions, and you will be on point with your grammar skills!