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east and eastern, north and northern, etc

Adjectives: the difference​

We often prefer eastern, northern, etc when we are talking about vague, indefinite or larger areas, and east, north, etc for more clearly defined places (e.g. the names of countries or states). Compare:

  • the northern part of the country
    the north side of the house
  • the southern counties of Britain
    the south coast
  • southern Africa (an area)
    South Africa (a country)
  • the northern United States
    North Carolina

However, place names do not always follow this rule. Note the following:

  • Northern Ireland
  • North/East/West Africa
  • North/South America
  • East/South, etc Asia but Western/Eastern, etc Europe
  • South Australia but Western Australia; the Northern Territory
  • the North/South Atlantic/Pacific
  • the Northern/Southern hemisphere

‘belonging to’​

We use eastern, northern, etc to mean ‘belonging to’ or ‘typical of’.

  • a southern accent
  • a group of northern poets

Capital letters​

Capital letters are used at the beginning of East, Eastern, North, Northern, etc when these come in official or well-established place names.

  • North Carolina
  • Western Australia

And capitals are used in the West, the North, etc when these are names of well-defined regions.

  • Unemployment is high in the North.
  • My sister lives in the South-west.

In other cases, adjectives, nouns and adverbs generally begin with small letters.

  • We spent the winter in southern California.
  • I live in north London.
  • The sun rises in the east.
  • There’s a strong north wind.
  • By sunrise we were driving south.

Prepositions​

Note the difference between in the east, etc of … and to the east, etc of …

  • I live in the east of Scotland.
  • Denmark is about 500km to the east of Scotland.