Capitalize the names of places. Make sure to capitalize all the parts of the name except for the articles (a, an, the), and short (2-4 letter) prepositions (of, to, in, with ...).
Orlando, Orange County, Florida, Atlantic Ocean, Lake Ontario, Des Plaines River, Gulf of Mexico, Kale Avenue, 32nd Street, Highway A1A
- Hint:
- If you spell out a hyphenated street number, don't capitalize the second part. Example: Seventy-third Street
- Hint:
- We often put the in front of a place name. It is not part of the name and not capitalized. Examples: the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains
Capitalize the names of the compass points (north, south, west, east) only if they are part of a name. If they point a direction, do not capitalize them.
Turn west on Main Street, and you will get to U.S. 1, which will take you all the way through the South to Key West.
Oddly, we had to fly north to catch our next flight on our way to tour the Southwest.
- Hint:
- You don't capitalize front, left, right, back, so don't capitalize the compass points when you could substitute those words. Example: When you get to the end of the street turn
westleft, and park in thenorthfront parking lot.