English spelling

[The First]

Following: my english teacher took off points for writing "northern Ireland" and corrected it to "Northern Ireland". Yet I could have sworn, northern is spelled lowercase in this case. Any help?

And please, only people whose know how to spell english answer my question. I don't want to have to sift through pages of : "OMG!!!1 Datz nothrn Irlnend!!!11!"

[Hypersolidsnake]

Uhm, as my knowledge goes, is 'Northern Ireland' a country? If so, that makes both words a specific noun. If it isn't a specific noun, I don't believe that there is any reason for this. If we can't figure it out on our 'pwn', then ask your teacher for clarification.

[Freddy]

Maybe its an actual part of Ireland. cause some places u have to make it capital.

Like the 'South' (as in Alabama, Missippi, Louisiana). My teacher said u actually have to capitalize it.

[The First]

Lets use an example. The word aunt isn't capitalized, but if you say the aunt's name it would be capital e.x. Aunt Mary

[The First]

... and if my Aunt lived in Ireland, the north would be capitalized? bad example, if you ask me, since you can't really use north without Ireland (or another country). And "the North" is capitalized too, when used as a place reference.

But the problem was solved. I decided to check google for "northern ireland", and all returns on the first page said "Northern Ireland", so I guess since it's politically split (one half belongs to the UK), it's a seperate country... or something. Like Korea. But thank you anyways :-)

[The First]

No problem.

[Galactus]

Actually HyperSolidSnake had the right idea. Northern Ireland is a country, and therefore abiding by English language conventions, both words are to be capitalized; it's a proper noun.

[The First]

Northern Ireland might be a political region and not a country, I'm not sure which. Ireland is a country, did it completely split into 2 countries over religious differences?

[h00pla]

probably what you want is the basic rule. If the place is officially known as Northern Ireland yes it would be capitalized. but if you were just describing a general area (i.e. the place in the northern region of Ireland) it would not be capitalized