North,south,east,west
We usually usenorth,south,east,west, notnorthern,southern, easternandwestern, to refer to specific places or to direction of movement. We can usenorth,south, eastandwestas adjectives or adverbs and occasionally as nouns:
More and more people are buying second homes on thesouthcoast of Ireland.(adjective)
After Bangkok, we drovenorthfor about six hours without stopping.(adverb)
Strong Atlantic winds are forecast in thewestof Portugal.(noun)
We normally use capital letters in place names withnorth, south, eastandwest:
The conference is taking place inNorthDakota.
[from an advertisement in a travel magazine]
Bargain flights toSouthAmerica from London Gatwick from £350.
Northern, southern, easternandwestern: larger areas
We commonly usenorthern, southern, easternandwestern(without capital letters) to refer to larger areas or territory. We can only use them as adjectives:
Thenorthernparts of India have suffered severe flooding.
Houses are more expensive in mostwesternparts of the country.
Some names of specific places have capital letters fornorthern, southern,easternandwestern:
We are holidaying inNorthernIreland next year.(name of a region)
Perth is the capital ofWesternAustralia.(name of a state)
San Diego is my favourite place insouthernCalifornia.(a part or region of a state but not the name of a state)