North, South, East, and West
I sometimes hear students mix up directions like “north of” or “in northern”. It’s an easy thing to confuse. Below are some examples to help you remember the most common patterns.
in + northern, southern, eastern, western = inside an area
Ex: New York is in the northern US.
Ex: Atlanta is in the southern US.
Ex: They’re both in the eastern US.
Ex: LA is in the western US.
North, south, east, west + of = outside an area
Ex: Canada is north of the US.
Ex: The US is south of Canada.
Ex: California is east of Hawaii.
Ex: Hawaii is west of California.
North, south, east, and west are also parts of place names (remember to capitalize them)
Ex: Canada is part of North America.
Ex: Brazil is part of South America.
Ex: Have you ever been to East Anglia?
Ex: I read a book about West Germany.
Cities and Buildings
You may also hear people say something is “on the south side”. Use “side” to talk about cities and buildings.
Ex: The east side of the building gets a lot of sun in the morning.
Ex: I grew up on the south side of Chicago.
Of course, there are lots of other special examples and other ways to say these general place names. We often say a place is “up north” or “down south”. In the US, it’s also common to say a place is “out west” or “back east”.
Cities are sometimes different based on how they are built. For example, you might visit North London or South London, but Manhattan has uptown and downtown. So keep an eye out for interesting variations and cool place names!
