{"id":10297,"date":"2024-03-07T21:00:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T20:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aboutriver.com\/?p=10297"},"modified":"2024-03-07T21:00:21","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T20:00:21","slug":"do-i-capitalize-river-in-mississippi-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aboutriver.com\/do-i-capitalize-river-in-mississippi-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Do I Capitalize River In Mississippi River"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Whether to capitalize river when referring to the Mississippi River can be confusing because the answer is both yes and no. Capitalizing the word river when referring to the Mississippi River is common in the United States. However, this does not hold true everywhere. It ultimately depends on where you are writing and the context of what you are referring to. So it pays to know when to capitalize river when talking about the Mississippi.<\/p>\n

The origin of capitalizing the word river when referring to the Mississippi River can be traced back to the 19th century. People used to capitalize rivers to give them a special status. It is now common in the United States to capitalize the Mississippi River in all situations, as well as other rivers like the Ohio and Missouri. However, in other parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom, capitalization of the name does not occur.<\/p>\n

According to David Remnick, associate editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, there are no hard and fast rules for when to capitalize river when referring to the Mississippi. He notes that the rules of capitalization can be “flexible” and should be decided on the basis of a particular style guide or set of guidelines. Therefore, it is possible to capitalize river when referring to the Mississippi when you are writing in the United States but not in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

In terms of style guides, both the Associated Press and the Chicago Manual of Style recommend capitalizing river when referring to the Mississippi. The Chicago Manual of Style, in particular, recommends using upper- and lowercase words when a river’s name is part of a larger name, such as the Mississippi River. The AP style guide follows a similar rule and recommends the use of capitalization when the name of a river is used alone or as part of a geographical name.<\/p>\n