Articles -

North, South, East and West - Usage

Each of the points of the compass (north, south, east, west, south-east, north-west etc) can be:

• noun - The sun rises in the east.
• adjective - It is sunny on the east coast.
• adverb - We drove east for 50 miles.

Look at some more example sentences:

Penguins live in the south.	noun
The wind is coming from the east.
He lives in the south-east of England.
He lives in South London.	adjective
The storm will reach the north-west coast tomorrow.
Polar bears live at the North Pole.
Penguins live at the South Pole.
Is the country South Africa in the south of the African continent?	adjective | noun
Our house faces south-west.	adverb
Our car broke down a mile east of the city.
He lives south of London.

The points of the compass are capitalized when they form part of a name, for example: South Africa, East Timor, North America, the South Pole, Northwest Territories

In the picture below, notice the important difference between "in the south"and "to the south" or just "south":

Here are some more examples:

• Paris is in the north of France.
• Sweden is north of France.
• Belgium is to the north of France.
• Canada is north of the USA.
• The USA is north of Mexico
• Mexico is south of the USA.
• Moscow is in the west of Russia.
• Europe is west of Russia.
• Europe is to the west of Russia.
• Shanghai is in the east of China.
• Japan is east of China.
• Japan is to the east of China.