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Quick GuidePrint this Quick Guide off and keep it at your desk to use as an additional reference to the AP Style Guide

• Titles preceding a name • Holidays, historic events, ecclesiastical feasts, fast days, special events, hurricanes and typhoons • Political parties• The names of races • Days of the week • Earth in reference to the planet • Specific geographic regions • Trademark names • Fanciful nicknames

Capitalization

Lowercase• Titles standing alone or following a name • Occupational jobs or job descriptions • Fields of study • Seasons

Avoid abbreviations. Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s or master’s degrees, but there is no possessive in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science.

Academic Degrees

Use for: titles of books, songs, video games, films, TV shows, speeches and works of art.Do not use for: names of magazines or newspapers. Quotes require a new paragraph.

{ TIP: The comma and the period always go inside

the quotation marks }

Quotations

AP Style

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Word Usage

1 23

• Affect (verb: to influence), effect (verb: to cause, to bring about) • Among (more than two), between (two)• Different from (never use different than)• Eminent (great, famous), imminent (to occur shortly) • Farther (physical distance), further (extension of time or degree) • Fewer (refers to individual items), less (refers to bulk or quantity) • Infer (assume, draw from), imply (suggest, signify)

{ TIP: The hearer infers, the speaker implies }• Recur (never use reoccur) • Till (acceptable for until. Don’t use ‘til or ‘till) • Toward (never use towards)

• Spell out states when they stand alone • Abbreviate states when they follow cities or towns, military bases, national parks and reservations• Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kan., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Neb., Nev., N.C., N.D., N.H., N.J., N.M., N.Y., Okla., Ore., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.D., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W. Va., Wis., Wyo.

States

{ TIP: Alaska, Hawaii and states with fewer than

six letters are never abbreviated }

Addresses• Spell out Road, Drive, Place, Circle, Lane and Terrace whether accompanied by a street number or not • If the street number is not included, spell out Street, Avenue, Boulevard

{ TIP: In addresses that include the number, abbreviate St., Ave., Blvd. Use

the acronym STAB to remember this } • If the street number is given, abbreviate N., S., E., W., NW, SE, NE, SW • If the street number is not given, spell out North, South, East, West, Northwest, etc.

• Write out numbers one through nine • Use numerals for 10 or higher • Use numerals for percentages, dimensions, money, ages, dates and times• Write out percent, do not use %• Write out numbers when placed at the beginning of a sentence

Numbers

Abbreviate:• Jan. • Oct.• Feb. • Nov. • Aug. • Dec. • Sept.

Months

Do not abbreviate: • March • June• April • July• May

{ TIP: Months with five or fewer letters always get

spelled out }

Spell out: Noon and Midnight On-the-hour times do not require :00 Ex: 9 a.m. not 9:00 a.m. Use a.m. and p.m. Ex: 9 a.m. not 9 am

Times

Use: • In a series • Before a conjunction when two independent clauses are joined by a conjunction • To set off an attribution • In a series of more than three numbers Do not use: • Before the conjunction in a series • Before roman numerals, jr., sr., ampersand, dash in street addresses, telephone numbers and serial numbers and after Co., Inc.

Commas

Use a semicolon to separate elements of a series when individual segments contain material that also must be set off by commas. Use semicolons to separate statements of contrast and statements too closely related.

Semicolon

Use the dash to indicate a sudden change. Use the dash to mark a summing up at the end of a sentence.

{ TIP: Use the dash sparingly. Commas frequently

serve the purpose better}

Dash

Use: • Whenever ambiguity would result if it were omitted • When a compound modifier precedes a noun • To designate dual heritage

Hyphen

Use: • In contractions • In omission of figures and in plural of figures and letters

Apostrophe