1. AbbreviationsCopy should be consistent, and thisincludes abbreviations. Abbreviations takeup less space on the page, thereby allowing room for more important words.

2. Months, States, Thoroughfares Similar to the way that states are written: most months are abbreviated when used with a specific date: Dec. 17, 2012 However, other months are never abbreviated. March, April, May, June and July All months are spelled out fully when standing alone Their wedding anniversary is in February. The date is Feb. 14. Classes end in June. Classes end June 7. 3. Month abbreviations For the 8 months that are abbreviated when it appears with a date, use: Jan. Feb. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Remember: stay away from suffixes rd, -st, -nd, and th. No matter how you might pronounceit, the date is pure Arabic. 4. Examples We will celebrate the holidays from Dec. 23 until Jan. 4. Valerie sprained her ankle in October but she did not have a cast put on until November. She wants to go to Europe in August, but her departure date is Sept. 8. 5. States You must memorize how, when and if a state isabbreviated. States standing by themselves are always spelled out. Moststates are abbreviated when a town or city is a prefix. The onlyexception is that well-known cities do not need a statedesignation. Example: I live in North Carolina. I used to live in Macon, Ga., but mynew home is near Henderson, N.C. My manuscript is in Los Angeles. The beaches at Miami are world famous. There is a professional soccer team in Boston. Remember the 8 states that are always spelled:Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah 6. Thoroughfares Avenue, boulevard, street, way, alley, terrace, lane,circle Only 3 are abbreviated and ONLY when a precisestreet address precedes them: avenue, boulevard andstreet. (ABS) Veronica lives at 890 King Ave. Larry lives at 60 HelenaBlvd. I live at 1234 McRae St. Veronica lives on King Avenue. Larry lives on HelenaBoulevard. I live on McRae Street. My newspaper route takes me to Franklin Drive, toWillow Way and to Bluebird Circle. My girlfriend lives at321 Bluebird Circle. 7. Thoroughfares Some street address have compass points as part oftheir names. Abbreviate the compass points whenthey are part of a precise address. Spell out thecompass points when part of a general address. Donot abbreviate if the number is missing. The restaurant is located at 654 W. MockingbirdTerrace. The fire chief lives at 987 S. Cardinal Road. The restaurant is located at West MockingbirdTerrace. The fire chief lives on South Cardinal Road. The footrace will begin at 593 Eagle St., N.W. The footrace will begin at Eagle Street, Northwest. 8. Names and Titles Wire services rarely use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Master and Mistress. It takes up too much space. Plus, we want to treat males and females equally men do not have courtesy titles to indicate whetherthey are married or unmarried and women do. So, lets eliminate courtesy titles for both sexes. First, you identify a man or woman by his or her full name. Then in the second and subsequent references, refer to theperson only by his or her last name. The only time to use courtesy titles is when the story hasseveral people with the same last name. 9. Legislative Titles Words like representative, senator and governor are capitalized and abbreviated in first reference when preceding the name of the officeholder. Our elected leaders in the Florida Legislature are Rep. Jerry Stewart and Sen. Rhonda Weathers. Among those appearing on the platform were Rep. Arlo Hanks, D-N.C., and Sen. Chang Li, R-Mass. My wife and I support Gov. Charlie Crists plan to cut property taxes. 10. Legislative Titles Do not use legislative titles in second andsubsequent references except when used in adirect quote. The words congressman and congresswomanshould not be abbreviated. They may be used assubsequent reference but not with the officialsname. They are only capitalized when precedingthe officials name or in a direct quote. Sen. Joe Thurman lives near me. Thurman is oftenseen weeding his front yard. Rep. Arlo Hanks, D-N.C., is the commencementspeaker. The congressman will talk about the futureof tourism. I have invited Sen. Andrea ONeal to my Christmaspart, the mayor said. 11. Military titles Military titles are too numerous to list but they arecapitalized and abbreviated when preceding anindividuals name. Military titles are not used in second andsubsequent references. Do not spell out the Arabic numbers in titles. The branches are: U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S.Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force and U.S. CoastGuard. Note that each branch has serviceratings, which are considered job titles.Do not use them in first reference, in abbreviationor in capitalization. 12. Military titles Pvt. Benny Silva works as a radio operator in the Air Force. Silva has been in the Air Force for six years. Gen. Omar Bradley fought in World War II. My grandfather served under the general. Mickey Murphy was a sergeant major in the Marine Corps. Murphy now operates a pizza parlor. She is married to 2nd Lt. Sammy Ray. The lieutenant is at Fort Benning, Ga. 13. Religious Titles This one is fairly easy because wire services usethe termthe Rev. for most Christian clergy. This title is only used for first reference and withthe persons full name. Subsequent referencesare last name only. I attended a service conducted by the Rev. PatRobertson. During the service, Robertson said hefavored prayer in schools. 14. Other abbreviations Some titles that precede the name are never abbreviated: Attorney General District Attorney President Superintendent They are capitalized only when they precede the name. 15. Times of day Abbreviate times of day. Thus, hours before noonare a.m., and those after noon are p.m. Use noon and midnight for those hours. Note the letters are lowercase, and periods areplaced between each letter. Avoid redundancies such as around 3 a.m. in themorning. She tried to get to work by 7 a.m., but she never leaves work before 5:15 p.m. 16. Misc. Use the abbreviation IQ first reference whenreferring to intelligent quotient. Note no periods inthe abbreviations. Use the abbreviation UFO first reference whenreferring to an unidentified flying object. Use No. 1 and No. 2 and the like as firstreference when writing about rankings. Abbreviate and capitalize number and writethe rank in Arabic. Use AP first reference to abbreviate theAssociated Press. Note no periods. Your IQ on the APs UFO quiz ranks you No. 12 inthe class.