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Chicago Manual of Style | Brief Editing Guide

Topic Rule Correct example Incorrect example

1 Comma in a series Use the Oxford/serial comma; comma

before and/or/but etc.

We ate corn, beans,and

potatoes for dinner.

We ate corn, beans and

potatoes for dinner.

2 Possessives Always add an apostrophe s to a

singular possessive noun, even when

the noun ends in a s

The party is at Sally Joness

house.

The party is at Sally Jones

house.

3 Numbers MPA program prefers: Spell out whole

numbers up to and including nine, use

numerals for the rest; spell out

numbers that begin a sentence

One, two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine

10, 11, 12, 13

One hundredprotesters

attended the event.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

ten, eleven, twelve

100 protesters attended the

event.

4 Dates Dates should be written without

suffixes

March 5 March 5th

5 Names Spell out one word references to a

proper noun

UNC School of Government =

the School

the school

6 State abbreviations;

state names

Two letter state abbreviations are

closed without periods; use written

out names in running text

US, NC, TX

I live in North Carolina.

U.S., N.C., T.X.

I live in NC.

7 Titles Lower case professional titles that

follow a name (Capitalize if beforename)

Mike Smith, dean

Dean Mike Smith

Mike Smith, Dean

dean Mike Smith

8 Space after period Only use one space after a period at

the end of a sentence

Today is Sunday. Tomorrow

is Monday.

Today is Sunday.

Tomorrow is Monday.

9 Space with ellipses Use a single space before, after, and in

between the periods of an ellipse

I was wondering. . . where do

we want to eat?

I was wonderingwhere do

we want to eat?

10 Space with em dash Use no spaces before or after an em

dash

Can you pick up the cake

ingredientsflour, milk, and

eggsat the store?

Can you pick up the cake

ingredients flour, milk,

and eggs at the store?

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11 Colons Lowercase the first word after a colon,

unless a proper noun or start of at

least two complete sentences

Heres what we should do:completeour homework and

then go to the movies.

Heres what we should do:Complete our homework

and then go to the movies.

12 Subject-verb

agreement

Singular subject = singular verbs

Plural subjects = plural verbs

Oneof the families in my

neighborhood ismoving

tomorrow.The familiesin my

neighborhood aremoving

tomorrow.

One of the families in my

neighborhood are moving

tomorrow.The families in my

neighborhood is moving

tomorrow.

13 Parallelism in a

sentences

Use the same tense throughout a

list/series; use the same

subject/object order

Hurricane Irene downed

power lines, floodedstate

roads, and leftmany people

homeless.

Hurricane Irene downed

power lines, flooded state

roads, and many people are

now homeless.

13 Parallelism in a

bulleted list

Use the same tense throughout a

list/series; use the samesubject/object order

My experience includes:

Fundraising frompublic, private, andgovernment sources

Hiring and supervisingstaff

Writing policy reports

My experience includes:

Fundraising frompublic, private, andgovernment sources

Hiring andsupervising staff

Policy reports14 Who vs. whom Who

o Referring to the subjectof a clause

o If the answer to thequestion is "he"

Whomo Referring to the object

of a clause

o If the answer to thequestionis "him"

Whodrank the coffee?

Hedrank the coffee.

Whomdo you work for?

I work for him.

Whom drank the coffee?

He drank the coffee.

Who do you work for?

I work for him.

15 Clarity Know your audience

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Write to be understood Use small words Avoid ambiguity Write in the positive (say what

is, not what isnt)

Dont chop up thoughts Emphasize the end Be concrete

16 Active vs. passive

voice

Write in the active voice; have the

subject do the action

Lisa analyzedthe data. The data was analyzed by

Lisa.

17 Concise Avoid long sentences Take out unnecessary words

and phrases

Use transitions to orientreader Use fewest words possible Use bullets for listed items Eliminate redundancy

18 Confident Dont hedge Be confident Separate facts from opinions

Avoid sexist language