Style NotesEditing

Style Notes - Spelling●It’s “adviser,” with an e, not advisor,

according to AP Style.

●“Capital” is the city where a state or federal government convenes.

●“Capitol” is the the building where the convening happens. (HINT: Most capitol buildings have a dome. There’s an O in dome. There’s an O in capitol.)

Style notes -Commonly misused wordswho, thatUse “who” when you are referring to a

person. Use “that” to refer to things.People aren’t things, so don’t call them that.

there, their, they’re“There” indicates a place. Over there.“Their” indicates possession. It’s their

project.“They’re” means “they are.”

Style notes -Commonly misused wordswho’s, whosewho’s = who iswhose asks a question about ownership:

Whose phone is that?

then, thanUse “than” to make a comparison. Jorge

was taller than Jon. Use “then” to indicate a time sequence:

First, I walked up the stairs, then I was out of breath.

Style notes -Commonly misused wordsLose, looseIf something is loose, it’s about to fall off. If you lose something, it’s lost.

Style Notes - Spelling●“Principle” is a matter honor, an idea.

“Principal” is the head of the school. (HINT: The principal is your pal. A pal is a friend, a person, not an idea.)

●“Judgment” has only one e.

●Receive - Remember the rule: “I before e except after c, or when sounded like a, as in neighbor or weigh.”

Style notes – Spelling

●Sophomore has three Os. Count them.●Definitely (no A anywhere)●A lot is two words. (Not alot.)●Occasion has two c’s, one s. ●Occurred has two c’s, two r’s.●Superintendent●Independent

Commas

Style notesCommas in a series●Do not use a comma before the ‘and’ in a

series: ◦ red, white and blue◦apples, oranges and grapes◦ Jim, Jose and Alec

●Use a comma to offset additional information that could be left out of the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence. ◦The baseball team won it’s first game, 15-11.◦ Jane Rojas, who is from Argentina, plays the

Peruvian pan-flute.

Hyphenation

Style notes - Hyphenation●email (no hyphen; new rule from AP)●cellphone (all one word; new rule from

AP)●web site (two words, lowercase)●T-shirt, with a capital T. Think about

what it looks like. It would be a turtleneck if it were a t-shirt.

●Teenager, all one word. No hyphen.●day-to-day●Biweekly (No hyphen. It means twice a

week.)●R-rated

Style notes - Hyphenation

●16-year-old●Long distance (two words) when used

alone or as a noun. ●Long-distance if used as an adjective

(long-distance runner; long-distance call)●Half-mast, half-staff

◦(A mast is on a boat. Most flags are flown half-staff to honor the dead. It’s only half-mast if the sentence is clearly talking about a boat or ship.)

Style notes - Hyphenation

●Kickoff, one word with no hyphen, is a noun or an adjective: ◦The kickoff for the year was a pep rally. The

Sharks gained 30 yards on the kickoff return.●Kick off, two words, is a verb:

◦Nolan Bieck kicked off every game for the Raiders this year.

●Halftime (one word)●extra base (two words)

Style Notes – Hyphenation ●13-year-old girl●30-second commercial●One-minute break●15-page paper●Three-day cruise●24-hour hotline●Queen-size bed

Directions and regions

Style notes – directions and regions

● In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate compass direction. BUT capitalize these words when they designate regions.

●Some examples:◦COMPASS DIRECTIONS:

⚫He drove west. The cold front is moving east.◦REGIONS:

⚫A storm system that developed in the Midwest is spreading eastward. It will bring showers to the East Coast by morning.

⚫The North was victorious. The South will rise again. ⚫Settlers from the East went west in search of new

lives.⚫ She has a Southern accent. He is a Northerner.

Apostrophe Use

Style notes – Apostrophes

Plurals of letters• Use an apostrophe for PLURALS OF A

SINGLE LETTER: Mind your p's and q's. He learned the three R's and brought home a report card with four A's and two B's. The Oakland A's won the pennant.

• Do not use an apostrophe for plurals of multiple-letter phrases: ABCs, APs, FCATs, Navy SEALs

Style notes – Apostrophes●Use an apostrophe to indicate possession.●NEVER use an apostrophe to indicate

more than one. Plurals take no apostrophe.

decades Use figures to indicate decades of history.

Use an apostrophe to indicate numerals that are left out; show plural by adding the letter s: the 1890s, the '90s, the Gay '90s, the 1920s, the mid-1930s.

NOT: Fifties, Seventies, Twenties

Capitalization and Abbreviation

Capitalization● In general, follow the rules for

common and proper nouns.● If it is a specific place or person,

capitalize it. If it’s one of many, don’t capitalize.

CapitalizationTitles of books, movies, CDs, plays, magazines,

newspapers●Italicize and capitalize them. Rolling Stone, the

Miami Herald, Julius Caesar, Inception●Don’t capitalize or italicize the word “magazine” or

“yearbook” when used with the name of a publication. Generally, those are not part of the publication’s formal name.

Brand names●Capitalize brand names in all uses. Styrofoam. Bose.

Xerox. Dr Pepper. Coca-Cola. Coke. Mac. Apple. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.There’s no period in Dr Pepper.

Capitalization

Subjects and course names●General subject names are not

capitalized. (biology, math, science, journalism, language arts)

●Specific course names are capitalized. (Biology 1, Introduction to Information Technology, AP Art History)

●Proper nouns are capitalized regardless. (American history, English, French, Spanish)

Capitalization

Places in the school●Capitalize the names of specific places,

such as Room 311, the Shark Shack, the Shark Tank and the North Miami Stadium.

●Places with general names are lowercase: the gym, the cafeteria, main office, the computer lab, the media center or library.

CapitalizationTeams and clubs●Capitalize the name of a mascot: Sharks,

Lightning, Marlins, Knights, Chargers●Lowercase the general names of teams:

boys varsity basketball, the wrestling team

●Capitalize when it’s a specialized team name: Lady Sharks, Diamond Dancers

●Use the specific name of the club and capitalize it: Key Club, Interact Club, Tiburon Book Club, Class of 2012, SHAPE, National Honor Society (No S on “honor” in honor societies.)

Capitalization

days of the week ●Capitalize them. Do not abbreviate.

seasons of the year●Lowercase seasons of the year:

spring, summer, autumn, fall, winter

Capitalization and abbreviation

●P.E. as an abbreviation for physical education is acceptable. Capitalize it and use periods after both letters.

●Spell out United Nations on first reference. U.N. (capitalized and with periods) is acceptable on second reference.

●U.S. ◦Use periods in the abbreviation U.S.

within texts. In headlines, it's US (no periods).

Other capitalization style notes●baby boomer - Lowercase, no hyphen

●School Board is capitalized.

●ZIP codesBelieve it or not, ZIP is an acronym, so it is

capitalized, all three letters. No periods.

Style notes – Formal titles●A formal title generally denotes

authority. Capitalize formal titles when they are used before a name: Pope Benedict XVI, President Barack Obama, Coach Richard Pugh. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Dr. Benjamin Spock, retired Gen. Colin PowellOther titles are more occupational descriptions and are not capitalized: astronaut John Glenn, movie star John Wayne, peanut farmer Jimmy Carter.

Style notes – Formal titles●Identifiers such as “principal” or

“coach” used as titles before the person’s name are capitalized. Principal Sally Alayon, Coach Adkins.

●But do not capitalize “coach” or “principal” when the name is not included.

●Use Mr. or Ms. for teachers and staff members on first reference. Include the first name on first reference.

Style notes – Formal titlesMinisters and priests: Use the Rev.

before a name on first reference. Do not routinely use curate, father, pastor and similar words before an individual's name. If they appear before a name in a quotation, capitalize them.

Rabbis: Use Rabbi before a name on first reference. On second reference, use only the last name.

Spell out Superintendent as a title. (Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, not Supt. Alberto Carvalho)

Style notes – Academic degrees●Avoid an abbreviation and use instead a

phrase such as: John Jones, who has a doctorate in psychology.

●Use an apostrophe in bachelor's degree, master's degree, etc., but there is no possessive (no apostrophe) in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science.

●Capitalize the specific name of the degree, but not the general (Bachelor of Science, bachelor’s degree)

●Also: an associate degree (no possessive).

MONTHS

Style notes — months● Capitalize months in all uses. ● When a month is used with a specific date,

abbreviate only Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec., Jan., Feb.

● Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.● When a phrase lists only a month and a year, do not

use a comma. When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas.◦ September 1999 was an unusually warm month. ◦ Sept. 2 was the warmest day of the year. ◦ Feb. 14, 1987, was the target date. ◦ She testified that it was Friday, Dec. 3, when the

accident occurred.◦ His birthday is May 8.

NUMBERS

Style notes - numbers ●Spell out one through nine. Starting

with 10, use numbers.●Spell out first through ninth. Starting

with 10th, use numbers.

●Exceptions when you always use the numerals:

• Time• Money• Ages

• Scores• Temperatures

(but spell out “zero”)

Style notes - NumbersAges: Someone’s age is always a numeral,

even if the age is less than 10.

Scores: Use figures exclusively, placing a hyphen between the totals of the winning and losing teams

●The Sharks defeated the Lightning, 4-3. ●The Sharks scored a 12-6 football victory over

the Bulldogs.●The golfer had a 5 on the first hole but finished

with a 2-under-par score.

Style notes - Numbers

Money (dollars) ●Use figures and the $ sign in all except

casual references or amounts without a figure: The book cost $4. Dad, please give me a dollar. Dollars are flowing overseas.

●For amounts of more than $1 million, use up to two decimal places. He is worth $4.35 million.

●For amounts less than $1 million: ◦$4, $25, $500, $1,000, $650,000.

Style notes - NumbersTime of day● Lowercase, with periods: a.m. / p.m.● Don’t ever use the word o’clock.●Midnight and noon, not 12 a.m. or 12

p.m.●You don’t need the :00 if it’s on the

hour.◦8 a.m.◦7:30 p.m.◦4:15 p.m

Style notes - Numberstemperatures ● Use figures for all except zero. Use a word, not

a minus sign, to indicate temperatures below zero.◦ Right: The day's low was minus 10.◦ Right: The day's low was 10 below zero.◦ Wrong: The day's low was -10.◦ Right: The temperature rose to zero by noon.◦ Right: The day's high was expected to be 9 or 10.◦ Also: 5-degree temperatures, temperatures fell 5

degrees, temperatures in the 30s (no apostrophe).● Temperatures get higher or lower, but they

don’t get warmer or cooler.

ADDRESSES

Style notes - Addresses●Abbreviate St., Ave., Blvd. when part of a

complete street address (with house or building number). Spell out all other street names and spell out Street, Avenue and Boulevard if you don’t have a number.

●Use NE SE SW SW (no periods) but use periods with N. S. E. W. in complete addresses.

●Spell out directional words if you are just naming the street without an address.

●EXAMPLES:◦The school is on Northeast 151st Street.◦The school is at 2601 NE 151st St.

General style and usagecopy editing reminders

Style notes●Check for factual errors.

●Check for complete information. ◦For example, there could be more than

one location for a chain restaurant or a hotel. Make sure your stories are clear about which hotel, restaurant, college campus or any other location.

Style Notes - General

Use gender-neutral language●Firefighter, not fireman. Police officer,

not policeman. Server, not waitress. Flight attendant, not stewardess.

Use first names on first reference.●You should make every effort to find

out and use the correct first names for teachers and staff members on first reference to them in stories.

Style Notes - General

“Let the quote marks HUG the comma,” Ms. Brennan said. “Please, keep the end punctuation inside the quotation marks!”

Yesterday, today, tomorrow … Avoid these, for obvious reasons. By the

time you post, it might not be right.Instead, use the day of the week, or for

longer-term stories, the date of the month.

Punctuation for quotes

Style notes – More than, over

●“over” generally refers to spatial relationships: The plane flew over the city.

●“More than” is preferred with numerals: Their salaries went up more than $20 a week.

●Think: If the sentence has numbers, use more than or less than. They don’t call these over/under symbols: < >.