Numbers & Dates
Spell out numbers below this number when they start a sentence.
What is 10? (Always spell out numbers below 10 at the start of sentences)
Do this to official titles when they come before a name, but not when they come after.
What is capitalize? (Example: "President Biden" vs. "Joe Biden, president")
This punctuation mark always go inside quotation marks.
What is a comma? (Example: "I'm leaving," she said.)
The correct abbreviation for United States.
What is U.S. (with periods)
The correct capitalization for seasons.
What is lowercase? (spring, summer, fall, winter)
The correct way to write 3:30 in the afternoon.
What is 3:30 p.m.? (lowercase with periods)
After first reference, refer to people this way in news stories.
What is last name only?
Use this punctuation instead of italics for titles of books, movies, and TV shows.
What are quotation marks? (Example: "Gone with the Wind" not Gone with the Wind)
The correct abbreviation for Street in addresses.
What is St.?
How to write September 15, 2024 when used with a specific date.
What is Sept. 15, 2024? (No ordinal suffixes like "st," "nd," "rd," "th")
In AP Style, use Dr. only for this type of doctor.
What is a medical doctor
The correct punctuation for a series of three items.
What is no Oxford comma? (Example: "red, white and blue")
How to write state names when used with city names.
What is spell them out? (Pullman, Washington)
Capitalize directional words like North and South when they refer to this.
What are regions of the country? (Example: "the South" or "the West" but lowercase in "north of the city")
How to write someone's age when it comes before their name as a descriptor.
What is hyphenated? (Example: "The 25-year-old student")
Don't use these titles (Mr. and Mrs.).
What are courtesy titles
The correct way to punctuate ratios.
What is with a hyphen? (Example: "a 3-2 vote")
The rule for abbreviating months.
What is abbreviate months with more than five letters when used with specific dates? (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.)
This is how you handle trademarked names with unusual capitalization like iPhone or eBay.
What is use the company's preferred spelling?
The correct way to express $1,200,000.
What is $1.2 million? (Use million/billion for numbers 1 million and above)
When using religious titles like Reverend, always include this word before the title.
What is "the"? (Always "the Rev. John Smith," never just "Rev. John Smith")
In quotes this indicates something has been removed.
What is an ellipses? ("I think . . . we should go" shows words were omitted)
These three government agency acronyms are so well-known they can be used on first reference without spelling out.
What are FBI, CIA and IRS?
This is the preferred word to use with numbers instead of "over."
What is "more than"? (Example: "More than 100 people attended" not "Over 100 people attended")