ABBREVIATIONS
True or False — You can abbreviate days of the week in regular writing.
❌ False — Only in tabulated material.
Spell out or use numerals?
“There are ___ dogs at the park.”
✅ Spell out numbers below 10 → “three dogs.”
Capitalize or lowercase: “Department of Journalism”?
✅ Lowercase → “department of journalism.”
Should you use the Oxford comma?
❌ No — “red, white and blue.”
Should you use courtesy titles like Mr. or Mrs.?
only when necessary for identification?
Which month should be abbreviated when paired with a date: “February 12” or “June 12”?
✅ “February 12” → “Feb. 12” (months with more than five letters are abbreviated).
Which is correct? “6:00 p.m.” or “6 p.m.”
✅ “6 p.m.” (no extra zeros)
When should you capitalize “professor”?
✅ Only when it’s part of a formal title before a name (rare); otherwise lowercase.
Where do commas and periods go in relation to quotation marks?
✅ Inside the quotation marks.
Which is correct: “email” or “e-mail”?
What is email?
What’s the correct AP Style for this address? “1600 Elm Avenue”
✅ “1600 Elm Ave.” (abbreviate Ave., Blvd., St. with numbered addresses)
Write this correctly: “She earned 40.00 dollars.”
✅ “She earned $40.” (no unnecessary decimals)
True or False — Capitalize directions when referring to regions.
✅ True → “He’s from the Midwest.”
What’s the correct way to write:
“Aug. 3rd,” “Aug. 3,” or “August 3rd”?
✅ “Aug. 3” (no “rd,” “th,” or “nd”)
When referring to time, should you use “yesterday” or “Monday”?
What is Monday (use the day of the week, not relative time)?
When should “percent” be abbreviated with the % symbol?
✅ When used with a number (e.g., “5%,” not “five percent”).
True or False — You always spell out fractions less than one.
✅ True (e.g., “one-third”)
Which is correct?
a) “Main And Elm Streets”
b) “Main and Elm streets”
✅ “Main and Elm streets” (lowercase plural common nouns).
Which is correct for collective nouns?
a) “The group were late.”
b) “The group was late.”
✅ “The group was late.” (collective nouns take singular verbs)
How should you format addresses with compass directions?
What is abbreviate with numbered addresses (220 E. 42nd St.) but spell out otherwise (East 42nd Street)?
Spell out this sentence correctly in AP Style:
“Mr. John Smith, the Gov. of Texas, met Sen. Jane Doe.”
✅ “John Smith, the governor of Texas, met Sen. Jane Doe.”
What’s the correct AP Style for money and percent:
“He donated $1,000,000 and 10 percent of his salary.”
✅ “He donated $1 million and 10% of his salary.”
Capitalize or lowercase: “University” when it stands alone after “Florida State University.”
✅ Lowercase → “the university.”
What’s wrong with this phrase: “The party consisted of J.L. Jones, Mrs. Ed Kelly, his secretary, Mrs. Jones, and Mrs. Brown, her nurse”?
✅ It needs semicolons to separate elements containing commas.
What’s the correct way to refer to web-related terms like “Internet” and “website”?
What is lowercase them (internet, website, web)?