Punctuation
Which is correct?
a) "I love chocolate chip cookies," she said.
b) "I love chocolate chip cookies", she said.
c) "I love chocolate chip cookies." She said.
d) I love chocolate chip cookies"! She said.
"I love chocolate chip cookies," she said.
Punctuation goes inside quote marks.
Which is correct?
a) He ate fifteen cookies!
b) He ate 15 cookies!
b) He ate 15 cookies!
In general, use numerals for figures of 10 and above. Spell out nine and below.
Which is correct?
The (President, president) is preparing to address the nation.
What is
The president is preparing to address the nation.
Capitalize president only as a formal title before one or more names, the Stylebook entry says. Lowercase in all other uses.
Chose one:
They plan to leave at .... for their long-delayed vacation.
a) 11 a.m.
b) 11:00 a.m.
c) 11 a.m. this morning
What is a) 11 a.m.
Use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 9-11 a.m., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Avoid such redundancies as 10 a.m. this morning, 10 p.m. tonight or 10 p.m. Monday night.
Choose one:
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Instagram post broke the (Internet, internet)!
What is
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Instagram post broke the internet!
The AP Stylebook officially changed style from Internet to internet in 2016.
Which is correct?
a) Its tough to remember everything from the AP Stylebook.
b) It's tough to remember everything from the AP Stylebook.
What is
b) It's tough to remember everything from the AP Stylebook.
It's = it is
Correct this:
He loved one sport: Running.
Running should be lower case.
He loved one sport: running.
Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence.
Which is correct?
a) Thirty-five students attended the lecture.
b) 35 students attended the lecture.
a) Thirty-five students attended the lecture.
When starting a sentence with a number, spell it out. Otherwise write out figures below 10 and use numerals for 10 and above.
Choose one:
Yesterday, (Presidents, presidents) Biden and Yoon met at the White House during an official state visit by the South Korean leader.
What is Presidents?
Capitalize official titles when before a name.
Choose one:
They targeted ____ to deliver their valentine a dozen red roses
a) Feb. 14, 2023, at 3 p.m.
b) Feb. 14, 2023 at 3 p.m.
What is
a) Feb. 14, 2023, at 3 p.m.
Set off a year with commas when used with a specific date.
Choose one:
The smiley face, monocle-wearing face and heart (emoji, emojis) are his favorites.
What is
Use emoji for both singular and plural.
Which is correct?
a) They're jealous of their professor's cookies on the table over there.
b) There jealous of they're professor's cookies on the table over their.
c) Their jealous of there professor's cookies on the table over they're.
What is a) They're jealous of their professor's cookies on the table over there.
They're = they are
There = denotes a direction or place
Their = possessive
Choose one:
Microsoft will continue selling the package as (standalone; stand-alone) software.
Microsoft will continue selling the package as stand-alone software.
The AP Stylebook hyphenates the adjective.
Which is correct?
Fox News agreed Tuesday to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly ($787.5 million, 787.5 million dollars, $787,500,000) to avert a trial in the voting machine company’s lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election.
What is $787.5 million.
Use the dollar sign for all dollar figures. Use the word million, billion and trillion instead of writing out the whole numerical figure.
Write out figures below $1 million using numerical figures. ($500,000 not $500 thousand).
Which is correct?
a) Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told the crowd Democrats are worried about democracy.
b) Michelle Wu, Boston's mayor, told the crowd Democrats are worried about Democracy.
What is
a) Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told the crowd Democrats are worried about democracy.
Democrats is upper case for political affiliation; democracy is lower case when describing a form of government
Which is correct?
Markets in the U.S. will close early ahead of the holiday. Trading will end at (noon; 12 noon).
What is:
noon.
Don't put 12 in front of it, nor 12 in front of midnight. Avoid using midnight. Instead, use 11:59 p.m. Thursday or 12:01 a.m. Friday. S
Choose one:
He said the group has (as good of a chance; as good a chance) as can be expected given its equipment.
What is "as good a chance."
AP Style "of, off" entry says "of" isn't needed here.
Choose one:
Unions protested the city's attempt to mend its (financially-battered, financially battered) budget by laying off workers.
What is "financially battered."
The Stylebook’s “-ly” entry says don't hyphenate adverbs ending in -ly and adjectives they modify (an easily remembered rule).
Which is correct?
a) The package was due last week; it arrived today.
b) The package was due last week; It arrived today.
What is a) The package was due last week; it arrived today.
The first word after a semicolon isn't capitalized unless it's a proper name or proper noun. The rules for colons and semicolons are different in that regard.
Which is correct?
At (Super Bowl XLIX, the 2015 Super Bowl), Russell Wilson's pass was intercepted by Malcom Butler, giving New England its fourth championship.
What is the 2015 Super Bowl.
The Roman numerals entry says that except in a formal reference as a literary device, pro football Super Bowls should be identified by the year played, rather than the Roman numerals: 1969 Super Bowl, not Super Bowl III.
Which is correct?
a) Emerson College and Trillium's proposal for a beer garden "blew others out of the water," said Ryan Woods, commissioner of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.
b) Emerson College and Trillium's proposal for a beer garden "blew others out of the water," said Ryan Woods, Commissioner of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.
What is
a) Emerson College and Trillium's proposal for a beer garden "blew others out of the water," said Ryan Woods, commissioner of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.
Capitalize formal titles before the person's name, lower case when written after the person's name.
a) They were from Tarzana, Calif. and Boston, Mass.
b) They were from Tarzana, CA and Boston, MA
c) They were from Tarzana, California and Boston.
What is
c) They were from Tarzana, California and Boston.
For locations, put a comma between the city and the state. For cities that stand alone in datelines, don't use the state or country.
Which use of "alleged" is correct?
a) The district attorney accused her of allegedly taking a bribe.
b) The district attorney alleged that she took a bribe.
b) The district attorney alleged that she took a bribe.
Avoid redundancies, such as "accused her of allegedly taking a bribe."
Choose one:
The peaceful vote and transition (is seen, are seen) as evidence that democracy is maturing in the country.
What is
The peaceful vote and transition are seen as evidence that democracy is maturing in the country.
The dual subject (vote and transition) requires a plural verb, a fundamental rule of grammar.
Which is correct?
Judges could reduce the no-parole sentence to (25 years to life; 25-years-to-life) if the inmate shows remorse.
25 years to life
The Stylebook's "hyphen" entry explains that a COMPOUND MODIFIER preceding a noun is hyphenated. In this sentence, the prison sentence is not a compound modifier and thus not hyphenated.
Which is correct?
a) Among the attendees were a six-month-old boy and a seven-year-old girl.
b) Among the attendees were a 6-month-old boy and a 7-year-old girl.
b) 6-month-old boy ... 7-year-old girl.
Use figures, not words, for ages.
The Stylebook specifies that ages are expressed with figures.
Which is the correct way to write the title?
a) Emerson College alums Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert capped swept the Academy Awards with their madcap multiverse-hopping film, "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
b) Emerson College Alums Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert capped swept the Academy Awards with their madcap multiverse-hopping film, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
c) Emerson College alums Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert swept the Academy Awards with their madcap multiverse-hopping film, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
What is
a) Emerson College alums Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert swept the Academy Awards with their madcap multiverse-hopping film, "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
Put quotation marks around the title of all creative works, including books, movies, plays, poems, albums, songs, operas, radio and television programs, lectures, speeches, and works of art. The exceptions are the Bible, the Quran and other holy books.
Which address is correct?
a) 33 Yellow Brick Road, Munchkinland, Minnesota.
b) 33 Yellow Brick Rd., Munchkinland, Minn.
c) 33 Yellow Brick Rd., Munchkinland, MN
a) 33 Yellow Brick Road, Munchkinland, Minnesota
(I know, right?)
- Use Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Without a number, Pennsylvania Avenue.
All similar words (alley, drive, road, terrace, etc.) always are spelled out.
Choose one:
The defense is likely to (refute; rebut) the insanity finding.
What is: The defense is likely to rebut the insanity finding.
The Stylebook's "rebut, refute" entry says rebut means argue to the contrary. Refute connotes a successful argument.
Use rebut when the outcome isn't known.
Do you research the effects or the affects?
What is the "effects?"
A good way to remember this: You affect the effects.
NOTE: Affect, as a verb, means to influence.
Effect, as a noun, means a result.