Dates, Months, Years
How should days of the week be written?
Capitalized and written out (no abbreviations)
Ex: Monday, Wednesday
What numbers should be spelled out?
Numbers under ten.
When introducing a student, what information should you include?
Full name
Year in school (ex: junior)
Home city and country
Major
With professors include: full name and faculty name (ex: Faculty of Arts & Letters)
Commmunity members: full name and community they’re from (ex: Hauula)
How should you use commas when writing dates?
Commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given.
Ex: March 15, 2020
What is wrong with the following sentences?
She said that she is happy.
He shared that his favorite quote.
Unnecessary usage of "that".
How should months be written when using alone or with a year?
Spelled out and always capitalized
Ex: January, January 2016
What is wrong with this sentence?
She planned the party for his 3rd birthday.Using the numeral with 'rd' instead of writing out 'third'.
You should never use numerals with the addition of “st, nd, rd, or th" in AP style.
How should you write the name of our school when referring to it for the first time in a story?
Write the full name, with the en dash, when first referencing the school
Ex: BYU–Hawaii
Use the abbreviated form every instance after, unless in direct quote.
Ex: BYUH
What is the Oxford comma and how is it used in AP style?
It is the final comma is in a list of 3 or more things.
Ex: I like dogs, cats, and birds.
The Oxford comma is NOT used in AP style.
Correct ex: I like dogs, cats and birds.
When are the names of seasons capitalized?
Never. Seasons are always lowercase, even when using it with a semester.
Ex: summer, fall, winter semester, spring semester
How should you write decades or centuries, when it is not written with a month or date?
Use the letter ‘s’ but not an apostrophe after the figures.
Ex: 1980s, 1800s
When is it acceptable to use the % symbol?
Never! Always spell out 'percent'.
Ex: 100 percent
When should a job title be capitalized?
(president, professor, etc.)
When used in front of an individuals name.
Ex: President Kauwe
It should be lowercase if it falls after the name.
Ex: John Kauwe, president of BYUH
How do you write a decade when the beginning numerals are left out?
It is written with an apostrophe before the figures, in place of the missing ones.
Ex: '90s, '70s
When should you spell out the name of a state?
When it stands alone.
Ex: She went to California.
When a city and state are used together it should be abbreviated except for Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah.
Ex: She went to Irvine, Calif.
He was traveling to Nashville, Tenn.
When should the names of months be abbreviated?
When used with with a date.
Ex: Jan. 13, 2022
15-POINT BONUS: Which months are exceptions to this rule?
How should you write a person's age?
Always use numerals when referring to age.
Ex: She is 7.
What is wrong with this phrase?
"The 5 year old boy."
The 5-year-old boy.
Hyphenate when adjective. No hyphen when acts as a noun.
Ex: The boy is 5 years old.
How should you punctuate a quote within a quote?
By using apostrophes around the inner quote.
Ex: “I was like, ‘Why can’t you just text her?’” close the single quotes and then do the double with no space in between.
Ex: “He told me, ‘It’s not as easy as you think,’ so I dropped the subject.”
*punctuation always goes inside the quotation marks*
When should you use italics in AP style?
Never!
Put quotes around book titles, movie titles, opera titles, play titles, poem titles, album and song titles, radio and television program titles, and the titles of lectures, speeches and works of art.
How should you write the times of the day?
Use figures with times except for noon and midnight. Never use :00
Ex: 3:30 p.m., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
When do you capitalize the name of a major/program?
Never unless it is a language, such as English, French or Japanese, or if it is at the beginning of a sentence.
The same rule applies to freshman, sophomore, junior, senior.
Faculties should always be written exactly as they are on Workday.
Ex: Faculty of Culture, Language & Performing Arts NOT: Faculty of Culture, Language and Performing Arts or faculty of culture, language & performing arts
How should you use an ellipses? (...)
If the ellipsis follows a grammatically complete sentence, place a period after the last word preceding the ellipsis, and insert a space between this period and the ellipsis.
Example: Ellipses can be tricky. … Use with care.
Apply the same punctuation sequence when the grammar preceding an ellipsis calls for a question mark, exclamation point, comma or colon.
Example: Where should the ellipsis go? … That was easy.