You should know these key elements of AP Style. Thee style rules cover much
of what you need to know and should be committed to memory:
1. Addresses. Capitalize and abbreviate Avenue, Boulevard and Street
when used with specific addresses. She lives at 668 Rolling Rock Blvd.
Do not abbreviate road, drive, court or terrace even with a specific
address. Her cottage is at 3500 N. Booth Road. Capitalize those
designators when used as a formal name. Use lowercase when
referring to two or more. He moved to an apartment on Gordon Drive.
The store is near the corner of Kennedy and North streets. An easy way
to remember which address designations is abbreviated: Think abs
(as in six-pack abs) for avenue, boulevard and street.
When you are writing about a specific address, abbreviate compass
directions (north, south, east and west). Use figures for all address
numbers. Spell out street names below 10 (Sixth Avenue).
Examples: 2862 E. Booth Road, 837 W. Fourth St., 17 N. 42nd Ave.
2. Ages. Always use numerals. The boy is 4 years old. My car is 10 years
old. He has a 3-year-old daughter. Use hyphens if the age is used as an
adjective before a noun.
3. Capitalization. Capitalize proper nouns or common nouns that are
part of a formal or official name. City Council and Legislature are
capitalized when referring to a specific city council. Don’t capitalize
council standing alone. Lowercase common nouns standing alone or
when they are used as part of two or more formal names. Examples:
Lincoln City Council, the council
Higgins Lake, the lake
Missouri and Mississippi rivers
Capitalize formal titles if they come before a name. Vice President Joe
Biden attended the funeral. Lowercase the title if it is used after a
name. Sally Smith, vice president of the student Senate, won a second
term.
4. Collective nouns. Nouns that refer to a single unit take a singular
verb and pronoun. The team is in second place. The committee is
narrowing its search to three candidates. Team names take plural
verbs. The Cornhuskers are going to the Fiesta Bowl.
5. Commas, periods and initials. The stylebook contains an entire
guide to punctuation including comma use. Note that AP differs from
many common grammar guides on one use of a comma. AP says not to
use a comma before a conjunction in a simple series. I had bacon, eggs
and hash browns for breakfast. If a key element of the series requires
a conjunction, however, use a comma. I had tomato juice, yogurt, and
ham and eggs for breakfast. And finally, use common sense if the
meaning of the series is unclear without the comma. This book is
dedicated to my parents, Elvis Presley and Ann Margret.
Do not use periods in these organization or company abbreviations:
CIA, FBI, GOP, FCC, CBS, GM or AT & T. No periods needed for time
zones either. It’s EST or CDT. Use periods and lowercase a.m. and p.m.
Uppercase and use periods in academic degrees: B.A. or M.A. and in
geographical points such as U.S.
6. Months, Dates and Years. Always spell out days of the week. Always
spell out March, April, May, June and July. Abbreviate the names of
the months with longer names if they are used with an exact date. Use
numerals for specific dates. If using months without a date, spell the
month out. Sue’s birthday is Jan. 1. Her daughter’s birthday is in
October. Always use a comma between a specific date and a year. If a
sentence continues after a date is used, use a comma after the year as
well. She turned 22 on Aug. 31, 2010. Once the law took effect on July 1,
2009, the price of cigarettes rose. We went to Europe in May 2008. Don’t
use both day and date.
7. Essential and non-essential phrases and clauses. These stylebook
entries will help you punctuate your work properly. Remember: If a
phrase or clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence it should
NOT have commas. If a phrase or clause is not essential to the
meaning of the sentence, set it off with commas. Students who read
every day become better writers. The clause who read every day is
essential to the meaning of the sentence. Therefore, no commas. My
car, which is parked in the garage, needs an oil change. The clause,
“which is parked in the garage,” is not essential to understand the
sentence. Commas should set off the clause because it can be
dropped. People are often confused by clauses using “that” or “which.”
Remember: “That” never takes a comma. “Which” almost always
needs a comma.
8. Hyphens: Use them sparingly to avoid ambiguity. When you use a
compound adjective before a noun, usually you hyphenate it. She
drove down the one-way street. He has a full-time job. When those same
modifiers are used after a noun, they are usually not hyphenated. She
drove one way. He works full time. There are exceptions so check the
punctuation guide in the stylebook. Do not use hyphens with most ly
words. McCain ran a poorly financed campaign. Use hyphens with
votes and scores too. The Senate voted 96-4. The Tigers lost 3-2.
9. Numerals. In general, spell out numbers below 10. Use figures for 10
and above. Kevin spent five months in Alaska. Lisa had 36 rose bushes
in her yard. George got a speeding ticket for driving 80 mph through
campus. Check the stylebook because there are many exceptions to
this rule. Ages, for instance, always take a numeral. Times and dates
take numerals. It starts at 5 a.m. Money always uses numerals. She
needed $3 for a tip. Use numerals with percentages and ratios. Use
numerals for speed: 9 mph. Temperatures, scores and votes also use
numerals.
10. Quotation marks. Use quotation marks around the exact words of a
speaker. “I just cost that kid a perfect game,” said umpire Jim Joyce. Put
periods and commas inside quotation marks. “This has always seemed
funny to me,” she said. Other punctuation marks go inside only if they
apply to the quoted matter. “How cool!” she exclaimed. They go
outside if they apply to the entire sentence. Have you seen “Julie and
Julia”?
11. Cities and States. Spell out the names of states when used alone. She
drove to Nebraska from Michigan. Abbreviate most state names when
used after city names. The eight exceptions are: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho,
Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Those states are never
abbreviated. Note: AP’s abbreviations are different than the U.S.
Postal Service so look them up if you aren’t sure. She drove from
Michigan to Lincoln, Neb. In most cases, use state names with cities
outside the state of publication. If you are writing a story for a
Nebraska publication, you can simply refer to Hastings. Emily Ingram
is from Hastings. But if you’re writing the same story in Michigan, you
would say Hastings, Neb. Emily Ingram lived in Hastings, Neb., before
she moved to Washington D.C. Under datelines in the AP Stylebook,
the large cities that do not require state names are listed.
12. TITLES: Capitalize short formal titles before a name. If a title is used
before a name, do NOT set it off with commas. Abbreviate senator
and governor when used as a formal title before a name. Sen. Ben
Nelson met with Gov. Dave Heineman on the farm bill. When used after
a name, those same titles are spelled out and lowercase. Ben Nelson, a
Democratic senator, met with Dave Heineman, a Republican governor,
to discuss the farm bill. When a title is long, it reads better to place it
after the name. Brady Jones, president of the student chapter of the
American Copy Editors Society, is a senior. When titles are used
without a specific name, spell them out and use lowercase. The
president was outraged by the oil spill. Occupational titles are not
formal or official and are not capitalized. Examples: reporter Ben
Burns, sophomore Maggie Davis, janitor Myles Lee.
AP does not use courtesy titles (Mr., Mrs., Ms.) unless needed to
differentiate between a husband and wife. Use Dr. as a first reference
only to a medical doctor. Don’t use Dr. for Ph.D’s.