AP STYLE QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE STYLE NUMBERS RULE
1. The numbers one through nine are written out. 2. The numbers 10 and up are numerals. 3. When referring to a person’s age, numerals are always used. 4. Percentages are always expressed as numerals, followed by the word “percent.” Do NOT use the percentage sign. 5. Dollar amounts are always expressed as numerals, and the “$” sign is used. If an amount is a million or more, the words “million” or “billion” are written out, rather than having a series of zeros. 6. Dollar amounts do NOT include the two zeroes after the decimal. 7. If the amount of money is in cents only, write out the word “cents” after the numeral. 8. Use numerals for measurements. The type of measurement is also typically written out. 9. If a number begins a sentence, it should ALWAYS be written out. 10. Fractions are usually written out. 11. Use commas in numbers with four or more digits, EXCEPT IN YEARS AND STREET ADDRESSES. DO
(one, two, three …) (10, 11, 12 …) She has a 2‐year‐old son. Her daughter is 9 years old. Tom was absent eight days last week, and 13 days last month.
The price of gas rose 5 percent. $5, $15, $150, $150,000, $15 million, $15 billion, $15.5 billion $5, $30, $200 30 cents 3 inches, 7 feet, 20 meters Twenty‐one people attended the meeting. About two‐thirds of the people left early. 1,500 eggplants. 23,879 students. 7034 Aunt Bea St. The year 1984. DON’T
The price of gas rose 5%. $5.00, $30.00, $200.00 $0.30 three inches or 3 in. About 2/3 of the people left early. PUNCTUATION, QUOTATIONS 12. Specific years are always expressed as numerals. a. An apostrophe is NOT placed between the number and the letter “s” when expressing a decade. b. Abbreviated expressions of decades will have an apostrophe before the numbers, but there is no apostrophe between the numbers and the letter “s.” 13. Use hyphens, NOT periods, in phone numbers and toll‐free numbers. 1. No comma is needed after the second item in a series of three or more items. a. Use a comma also before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases. b. Use a comma if the subject of each clause is expressly stated. c. NO comma when the subject of the two clauses is the same and is NOT repeated in the second. d. Commas always go inside quotation marks. 2. The comma is omitted before Roman numerals and before Jr. and Sr. in names. POSSESSIVES 3. In direct quotations, periods and commas are always placed inside the closing quotation marks. 1. To form the possessive of a singular common noun NOT ending in "s," add an apostrophe and an "s." 2. To form the possessive of a singular common noun ending in "s," add an apostrophe and an “s.” 1970s. The ’70s 212‐621‐1500 800‐111‐1000 Larry, Moe and Curly. The main points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude. We visited Washington, and our senator greeted us personally. We are visiting Washington and plan to see the White House. The sign changed from "Walk," to "Don't Walk," to "Walk" again within 30 seconds. Adlai Stevenson III, John Elliot Jr. "I'm buying a doormat," Vandross said. The course's syllabus The class's professor. 1970’s. The 70s or the ’70’s Larry, Moe, and Curly. 3. To form the possessive of a singular proper noun ending in "s," add an apostrophe only. 4. To form the possessive of a plural common noun ending in "s," add an apostrophe. 5. Use the possessive form of a noun that precedes a gerund or gerund phrase. A gerund is simply a verb that has "‐ing" on the end: walking, talking, cooking, writing, etc. 6. Know the format of certain professional documentation and standards. WHO/THAT Use "who" to refer to people and to animals that have a name. Use "that" to refer both to objects and to animals that don't have specific names. DATES AND DAYS 1. Dates are expressed as numerals. The months August through February are abbreviated when used with numbered dates. March through July are never abbreviated. a. Months without dates are NOT abbreviated. b. “Th” is NOT used after the date. 2. Days of the week should not be abbreviated; they should be spelled out. TIMES 1. When writing out times, (a.m.) and (p.m.) are always lower‐case and have periods. a. 12 a.m. is always written out as (midnight), and 12 p.m. is always written out as (noon). b. For times that are on the hour, no zeros are needed to denote the minutes. c. Avoid redundancies: If (a.m.) is included with the time, there is no need to have (in the morning), and vice versa. If (p.m.) is included with the time, there is no need to have (in the afternoon/at night), and vice versa. worker’s compensation, homeowners/homeowners’ equity a. He's the one who wrote the report. b. They're the ones who wrote the report. c. Lassie was a dog who starred in a 1950s TV show. d. Here's the report that I wrote. e. There's the dog that I was telling you about. The meeting is on Oct. 15. She was born on July 12. I love the weather in November. Jan. 17th Jan. 17 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sun Moses' law, Jesus' parables The boys' toys A last‐minute compromise prevented the workers' walking off the job. workers’ compensation, homeowner’s equity 5 p.m., 6:30 a.m., 12:45 p.m. 1 p.m. He ate breakfast at 7 a.m. He ate breakfast at 7 in the morning. 1:00 p.m. He ate breakfast at 7 a.m. in the morning. INTERNET The word “email” does NOT have a hyphen. Email E‐mail or e‐mail a. If an Internet address falls at the end of a sentence, use a period. If an address breaks between lines, split it directly after a slash or a dot that is part of the address, without an inserted hyphen. b. Use the http:// protocol at the start of the Web address, as well as other starts, such as ftp://. STATES, ADDRESSES 1. If a state abbreviation is used within the text, the standard abbreviation should be used. a. 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Her hometown is Dallas, Texas, but she moved to Akron, Ohio, last week. Our store in Miami, Fla., is open every day. GA, FL, PA, TN 123 Main St., Atlanta, GA 30303 x.
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Georgia = Ga., GA Hawaii = Hawaii, HI Idaho = Idaho, ID Illinois = Ill., IL Indiana = Ind., IN Iowa = Iowa, IA Kansas = Kan., KS Kentucky = Ky., KY Louisiana = La., LA Maine = Maine, ME Maryland = Md., MD Massachusetts = Mass., MA Michigan = Mich., MI Minnesota = Minn., MN Mississippi = Miss., MS Missouri = Mo., MO Montana = Mont., MT Nebraska = Neb., NE Nevada = Nev., NV New Hampshire = N.H., NH New Jersey = N.J., NJ New Mexico = N.M., NM New York = N.Y., NY North Carolina = N.C., NC North Dakota = N.D., ND Ohio = Ohio, OH Oklahoma = Okla., OK Oregon = Ore., OR Pennsylvania = Pa., PA Rhode Island = R.I., RI South Carolina = S.C., SC South Dakota = S.D., SD Tennessee = Tenn., TN Texas = Texas, TX Utah = Utah, UT Vermont = Vt., VT Virginia = Va., VA xlvii.
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Washington = Wash., WA West Virginia = W.Va., WV Wisconsin = Wis., WI Wyoming = Wyo., WY 3. Numerals are used for numbered addresses. Street (St.), avenue (Ave.) and boulevard (Blvd.) are abbreviated when used with a numbered address, but are written out in all other instances. All other types of roadways are written out, with or without a numbered address (route, road, circle, drive, court, highway). a. Spell out numbered streets from first through ninth. Use numerals for higher numbers. b. If a direction is given after the number (North, South, East, West), it should be abbreviated (N., S., E., W.). If there is no number, the direction is spelled out. c. There are no periods in quadrant abbreviations like NW and SE. JOB TITLES Job titles are generally capitalized when they appear before a person’s name, but lower‐case after the name. a. Generally, the job title of (manager) is NOT capitalized, even if it comes before the name. b. Don't capitalize other occupational descriptions or false titles before a name. a. He lives at 123 Main St. She lives at 123 Carol Ave. b. He lives on Carol Avenue, near Main Street. c. Her house is on 234 Elm Road. d. I had a nightmare on Elm Road. I live on Fifth Avenue. She lives on 755 Seventh St. The store is located on 14th Avenue. Let’s meet at 8558 21st St. He lives at 12 E. Main St. She hates the shops on East Main Street. He bought the lot at 1455 W. Honeydew Blvd. She would take West Honeydew Boulevard on her way home. He lives at 12 NW Scarlet St. I went to the theater on Northwest Scarlet Street. He visited his grandma at 1455 SE Honeydew Blvd. She moved into an apartment on Southeast Honeydew Boulevard. President Barack Obama. Barack Obama is the president. Store manager Jimmy Stewart had a wonderful life. I met actor Kevin Costner, author James Baldwin and feminist Mary c. Generally, film, book and song titles are capitalized and placed in quotation marks. Do NOT use quotation marks with reference books or the names of newspapers or magazines. d. Titles are never put in italics and are never underlined. 1. The hyphen is used in phrasal adjectives. 2. The hyphen is NOT used in sequences in which the adverb has an “‐ly” suffix. 3. In combinations of a number plus a noun of measurement, use a hyphen. 4. A hyphen is always used with the prefix “ex‐.” Use “OK” in every circumstance. HYPHEN OK Smith. He rented “Star Wars” on DVD. She read “War and Peace.” My subscriptions to Time and The Atlanta Journal‐Constitution will expire soon. a 7‐year‐old boy, an off‐the‐cuff opinion, a little‐known man a gravely ill patient, a relatively weird student a 3‐inch bug, a 6‐foot man, a two‐man team ex‐president, ex‐chairman He said it was OK. He said it was okay. He said it was o.k.