AP Style

Question 1

How are full dates written?
Month day?
Month year?
Month day year?

Answer 1

Monday, Aug. 1, 2023 (following comma if necc)
* Avoid day if you can.
Aug. 28
August 2023
Aug. 28, 2023
If just a day or just a month, write it out.

*Days will never have st, th, rd, th etc.

Question 2

What are preferences in regard to days of the week (Monday, Tuesday) being included with the date?

Answer 2

There is no specific case. It is preferred removed bc date.

And do not abbreviate the day of the week.

Ex: The class begins Oct. 15.

Question 3

How do you deal with two people in an article with same last name?

Answer 3

If two people with the same last name are quoted in a story, use first and last names throughout.

Question 4

Capitalization of Formal Titles

Answer 4

Formal titles are only capitalized when they appear immediately before a name.

Pope Francis, the current pope, left the Vatican for a world tour.

Question 5

Capitalization of departments and class titles

Answer 5

Titles of departments and names of classes are not capitalized unless they are also a language or nationality.

Question 6

How do you write academic degrees?

Answer 6

Use an apostrophe and spell out academic degrees (bachelor’s degree)

Abbreviate degrees if you must include a list of credentials after a name; set them off w commas. (Holden, Ph.D.)

Question 7

What about acronyms?

Answer 7

Don’t use them
Spell out on first mention. On subsequent mentions, use generic terms such as the board, the division, etc.
Don’t put acronyms in parentheses after the first reference (WWJD).

Question 8

How do you determine the spelling of an address?

Answer 8

Spell out all parts of street names (avenue, north, road) when no number is given.

If # is used, abbrev Ave., Blvd., St. & directional parts of street nm. (160 Penn Ave.)
Spell out and cap when part of a formal street name w/o #: Penn Avenue.

L/c and spell out if alone or w more than one street name: Main and Penn avenues.

Always use figures for an address. Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names.
7 Fifth Ave.

Use periods P.O. Box

Abbreviate compass pts in a numbered address: 222 E. 42nd St.; Don’t abbrev w/o #: East 42nd Street

State name abbrev when zip code used. (Pa. nt PA)

Question 9

A few normal words not to capitalize

Answer 9

S(2)pud FB
Do not capitalize section, state, program, unit, department, division, federal, board, etc., unless the word is part of a formal name.

Question 10

How does AP Style write 12 time?

Answer 10

noon / midnight

Question 11

Values that are always numbers?

Answer 11

Stamp Chad

○ Speed abbrev
○ Temperatures 2 degrees, 2 F; minus 5 degrees
○ Times
○ Ages, but not for inanimate objects: 4-year-old cat; the four-year-old car
○ millions, billions l/c
○ Percentages. Percent is one word.
Cents
○ Highways U.S. Route 1
Addresses
○ Dollars. $3 (no .00)
○ Dates. Dates take cardinal numbers.
○ Dimensions 5 foot 2 inches, 5-by-9 cell

Question 12

What happens when a number starts a sentence?
A year?

Answer 12

Words — Ten thousand people marched on the capital.

Digits — 1999 was a bad year for technology companies.

Question 13

How do you pluralize a number?
Make a decade possessive? / Abbrev?

Answer 13

Add an s but no apostrophe to a number to make it plural.

Use an apostrophe on a decade only if cutting off the initial figures. 1980s / ’80s

Question 14

How does AP make possessive plural nouns ending in s? (judges, teachers, bosses etc.)

Answer 14

For plural nouns ending in s, add only an apostrophe.

the students’ grades, states’ rights

Question 15

How does AP make singular common nouns possessive (‘/’s)?

Answer 15

Add ‘s

the dress’s, kiss’s

Question 16

How do you punctuate names ending in s?
Names w/ s sounds (Marx)?

Answer 16

Use only an apostrophe.
With sounds such as x, ce, and z, use ‘s.

Brandeis’ mission
Marx’s theories

Question 17

Plurals of a single letter?

Answer 17

A’s

Question 18

What punctuation goes inside/outside quotation marks?

Answer 18

The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks.

DQ ES
The dash, semicolon, question mark and exclamation point go
within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

Question 19

Which states are not abbreviated in AP?

Answer 19

OUI THAM!! or AI(2)MOUTH
Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah

Question 20

What does AP specify for United States about first/second reference?

Answer 20

United States on first reference
U.S.on second reference

Question 21

What does AP say about books, movies, plays, poems, albums, songs, operas, radio and television programs, lectures, speeches, and works of art?

Answer 21

Put in quotes
Capitalize ALL words except articles, prep of 3 or less, conjunctions 3 or less

Question 22

When do you abbreviate state names?

Answer 22

Lists
Tables
Datelines
Photo captions
Nonpublishable editor’s notes
Short-form identification
Political party affiliation
Agate editions
Credit lines

Main, Ohio, Texas, Hawaii, Alaska, Iowa, Illinois and Utah are never abbreviated.

Question 23

How do I abbreviate state names?

Answer 23

Not by state names!

Alabama (Ala.) Maryland (Md.) North Dakota (N.D.)
Arizona (Ariz.) Massachusetts (Mass.) Oklahoma (Okla.)
Arkansas (Ark.) Michigan (Mich.) Oregon (Ore.)
California (Calif.) Minnesota (Minn.) Pennsylvania (Pa.)
Colorado (Colo.) Mississippi (Miss.) Rhode Island (R.I.)
Connecticut (Conn.) Missouri (Mo.) South Carolina (S.C.)
Delaware (Del.) Montana (Mont.) South Dakota (S.D.)
Florida (Fla.) Nebraska (Neb.) Tennessee (Tenn.)
Georgia (Ga.) Nevada (Nev.) Vermont (Vt.)
Illinois (Ill.) New Hampshire (N.H.) Virginia (Va.)
Indiana (Ind.) New Jersey (N.J.) Washington (Wash.)
Kansas (Kan.) New Mexico (N.M.) West Virginia (W.Va.)
Kentucky (Ky.) New York (N.Y.) Wisconsin (Wis.)
Louisiana (La.) North Carolina (N.C.) Wyoming (Wyo.)

Question 24

When is a state’s name abbrev?

Answer 24

If a state’s name is standing alone or in conjunction with a city or town in your text, spell out the entire state’s name.

The state of Michigan is made up of two peninsulas.

I am on my way to visit Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Question 25

How are state names written in headlines?

Answer 25

This is to be avoided. If done, pds from states w 2 capitals: NY, NJ, NH, NM, NC, SC, ND, SB, RI are removed. (periods kept in others such as Pa.)

Question 26

How do we write the seasons?

Answer 26

Lowercase spring, summer, fall and winter unless the season is used in a formal name: Winter Olympics.

Question 27

How are locations written in text?

Answer 27

Capitalize room when with the number of the room: Room 200, Burdine Hall.

Capitalize proper names of buildings, incl the word building if it’s part of the proper nm: the Empire State Building.

Question 28

How do you write specific geographic regions?

Answer 28

Midwest, the South Side of Chicago, the Panhandle, West Texas (not Western Texas), South Texas, Eastern New Mexico (not East New Mexico), Southern California (not South California).

For instance: Permian Basin, the Hill Country

Question 29

What can abbreviated in an address?

Answer 29

ABS
Abbreviate avenue (Ave.), boulevard (Blvd.) and street (St.) when a complete address is given. Never abbreviate Road, Drive, Terrace or others.

Question 30

Random words

Answer 30

forward
backward
email
canceled, with one “l,” but cancellations
Adviser

Question 31

Company name rules?

Answer 31

Don’t put a comma before Inc., Ltd. etc even if in real name.
You must include the full company name somewhere in the story.

Question 32

What are tenses, meaning of alumni?

Answer 32

Alumnus

AP Style uses “alumnus” when referring to a man who has attended a school. It uses alumni as the plural of “alumnus.”

Alumna

AP Style uses “alumna” when referring to a woman who has attended a school. It uses alumnae as the plural of “alumna.”

Alumni

AP Style uses “alumni” to refer to a group of men and women who have attended a college.

Question 33

What are the four general rules about using hyphens and prefixes?

Answer 33

CONSONANT. generally don’t hyphenate when using a prefix with a word that starts with a consonant.
SAME VOWEL. Except for “cooperate” and “coordinate,” use a hyphen if the prefix ends in a vowel and the word that follows begins with the same vowel.
CAPITALIZATION. Use a hyphen if the word that follows is capitalized.
4 DOUBLE PREFIXES. Use a hyphen to join doubled prefixes: “sub-subparagraph.”

Question 34

Do you Spell out or use figures for
Stating the age of an inanimate object?

Answer 34

Use figures.

Question 35

How is age written when used as a noun?

Answer 35

Use hyphens.

The 18-year-old was arrested.

Question 36

How do you express amounts with a casual reference and/or when precision is not intended?

Answer 36

Write it out
About a third of the class
A hundred or so

Question 37

Is the age of an inanimate object spelled out or expressed with a figure?

Answer 37

Use figures for people, animals and objects
3-year-old house

Question 38

held, hold

Answer 38

Use held only in the literal sense: He held the pencil. She wants to hold the baby. Do not use held when referring to events, concerts, conventions, etc. In most cases, the word held can simply be removed with no impact. For rare occasions, the words hosted or sponsored suffices.
Wrong: The club held its meeting on Thursday.
Right: The club had its meeting on Thursday.
Wrong: The convention will be held at a hotel in Los Angeles Hotel. Right: The convention will take place at a hotel in Los Angeles Hotel.

Question 39

How do you write a separation between dates in text?

Answer 39

Use to between two dates, times or numerals:

The museum has a mummy display from June to August which is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
(Do not use a hyphen to separate dates, times or numerals.)

Question 40

What is the correct way to write a person’s height?

Answer 40

5-foot-3

Question 41

When are courtesy titles used?

Answer 41

Only in quoted material.

Otherwise Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss etc. are not to be used

Question 42

Died

Answer 42

Use died, not passed away.

Question 43

Which vs. That

Answer 43

Dependent and Independent Clauses

The diamond ring, which Cher always wore on her right hand, was missing at her rodeo concert.
The diamond ring that Cher always wore was missing.