A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
Use the article a before consonant sounds. Use the article an before vowel sounds.
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase used in place of the whole (e.g., UVA for The University of Virginia). An acronym is a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term (e.g., radar for radio detecting and ranging).
Unless a term is used repeatedly or space is at a premium in a chart or table, there is no reason to abbreviate most words. Choose a short form (such as University in place of The University of Virginia) rather than an abbreviation, unless the abbreviation is widely used and understood (such as UVA).
Consider whether the acronym or abbreviation is a replacement for a previous full name. For example, JVC (an abbreviation) was once Japan Victor Corporation, but JVC is now its official name. Similarly, RISE (an acronym and thus pronounced like the word rise) once stood for Rural Infant Stimulation Environment, but the program is now simply RISE. Acronyms and some common abbreviations do not require periods. Examples include FBI, CIA, IRS, and ZIP code.
ACT, SAT, LSAT, GMAT, GRE, MAT, MCAT, and other entrance examination titles usually don't need to be spelled out, even on first reference. Use Arabic numerals in constructions such as SAT-1.
When referring to degrees granted by the College, it is an associate degree, bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in lowercase.
In references to degrees, the word “degree” is never capitalized.
She earned her master of music degree. Capitalize names or abbreviations of academic degrees and honors following a personal name.
When referring to bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, master of arts and master of science, within body copy all are lowercase as well. The discipline in which the degree was earned, unless it is a proper noun, also remains lowercase.
When referring to an individual with a doctorate, the first reference should be John Smith, Ph.D. and then Smith (last name only) in later references. See doctor.
When referring to abbreviated degrees, be sure to use periods after all the letters:
If you prefer to abbreviate degrees, be sure to use periods after all the letters.
When referencing degrees:
use periods as follows:
Cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude, and with distinction receive no special treatment in running copy:
Use numerical figures for numbered street names: 9th Street NOT Ninth Street. For streets with directional modifiers, such as 1st Avenue North and 21st Street South, the direction should follow "street," "avenue," etc.
The street number and name should not appear in all capital letters.
When including the formal title of an office or department, capitalize names of departments, schools, offices, organizations, committees, societies, institutes, centers, boards, etc. Lowercase when not referenced in full.
Be careful when referring to offices that are of or for.
Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as chancellor, director, etc., when they precede a name. Lowercase elsewhere.
Acceptable on first reference. Do not use periods. Always capitalized.
Serving temporarily, esp. as a substitute during another's absence; not permanent; temporary. Can interview for permanent position.
An adjunct professor has a temporary faculty appointment. Lowercase. See part-time.
Use "admittance" when referring to physical entry to a specific place.
Use "admission" when referring to figurative entry or the right or privilege of participation.
Either spelling is acceptable as long as all spellings are consistent.
Each is a verb and a noun. In practice, however, "affect" is used most often as a verb and usually means to influence or change.
"Affect" as a verb can also mean to feign or simulate.
When used as a noun, "affect" means a feeling or emotion (as distinguished from thought or action) and is confined to psychology.
"Effect" is used most often as a noun and means a result or outcome.
When used as a verb, "effect" means to cause or bring about.
One word. Not afterwards.
Aid is assistance. An aide is someone who serves as an assistant.
Never alright. Hyphenate only as a unit modifier:
To "allude" is to make an indirect reference to something. To "elude" someone or something is to avoid, evade, or escape from the person or thing.
Lowercase when referring to the school or university one attended. Do not italicize.
Two words. Not alot.
"Already" means having occurred; "all ready" means prepared.
These are interchangeable. "Although" is most often the first word of a concessive clause: Although she was tired, she accepted. "Though" does not always come first: Tired though she was, she accepted. "Though" is used more commonly in linking single words or phrases: wiser though poorer.
Use alumnus (alumni in the plural) when referring to a man who has attended a school.
Use alumna (alumnae in the plural) for similar references to a woman.
Use alumni when referring to a group of men and women.
When writing about alumni, the graduation year should always be noted.
Please note that graduation year is included with the individual’s name and that the apostrophe faces away from the year of graduation.
Abbreviation for "ante meridiem" or "before noon." Lowercase and use the periods. Do not use AM, PM or am, pm. Use noon or midnight instead of 12 p.m. or 12 a.m. Do not use 12 noon or 12 midnight.
Spell out and in most instances. Reserve the ampersand for use as a design element; in charts and other places where space is at a premium; and when part of a company's formal name.
Do not use the term first annual. An event cannot be described as annual until it has been held for at least two successive years.
Use "anybody" or "anyone" (one word) when making an indefinite reference: Anyone can do it. Use "any body" or "any one" (two words) when emphasizing or singling out one element of a group: Any one of them can do it.
Use apostrophes to show possession or in contractions: Wendy's dog. It's time for class to begin. Do not use an apostrophe when forming plurals of dates or acronyms: 1890s, 1920s, 1990s, M.D.s, Ph.D.s.
When a proper name or title is in italic type, its possessive ending should be in unitalicized type.
Avoid overusing as well as in place of and; the phrase as well as has the sense of "too" or "also," rather than simply "and." The "at sign" (@) must be included in all e-mail addresses.
Lowercase references to seasons and academic periods.
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Use the less formal bachelor's degree, or bachelor's. In some cases, such as documents for Commencement, use the more formal baccalaureate.
One word. Not backwards.
Use less than, not below, when something is quantifiable.
Means every other month; semimonthly means two times a month.
The term "blacks" is accepted according to the Associated Press Stylebook. "African American" is acceptable when referring to people of African descent. See race.
Capitalize when using full name. Lowercase when not using full name. Do not capitalize “board” when used alone or in second reference.
One word.
Capitalize references to a specific body of advisers heading executive departments. Otherwise lowercase when used alone.
Capitalize when using full or formal name. Lowercase when not using full or formal name. Also lowercase “north campus,” “south campus,” etc.
One word. Do not hyphenate.
Use "can" to indicate the ability to do something.
Use "may" to indicate a requesting or granting of permission.
Also use "may" to indicate possibility.
Use capital (lowercase) when referring to the city where a seat of government is located, the case of a letter, or a budget or monetary reference. Use Capitol (capitalized) when referring to a building in which a state or federal legislative body meets.
A general rule is that official names are capitalized; unofficial, informal, shortened, or generic names aren’t. This rule applies to names of offices, buildings, schools, departments, programs, centers, institutes, etc. Phrases such as “the center,” “the institute,” “the college,” or “the museum” are not capitalized.
Lowercase the word “university” when it is used in a generic sense.
Capitalize official names of bulletins, forms, conventions, conferences, symposia, etc.
Capitalize official course titles (except for articles, prepositions, and conjunctions), whether or not the course number is used. See Course Titles.
Do not capitalize the common names of semesters, terms, academic sessions, or periods (such as fall semester, registration, orientation, schedule pickup). If a semester or term is followed by a specific year, use capitalization (e.g., Fall Semester 2003).
Preferred over catalogue.
The following guidelines apply to the titles of academic and professional certificates (as in Class AA Professional Certificate); visas; government forms; specialized forms, such as financial aid forms; and other documents referred to by name.
Terms that are generally descriptive-such as application for admission, declaration of intent, or application for admission to candidacy-should not be capitalized.
Capitalize the first word and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs in the title of the form:
When a number is part of a form's title, use the numeral and omit any punctuation:
Chairperson or chair is preferred: department chair. See gender.
Capitalize the titles of named chairs and professorships whether used alone or after an individual’s name.
Capitalize when part of the complete title.
When used in text, a comma should follow both the city and the state.
Uppercase when used before the date in reference to a specific class.
Don't capitalize freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate, postgraduate, postdoctoral, nondegree, or any similar designation, unless it is part of a title, a headline, or the official name of an organization. Use freshman when writing of one first-year student, freshmen when writing of more than one. Use freshman as a modifier:
Capitalize the full, proper name of a college. Lowercase shortened or informal versions.
Retain capitalization if the full name is dropped, but still referenced.
If items in the series contain commas themselves, use semicolons between all items.
When following a person’s name, qualifiers such as Ph.D. and M.D. are preceded by a comma. A second comma follows the qualifier in running text.
However, qualifiers such as Jr., Sr., and III are not set off by commas.
Set off the year when using dates with commas on both sides if a day of the month precedes it.
Set off a parenthetical (nonrestrictive) expression with commas on both sides. Note that states following cities are parenthetical and require commas before and after.
Commas appear after, not before, an expression in parentheses (like this), and they always go inside quotation marks, except when a quotation mark indicates inches.
Lowercase when used to refer to commencement or convocation generally. Capitalize when followed by the specific year.
Kentucky is one of four U.S. states that are legally commonwealths. The state's actual name is "the Commonwealth of Kentucky," capitalizing commonwealth. When the phrase "the Commonwealth" is used meaning Kentucky, commonwealth should also be capitalized. Lowercase in all other uses.
In many contexts, CD or CDs is appropriate in all references for compact disc. If it's likely your readers might read CD as certificate of deposit, however, spell out compact disc on first reference.
COMPASS is a computerized adaptive testing system that helps place students into appropriate mathematics, reading, and writing classes. Always capitalize.
Something that completes or makes perfect.
An expression of praise, commendation, or admiration.
Capitalize titles of books, plays, presentations, etc., whether standing alone, in quotation marks, or in italics: "Health Policy in a Time of AIDS," a conference for health planners, was so successful that a follow-up conference has been scheduled. "A," "in," "of," and other junction words should be capitalized only at the beginning or end of a title: Smith presented "An Approach to Urban Revitalization" at the symposium.
Italicize titles of books, plays, television shows, motion pictures, journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, long poems published as books, and gallery and museum exhibitions. Underlining is appropriate when italics are not possible. When the text in which a title appears is already italicized, set the title in regular type (no italics). For shorter works (including newspaper articles, poems, etc.) and all other compositions, enclose the title in quotation marks.
"Comprise" means to contain or include. Use in active voice.
Co-op or Co-op Program is an acceptable second reference, but lowercase co-op when used as an adjective:
Two words. Generally refers to the number of course hours recommended or allowable each semester.
When a course number and title are given together, give the alpha symbol and number followed directly by the title. There is no intervening punctuation, nor should there be any abbreviation of words in the title.
When a course title is given without the course number, you may still uppercase the course title as long as it is the complete title. Do not use alpha symbols when speaking generally of a department or program's courses or of an academic discipline.
When listing courses by number, repeat the alpha symbol with each number.
Two words. Generally refers to the courses taken for degree credit.
No hyphen.
Use numerals to refer to credit hours.
"Currently" means now; "presently" means in the very near future.
"Curricula" or "curriculums" in plural form.
Photo caption. Use parentheses to denote the position of person(s) in a cutline. i.e. (l-r), (center), etc. If there are several people to identify in a photo name each one beginning at the left. If there are several people in more than one row, begin with the front row, left to right, then second row, left to right…until everyone is identified.
Data can be either a singular or plural noun and requires a singular or plural verb accordingly. See the AP Stylebook for further explanation.
One word. The collection of all data used and produced by a computer program.
Spell out months when used alone or with the year only.
Abbreviate months—except for March, April, May, June, and July—when used as part of complete dates.
Never use a comma between month and year when a specific day is not mentioned.
The same is true for seasons
A comma should follow the year when a specific date is mentioned in the middle of a sentence.
Do not use "on" with dates unless its absence would lead to confusion.
To indicate sequences or inclusive dates or times, use an en dash (-) instead of "to."
Spell out numerical designations "first" through "ninth" and use numerals with letter suffixes for "10th" and above.
Do not use "st," "rd," or "th" with dates.
Capitalize them. Do not abbreviate, except when needed in tabular format: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat (three letters, without periods, to facilitate tabular composition).
As with other titles, capitalize dean only when it precedes the individual's name or is part of another official title, and never when writing generally of the dean or a dean:
Capitalize when referring specifically to a college or university Dean's List; when describing a student's accomplishments in a more general sense, lowercase.
MAKING Two words, adjective or noun.
Department of History, history department, departments of English and history.
Generally, lowercase north, northeast, south, western, etc. when used to indicate compass direction.
Capitalize directions when they designate regions or are part of proper names.
Lowercase unless part of a title preceding a person's name.
Do not use this word as a primary adjective, as if a disability is a person's most important trait. Instead, use "people with disabilities," "people who are blind" or "people who are deaf." Avoid using altogether unless there is a compelling reason to use.
Doctoral is an adjective.
Doctorate is the degree received.
When writing for a general audience (press releases, newspapers, external non-academic publications), use this abbreviation ONLY as a formal title for a person who has a doctor of medicine, dental science or veterinary medicine degree. For all others, use Ph.D. or the appropriate degree abbreviation. This is an effort to avoid confusion in a general population that associates "Dr." with hospitals more than academics.
Always lowercase. Use numerical figures and the $ sign in all except casual references.
Use either the dollar sign or the word "dollar."
A noun specifying an amount takes a singular verb.
For amounts of more than $1 million, use the $ and numerals up to two decimal places.
Do not use this term to refer to Senior Learners. DOUBLE MAJOR (N.),
Lowercase references to the drop/add procedure.
"Elicit" (verb) means to bring out or draw forth: Questions were designed to elicit straightforward responses. "Illicit" (adjective) means improper or illegal: an illicit love affair; illicit traffic in drugs.
Always hyphenate. When placed at the beginning of a sentence, only the "E" should be capitalized. When placed in a headline, both "E" and "Mail" should be capitalized. Avoid breaking long e-mail addresses at the end of a line. Periods may be placed at the end of e-mail addresses.
Emeritus is the singular, masculine form. For references to women, use emerita (singular) or emeritae (plural). Emeriti may serve as the plural for a group that is composed of men only or both men and women. Emeritus is lowercase in all forms (unless used before a name as a formal title).
Although these words are often used interchangeably, add an extra measure of clarity by making the following distinctions: Use ensure to mean guarantee.
Use insure when referring to insurance.
Use assure to suggest the removal of doubt or worries from a person's mind (as in reassurance).
Use this word to mean a right to do or have something, not the title of a composition.
Should be spelled out on first reference and then used as “ESL.”
Use only when necessary to add required detail to text. Capitalize all proper names; lowercase designations of color. Compound proper nouns, such as African American, generally do not need a hyphen. However, when used as an adjective, such as African-American studies, hyphenate. See individual entries for specific references.
When referring to several different ethnic groups use the term “minorities.”
Use "everyday" as an adjective
Use "Every day" is an adverb.
Use "everyone" to refer to all people: Everyone went to the football game. Use "every one" when referring to individual items: Every one of the buildings has been renovated.
Uppercase Extension Agent when used as a title before a name; uppercase Extension but lowercase agent in other contexts.
Although the logo for this social networking site is written with a lowercase f, the name should be capitalized.
Lowercase "faculty" unless the word is part of a specific name or title.
Lowercase.
This abbreviation for frequently asked questions is acceptable for Web usage but not for print publications.
Farther refers to linear distance, further to extent or degree.
Never FAX.
In general, use "fewer" when referring to individual items: I had fewer than 50 one-dollar bills in my pocket. Use "less" when referring to bulk or quantity: I had less than $50 in my pocket.
The term gets hyphens when used as a modifier before a noun but no hyphens when used after a noun.
Hyphenate when used as an adjective.
Both are correct to describe pamphlets, paper advertisements. Flier is preferred.
"Follow-up" can be used as a noun meaning the act or instance of following up: I have the follow-up on the patient. Follow-up can also be used as an adjective meaning relating to or being something that follows up: The follow-up report was lost in the mail. "Follow up" should be used as a verb meaning to pursue or maintain contact in an effort to take further action: The police follow up every possible lead.
See the KCTCS Branding Guide for approved fonts.
The phrase “international students” is preferred.
Use freshman when writing of one first-year student, freshmen when writing of more than one. Use freshman as a modifier:
Hyphenate as an adjective before the noun; otherwise use two words.
Fund raiser is a noun (without hyphen).
Fund-raiser is a person (with hyphen).
Fund-raising is an adjective (with hyphen).
Fund raising is also a noun (without hyphen).
Fundraising (one word) is NOT a word!
Acceptable as popular synonym for both male and female homosexuals (n. and adj.), although it is generally associated with males, while lesbian is the more common term for female homosexuals.
Include all people in general references by substituting gender neutral words and phrases for male-biased, exclusionary words. Avoid using "man" or "woman" as a suffix or prefix. Use "person" instead, or change the construction of the sentence: chair INSTEAD of chairman, business executive INSTEAD of businessman. Use parallel grammar when referring to people by gender: his or her employer RATHER THAN his employer. When workable, change such singular nouns to plural nouns: their employers.
A legislative body. Persons who make or amend or repeal laws. Capitalize if part of the formal, proper name for the lawmaking body in the state. Retain the capital letters if the name of the state can be dropped, but lowercase the word “assembly” if it stands alone.
Lowercase north, south, east, and west and variations when they indicate direction. Capitalize north, south, east, west, and similar terms when they refer to regions.
Capitalize the names of physiographic provinces and divisions:
"Good" is an adjective that means something is as it should be or is better than average: The soup smells good. The music sounds good. When used as an adjective, "well" means healthy. When used as an adverb, "well" means in a satisfactory manner or skillfully: The machine runs well. He did well on his entrance exam.
After first reference, GPA is an acceptable abbreviation, although in many contexts you may not need to use the long form at all; no periods are necessary. When giving a GPA, always use a decimal point and carry to at least one decimal place: 3.0, 2.2. Use all caps when abbreviated.
In running text, give grades in quotation marks:
In tables and charts, omit the quotation marks, but retain capitalization. The modifier pass/fail is not treated specially:
Lowercase when referring to the general status of "graduate."
One word as adjective or noun.
Two words, no hyphen, both nouns and adjectives.
Refers to people of Spanish or Spanish-and-Portuguese ancestry or Spanish-speaking persons of Latin American origin living in the United States. Use an individual's country of ancestry, such as Cuban American, if such designation is pertinent. See Latino.
Always two words. HTTP://WWW. Delete “http://www” in all web addresses. See Internet.
Use periods and no spaces when an individual uses initials instead of a first name.
As a preposition, "inside" doesn't have to be followed by "of": She remained inside the house.
Acceptable, but consider whether resident and nonresident would be more precise.
A non-tenure-track faculty rank.
"Insure" means to establish a contract for insurance of some type; "ensure" means to guarantee.
Faculty or staff who temporarily fill a position for an undetermined period of time. Always lowercase: interim Vice President Mark Robbins.
Intermural: Competitive teams from different institutions. Intramural: Competitive teams within a single community or institution.
Always capitalize. "Internet" is preferred over "the Net." Do not use the http://www prefix. See http://.
Competitive teams within a single community or institution.
An internal Internet communication system
It’s is a contraction for it is or it has: It’s up to you. It’s been a long time. Its is the possessive form of the neuter pronoun: The company lost its assets.
Omit the comma before and after Jr. and Sr.
KCTCS acceptable after first reference.
Ampersand (instead of AND) should only be used graphically on materials; NOT on news releases, correspondence, etc.
Can also be referred to as KCTCS office OR System office.
Never KCTCS System office.
KY WINS, Ready to Work, Workforce Solutions
Spell out as part of an official name or in first reference. “Lab” is acceptable as a second reference.
Latino is preferred. See Hispanic.
Capitalize when referring to the Kentucky Legislature. Retain capitalization on second reference, even when the state name is dropped if the reference is to a specific legislature.
Use a plural verb when referring to liberal arts. Use a singular verb when referring to the liberal arts program.
As a general rule, such as precedes an example that represents a larger subject, whereas like indicates that two subjects are comparable:
Keep in mind that like excludes; such as, includes.
Loose means free from anything that binds or restrains.
Lose means to come to be without (something in one's possession or care), through accident, theft, etc., so that there is little or no prospect of recovery:
Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier.
Capitalize the name and italicize. Lowercase magazine unless it is part of the publication’s formal title.
Do not capitalize majors, programs, specializations, or concentrations of study, unless they are part of a designated degree:
Each of these is a noun and an adverb, but "meantime" is more often a noun.
"Meanwhile" is more commonly used as an adverb.
Media is plural and takes a plural verb, whereas medium is singular. "Medias" is incorrect.
Words such as physician or surgeon are preferred. The abbreviation Dr. is acceptable when referring to doctors of medicine, dental science or veterinary science. See doctor.
Use midnight instead of 12 a.m.
People or person of color is preferred.
Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only "Jan.," "Feb.," "Aug.," "Sept.," "Oct.," "Nov.," and "Dec." Spell out all other months. Spell out months when used alone or with a year: February, February 1998. When a phrase includes only a month and a year, do not separate them with commas: January 1972 was a cold month. When a month, day, and year appear in the middle of a phrase, set off the year with commas:
Spell it out.
One word with a capital S in the middle.
Proper names should not be translated in another language.
Native American is preferred, but American Indian is also acceptable.
An acceptable abbreviation for Internet.
Capitalize “the” in a newspaper’s name if that is the way the publication prefers to be known. Do not place the name in quotes or italics.
One Word.
Avoid words and usage that reinforce sexist stereotypes. Do not use “he” as an all-inclusive pronoun. “He or she” can be used, but the following solutions are preferable:
Use noon or 12 p.m. Never 12 noon. See a.m./p.m.
Spell out numbers at the beginning of sentences. There is one exception—numerals that identify a calendar year: 1997 was a banner year for KCTCS. Spell out whole numbers below 10 except when used in statistical data. Use figures for 10 and above.
When large numbers ending in "y" must be spelled out, use a hyphen to connect them to other words: twenty-one, forty-five. Do not use commas between separate words that are part of one number: one hundred forty-five. When numbers modify like elements and are grouped within a sentence or series of related sentences, use numerals for all numbers if any one of the numbers is 10 or more.
Use numerals for parts of a book.
With "o'clock," spell out the time; when using a.m. or p.m., use numerals. Avoid redundancy.
Spell out and lowercase centuries: the nineteenth century. When referring to decades, either spell them out or use a full set of numerals followed by "s" with no apostrophe.
Use numerals when referring to credit hours.
In citing percentages, use the figure followed by "percent."
When referring to millions of dollars, always use the figure followed by "million."
When referring to millions of entities other than dollars, spell out whole numbers below 10 (except in statistical data) and use figures for 10 and above.
For ages, spell out numbers below 10.
For ordinals (first, second, third), use numbers for 10 and above.
Not the dean's office.
Not the president’s office.
One word, no hyphenation.
Do not use "okay." Avoid use of all forms in formal writing.
When used as a modifier, either term must be hyphenated. When campus is used as a noun, drop the hyphen.
Do not capitalize when used in a general sense or on second reference. Capitalize only when part of the name of an event or program.
"Over" refers to spatial relationships: The shelf is over my head. "More than" refers to numbers or amounts.
Lowercase this word when referring to the student orientation program.
Hyphenate only when used as an adjective immediately before a noun.
Spelling out percent is preferred, although % may be used if space is needed. Use numerals in front of percent, unless starting a sentence.
Abbreviation for "post meridiem" or "after mid-day." Lowercase and use the periods. Do not use AM, PM or am, pm. Use noon or midnight instead of 12 p.m. or 12 a.m. Do not use 12 noon or 12 midnight.
One word, no hyphen.
Capitalize when preceding a name. Lowercase in all other uses. Never abbreviate.
Abbreviate on second reference. PLT.
"Principal" used as an adjective means most important.
"Principal" used as a noun means a person in authority.
"Principle" is a noun and means a rule or code of conduct.
Capitalize "professor" and other academic ranks only when they are part of titles preceding names. Lowercase when used as a description following a name. Do not abbreviate.
One word. Always capitalize both P’s.
Capitalize names of races: African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Black and White when referring to races. Beware of words, images, and situations that suggest that all or most members of a racial or ethnic group are the same.
Uppercase when referring to specific rooms in specific buildings.
Hyphenate between wing and number.
One word. No periods. Uppercase. RSVP is the abbreviation for the French repondez s’il vous plait, meaning please reply.
Do not capitalize, unless personified.
Sexual orientation is preferred.
Lowercase references to seasons. Lowercase "quarter" and "semester" when not followed by a specific year.
Spell out the names of the 50 states when they stand alone in textual material. Any state name may be condensed, however, to fit typographical requirements for tabular material. Use the state abbreviations below in datelines and in text when used with the city. ZIP code abbreviations are in parentheses.
Ala. (AL) Kan. (KS) Nev. (NV) S.C. (SC) Ariz. (AZ) Ky. (KY) N.H. (NH) S.D. (SD) Ark. (AR) La. (LA) N.J. (NJ) Tenn. (TN) Calif. (CA) Md. (MD) N.M. (NM) Vt. (VT) Colo. (CO) Mass. (MA) N.Y. (NY) Va. (VA) Conn. (CT) Mich. (MI) N.C. (NC) Wash. (WA) Del. (DE) Minn. (MN) N.D. (ND) W.Va. (WV) Fla. (FL) Miss. (MS) Okla. (OK) Wis. (WI) Ga. (GA) Mo. (MO) Ore. (OR) Wyo. (WY) Ill. (IL) Mont. (MT) Pa. (PA) Ind. (IN) Neb. (NE) R.I. (RI)
Eight states are never abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, Utah.
Use the two-letter Postal Service abbreviations only with full addresses, including Zip code.
Writing tips:
Use New York state to distinguish the state from New York City.
Use state of Washington or Washington state to distinguish the state from the District of Columbia. (Be aware that Washington State is the name of a University.)
Stationary means to standing still; not moving.
Stationery means writing paper.
Do not capitalize "freshman," "sophomore," "junior," or "senior."
Do capitalize class designations.
SGA on second reference.
If a publication is strictly for on-campus use, omit telephone area codes and prefixes and list extensions directly.
If the publication will be sent off campus, include area codes in parentheses and the exchange.
For toll-free numbers, use "1-800-" or "(800)" in front of the seven-digit number.
Lowercase "quarter" and "semester" when not followed by a specific year.
The preferred substitute for "quarter" and "semester" is "term."
Use that and which to refer to inanimate objects and to animals without a name. That is used to introduce essential clauses. An essential clause cannot be cut without changing the meaning of the sentence—it restricts the meaning of the word or phrase that its absence would lead to a substantially different interpretation of what the author meant.
Which is used to introduce non-essential clauses. Nonessential clauses can be eliminated without altering the basic meaning of the sentence. A nonessential clause must be set off by commas.
Use "theater" except in proper names, such as MCTC’s Department of Theatre or Story Theatre.
Use figures. Use below, not a minus sign, for temperatures below zero.
Fahrenheit temperatures are assumed and need not be designated as such. See the AP Stylebook for further treatment of Fahrenheit and Celsius.
In contrast to correspondence style, formal titles should be printed lowercase when following a name. Appropriate words should still be uppercase when preceding the name.
Two words unless modifying a noun.
If you can't use a superscript, use parentheses (TM).
Lowercase when referring to a student category.
Lowercase when referring to a student classification.
Two words.
May be used as a noun or an adjective. May be abbreviated when it is part of the name of an organization:
Avoid abbreviating on first reference when referring to the nation itself, although U.S. is acceptable as a second reference and in tables and headlines.
Stands for "Universal Resource Locator." "World Wide Web address" or "Web address" is preferred.
Use “v.” when abbreviating “versus.”
Do not hyphenate. Capitalize only when it is used as a title before a person’s name.
Vita is singular and vitae is plural. Use when referring to a biographical sketch, generally in conjunction with curriculum, especially when the information refers to academic history. Curriculum vita is the formal name for an academic's resume, curricula vitae is the plural designation.
Should always be capitalized. Exception: webcam, webcast, webmaster.
Who is the word when someone is the subject of the sentence, clause or phrase.
Whom is the word when someone is the object of a verb or preposition.
Always hyphenate, whether used as a noun or an adjective.
Use an "s" without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries.
Years are the only exception to the general rule that numerical figures should not be used to start a sentence.
Use an apostrophe to abbreviate class years.
One word with a capital T in the middle.
Use all-caps ZIP for Zoning Improvement Plan, but always lowercase the word code.