AP Style Flashcards
How are full dates written?
Month day?
Month year?
Month day year?
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.
What are preferences in regard to days of the week (Monday, Tuesday) being included with the date?
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.
How do you deal with two people in an article with same last name?
If two people with the same last name are quoted in a story, use first and last names throughout.
Capitalization of Formal Titles
Formal titles are only capitalized when they appear immediately before a name.
Pope Francis, the current pope, left the Vatican for a world tour.
Capitalization of departments and class titles
Titles of departments and names of classes are not capitalized unless they are also a language or nationality.
How do you write academic degrees?
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.)
What about acronyms?
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).
How do you determine the spelling of an address?
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)
A few normal words not to capitalize
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.
How does AP Style write 12 time?
noon / midnight
Values that are always numbers?
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
What happens when a number starts a sentence?
A year?
Words — Ten thousand people marched on the capital.
Digits — 1999 was a bad year for technology companies.
How do you pluralize a number?
Make a decade possessive? / Abbrev?
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
How does AP make possessive plural nouns ending in s? (judges, teachers, bosses etc.)
For plural nouns ending in s, add only an apostrophe.
the students’ grades, states’ rights
How does AP make singular common nouns possessive (‘/’s)?
Add ‘s
the dress’s, kiss’s
How do you punctuate names ending in s?
Names w/ s sounds (Marx)?
Use only an apostrophe.
With sounds such as x, ce, and z, use ‘s.
Brandeis’ mission
Marx’s theories
Plurals of a single letter?
A’s
What punctuation goes inside/outside quotation marks?
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.
Which states are not abbreviated in AP?
OUI THAM!! or AI(2)MOUTH
Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah
What does AP specify for United States about first/second reference?
United States on first reference
U.S.on second reference
What does AP say about books, movies, plays, poems, albums, songs, operas, radio and television programs, lectures, speeches, and works of art?
Put in quotes
Capitalize ALL words except articles, prep of 3 or less, conjunctions 3 or less
When do you abbreviate state names?
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.
How do I abbreviate state names?
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.)
When is a state’s name abbrev?
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.
