Capitalization
-avoid unnecessary capitals
-proper nouns
-some common nouns receive proper noun status when they are used as the name of a particular entity: General Electric, Gulf Oil
-proper names: capitalize common nouns such as party, river, street and west when they are an integral part of the full name for a person, place or thing: Democratic Party, Mississippi River, etc.
-Lowercase these common nouns when they stand alone in subsequent references the party, the river, etc
-Lowercase the common noun elements of names in all plural uses: the Democratic and Republican parties, Main and State streets, lakes Erie and Ontario
-popular names: some places and events lack officially designated proper names but have popular names that are the effective equivalent: the Combat Zone (a section of downtown Boston), the Main Line (a group of Philadelphia suburbs), the Badlands (of S.D.), the Street (the financial community in the Wall Street area of New York).
-this also applies to shortened versions of the proper names of one-of-a-kind events: the Series (the World Series), the Derby (the Kentucky Derby).
-derivatives: capitalize words that are derived from a proper noun and still depend on it for their meaning: American, Christian, Christianity, English, French, Marxism, Shakespearean.
-Lowercase words that are derived from a proper noun but no longer depend on it for their meaning: french fries, herculean, manhattan cocktail, malapropism, pasteurize, quixotic, venetian blind.
-titles: capitalize formal titles when used immediately before a name. Lowercase formal titles when used alone or in constructions that set them off from a name by commas: President Barack Obama/ Barack Obama, president of the United States,
-Use lowercase at all times for terms that are job descriptions rather than formal titles: gardener John C. Jones
Abbreviations/Acronyms
-before a name: Abbreviate titles when used before a full name: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Mr., Mrs., Rep., the Rev., Sen. and certain military designations:
general: Gen.
lieutenant general: Lt. Gen.
major general: Maj. Gen.
brigadier general: Brig. Gen.
colonel: Col.
lieutenant colonel: Lt. Col.
major: Maj.
captain: Capt.
first lieutenant: 1st Lt.
second lieutenant: 2nd Lt.
sergeant major: Sgt. Maj.
first sergeant: 1st Sgt.
sergeant first class: Sgt. 1st Class
specialist four: Spec. 4
corporal: Cpl.
private first class: Pfc.
private: Pvt.
chief petty officer: Chief Petty Officer
admiral: Adm.
vice admiral: Vice Adm.
rear admiral: Rear Adm.
commodore: Commodore
captain: Capt.
commander: Cmdr.
lieutenant commander: Lt. Cmdr.
lieutenant: Lt.
lieutenant junior grade: Lt. j.g.
ensign: Ensign
seaman: Seaman
seaman apprentice: Seaman Apprentice
master sergeant: Master Sgt.
technical sergeant: Tech. Sgt.
airman first class: Airman 1st Class
airman: Airman
With dates or numerals: Use the abbreviations A.D., B.C., a.m., p.m., No., (ONLY WITH NUMERALS ATTACHED) and abbreviate certain months when used with the day of the month: Jan., Feb., March, April, May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
-In numbers and addresses: Abbreviate avenue, boulevard and street in numbered addresses: He lives on Pennsylvania Avenue. He lives at 122 Pennsylvania Ave.
-Acceptable but not required: CIA, FBI, GOP
-DO NOT follow an organization's full name with an abbreviation or acronym in parentheses or set off by dashes (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) NO NO NO!
-Caps, Periods: Generally, omit periods in acronyms unless the result would spell an unrelated word. But use period in most two-letter abbreviations: U.K., U.S., etc.
-Use all caps, but no periods, in longer abbreviations and acronyms when the individual letters are pronounced: ABC, CIA, FBI
Punctuation
-Apostrophe
-plural nouns ending in S: Add only an apostrophe: the churches' needs
-nouns plural in form, singular in meaning: add only an apostrophe: mathematics' rules
-nouns the same in singular and plural: treat them the same as plurals, even if the meaning is singular: one corps' location, the two deer's tracks, the lone moose's antlers
-singular nouns not ending in S: Add 's: the church's needs.
-singular common nouns ending in S: add 's unless the next word begins with s: the hostess's invitation, but the hostess' seat.
-singular proper names ending in S: Use only an apostrophe: Achilles' heel, Agnes' book.
-Special Expressions: for appearance' sake, for conscience' sake (end in s sound and next word starts with s)
-Joint/Individual Possession: Use a possessive form after only the last word if ownership is joint: Fred and Sylvia's apartment. But use a possessive form after both words if the objects are individually owned: Fred's and Sylvia's books.
-Descriptive Phrases: Don't add apostrophe to a word ending in s when it is used primarily in a descriptive sense: citizens band radio, a teachers college, a Teamsters request, a writers guide. (**The apostrophe usually is not used if for or by rather than of would be appropriate in the longer form: a radio for citizens, a college for teachers, a request by the Teamsters, a guide for writers).
Comma
-In a series: Use a comma to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series: The flag is red, white and blue.
-Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series, however, if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction: I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast.
-Also use a comma before the concluding conjunction in a complex set of phrases.
-With equal adjectives: Use commas to separate a series of adjectives equal in rank. If the commas could be replaced by the word "and" without changing the sense, the adjectives are equal: a thoughtful, precise manner; a dark, dangerous street.
-Use no comma when the last adjective before a noun outranks its predecessors because it is an integral element of a noun phrase, which is the equivalent of a single noun: a cheap fur coat (the noun phrase is fur coat); the old oaken bucket; a new, blue spring bonnet.
-With nonessential clauses: A nonessential clause must be set off by commas. An essential clause must NOT be set off from the rest of a sentence by commas. My son Todd plays football. My husband, Bob, is awesome.
-With introductory clauses and phrases: When he woke up, he felt sore.
-With conjunctions: When a conjunction such as and, but or for links two clauses that could stand alone as separate sentences, use a comma before the conjunction in most cases.
-Introducing direct quotes:
-one-sentence quotation within a paragraph: Wallace said, "She spent six months in Argentina."
-use a colon to introduce quotations of more than one sentence.
-do not use a comma at the start of an indirect or partial quotation
-Before attribution: use a comma instead of a at the end of a quote that is followed by attribution: "Rub my shoulders," Miss Cawley said.
Semicolon
- to clarify a series: Use semicolons to separate elements of a series when the items in the series are long o when individual segments contain material that also must be set off by commas: "He is survived by a son, John Smith, of Chicago; three daughters, Jane Smith...
-to link independent clauses: The package was due last week; it arrived today.
Hyphen
Hyphens are joiners. Use them to avoid ambiguity or to form a single idea from two or more words.
-avoid ambiguity: Use a hyphen whenever ambiguity would result if it were omitted: The president will speak to small-business men.
-Compound modifiers: a first-quarter touchdown, out-of-state college
-most of these lose the hyphen when placed after the noun: touchdown in the first quarter, she attended a college out of state.
-BUT when a modifier that would be hyphenated before a noun occurs instead after a form of the bird to be, the hyphen must be retained to avoid confusion: The man is well-known. The woman is quick-witted.
-Two-thought compounds: serio-comic, socio-economic
-Compound proper nouns and adjectives: Use a hyphen to designate dual heritage: Italian-American
Quotations
-do not use fragments: Wrong: "The senator said he would "go home to Michigan" if he lost the election. Right: The senator said he would go home to Michigan if he lost the election.
Numerals
-Use 1-9, ten
-spell out numbers if they are the first word of a sentence (unless a year)
