A style guide comparing Associated Press style and Chicago style for editors, writers, teachers, students, word nerds, and anyone else who gives a dollar sign, ampersand, exclamation point, and pound sign about style.

Funny Posts

Compounds Ending with a Preposition or Adverb: Open, Hyphenated, or Solid?

It seems as if I’m always rifling through my reference books to check whether a compound is open, hyphenated, or solid in a particular style.

Apostrophe-S vs. Apostrophe: Forming Possessives of Words Ending in S (or an S Sound)

I’m going to focus on the difference between how The Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style handle possessives for words ending in s or an s sound.

Slashes: Uses and Restrictions

Misunderstood. Abused. Ignored.

No, not me. Well, maybe that, too, but I’m referring to the beleaguered slash . . .

Numbers: Spell Out or Use Numerals? (Number Style 101)

Numbers take up their own planet in the style universe, so let’s explore it one mountain at a time.

Em Dashes and Ellipses: Closed or Spaced Out?

You might be wondering why I’ve paired the em dash with the ellipsis. Doesn’t the em dash usually get grouped with the en dash and the hyphen?

State Abbreviations: Use Traditional or Go Postal?

In this quick guide to state abbreviations, I will cover the differences between AP style and Chicago style . . .

Titles: Quote Marks, Italics, Underlining, or Naked?

Remember the days when your manual typewriter didn’t have a key for the number 1, so you used a lowercase letter L instead?

Capitalization After Colons: One Sentence or More?

Understandably, many editors are confused about when to capitalize the element directly following a colon. The strategy I happen to use is pretty brain-free . . .

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Fun-Free Posts

Styling Text Messages in Fiction

Your protagonist’s phone vibrates. It’s a text from her best friend, but how? He died exactly one year ago in a car crash. The words come into focus.

Wait a second. How should text messages be styled in a manuscript?

Beyond Kerning: How to Proofread Design

If you love catching a zero in place of a capital O, a curly quote in place of a prime, or two single quote marks in place of a double, you can hone your eagle eye by learning to spot flaws in design.

Crafting Citations through Principles, Not Rules: MLA Style, Eighth Edition

As a student of the humanities, I worked with Modern Language Association (MLA) style long before I became aware of the other styles. So it’s big news to me and generations of scholars that the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, published in April, breaks from a rule-based format to one that focuses on the principles for crafting useful citations.

Staying Ahead of Style Guides

Were you delighted by the ruling on Internet by The Associated Press Stylebook? Effective June 1, 2016, Internet became internet, no longer capitalized. Though many reacted with trepidation, others have desired this change for the last decade or so.

Nine Obscure (but Useful) Recommendations from The Chicago Manual of Style

Reading The Chicago Manual of Style while on deadline is different from curling up with it for a leisurely read. If you haven’t had time for the latter, not to worry. I’ve compiled a list of lesser-known but useful recommendations.

The New York Times Style: Fine Distinctions beyond the Newsroom

Billed as “the official style guide used by the writers and editors of the world’s most authoritative news organization,” the 2015 edition of The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage contains hundreds of changes made since the 2002 edition, increasing its usefulness to non-NYT writers and editors.

Consistency vs. Flexibility

In The Gregg Reference Manual, William A. Sabin said this of applying one style to all circumstances: “It is the impoverished person who meets every situation with the same set of clothes.” Copyeditors are charged with enforcing consistency, but new editors have a tough time knowing when to be flexible.