Because AP recommends the colon and AP is the preferred business writing style guide, I recommend using it consistently in your business writing. No italics. 28 0 obj <> endobj J%HfTH@zGI8a. Some style manuals, such as the AP Stylebook and APA Publication Manual, recommend capitalizing an independent clause after a colon. Capitalize words with four or more letters (including conjunctions and prepositions). Writing, phrasing, usage (word choice; clarity; subjunctive mood; ethnic-racial; profanity; slang ). the proper name, do not capitalize. 48 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<8DCDC806A06A984EB23F9AC6F5FBCE2C><8DCDC806A06A984EB23F9AC6F5FBCE2C>]/Index[28 32]/Info 27 0 R/Length 99/Prev 782230/Root 29 0 R/Size 60/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream "The cat's toy" means one cat owns that toy. Its visually cluttered, impeding easy scan. For more AP style tips, watch Grammar Girls Beginning and Intermediate Guide to AP Style any time. - Use periods, not semicolons, at the end of each section. We updated guidance on how to write about U.S. and international currency. Why wouldnt you want to add a list to your work? See APA 7, Section 6.52 for examples and more information. The AP Stylebook is a writing and editing reference for newsrooms, classrooms and corporate offices worldwide. AP Stylebook recommends: "Capitalize the first word following the dash or bullet. AP's style is now to capitalize Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential . Two new and potentially controversial suggestions when writing bulleted lists are to use dashes instead of bullets and to always use periods (rather than semicolons) at the end of each section, even if it is a phrase and not a sentence. Q: Veteran's Benefits, Veterans Benefits or Veterans' Benefits? Numbered lists (as noted on p. 64 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) can be used to denote items in a series, such as conclusions or procedural steps. Asthma or some allergies. Lowercase indefinite and definite articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions. A: a month's confinement, per the QUASI POSSESSIVES section of the "possessives" entry. As with so many things in the English language, capitalization with colons can be complex, and many times, it's more of a style issue than one of correctness. In our latest quarterly roundup of AP Style reminders, we cover back-to-school terms, travel terminology, and more. Ordered lists that are part of an incomplete introductory sentence are lowercased and punctuated as if each item was inside the sentence.5, The animal shelters most generous donors were, 2. local businesses, including the hardware store, grocery store, and coffee shop; and. If bulleted items are complete sentences, begin each item with a capital letter and finish it with a period or other appropriate punctuation. The CMS is commonly used in the publishing sphere, and AP style is more press-oriented . In Not quite. The rules are fairly standard for title case: Making sure you have the right capitalization for APA headings is crucial for scholarly articles. Should the opening stem sentence end with a colon to introduce the bullet lists or use no colon? Bullets Associated Press style is to use dashes, not bullets, for lists that follow a colon. The Associated Press Stylebook says when writing lists "use periods, not semicolons, at the end of each section, whether it is a full sentence or a phrase.". Required fields are marked *. always refer to the style guide and doublecheck capitalization recommendations. A colon can introduce a long quotation or one of more than one sentence, because it says to a reader: "There's more coming here than you thought. After each dash, capitalize the first letter and use periods at the end of each section. AP and Chicago Manual of Style - capitalize initial word and use periods after sentence list items. finish the project by Friday, January 23; place everything youve turned in to date, plus this assignment, on afloppy disk;and. A: AP headlines cap only first word and proper names or proper abbreviations. This is a grammar guide that accompanies our post on how to write better bullet points. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style . This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions of four letters or fewer. Initial capitalization is preferred for list items that are complete sentences ( Example B) or stand-alone phrases (Examples C and D ). Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. I was a fan until I realized it wasn't AP Style, all hail AP Style Honorable mention a.m. and p.m. - That's how they're used. AP editor Paula Froke fields questions of widest interest posed by subscribers to the online AP Stylebook. Any symbol may be used for the bullets, although small circles or squares are typical software defaults. A) Begin each bullet with the same part of speech (noun, verb, adjective) It is very common to use action verbs (also known as dynamic verbs) to begin each item in a bulleted list. If necessary, rewrite the list item so that all items begin with capital letters or all items begin with lowercase words. Only use it to avoid ambiguity, if part of the series contains a conjunction or if you have a complex series of phrases. Individual list items following a complete sentence are usually capitalized but appear without terminal punctuation (i.e., they dont end in a period, comma, colon, or semicolon) if they are incomplete sentences, phrases, or single words.3. Q: Is the age of an inanimate object expressed in numerals or spelled out? She holds a B.A. Does this help? Of course, youll want to keep using capitals for all the basics: the beginning of every sentence, proper nouns like names and specific locations, days of the week and months. A: Use "that" for a thing, "who" for the personal pronoun, although "that" also fits some human references. Dates, time, eras (July 4, 2008; 9 a.m.; the Great Depression ), Q: When referring to a time span, I never know when to use a dash to separate the two times (ex. in compound modifiers (e.g., Mid-year, Anti-hero, etc.). Understanding what to capitalize in a title is important to make sure that your titles and headlines look correct. You have multiple options to capitalize and change the case of your titles, headlines, song titles, book titles, email subjects, and more. Our tool lets you convert the case of your text easily into sentence case. A: member is lowercase, as are congressmen and congresswoman. Important Note: The MLA Handbook from the Modern Language Association (MLA style) follows Chicago-style recommendations for ordered and unordered vertical lists. A: The phrase suggests a contingency unlikely to come true, so use "were" for the subjunctive mood. Each of these capitalization styles has slightly different rules for which words are capitalized and each of these styles can be written using title case capitalization or sentence case capitalization. The MLA's guidelines for styling vertical lists are derived from The Chicago Manual of Style (6.127-132). You can learn more in the Title Capitalization Rules by Style section. Inconsistent punctuation; Sometimes the grammar isn't parallel between items. For lists of fragments, short phrases, or words, capitalization is optional: My favorite fruits include: oranges apples bananas dragon fruit My favorite fruits include: Oranges Apples Bananas Dragon fruit As with the other optional punctuation above, though, make sure to use a consistent capitalization style throughout your writing. To see what I mean, read the lead-in word or phrase then read the first item on the list. Colon Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun orFile Size: KB. In the example above, the first two list items end with a semicolon because the second list item has internal commas. Youre singing my tune! Ordered lists can be introduced by a complete or incomplete sentence and are typically prefaced by numbers1 or letters2 followed by a period. Infants often display prosocial behaviorthat is, behavior intended to help otherswhen interacting with their parents, as demonstrated in the following examples (Hammond & Drummond, 2019): If bulleted items are words or phrases (but not complete sentences), begin each item with a lowercase letter (except words such as proper nouns). Bulleted lists are appropriate when presenting a list of items in no particular order. Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook, 9th Edition Capitalization Rules, Best Book Writing Software and Book Writing Apps, Cursive Text Generator , Buscador de palabras y descifrador de palabras, Select your title capitalization style above by clicking on a tab. The Copyeditors Handbook (Einsohn). Lower is default; upper is special. Possessive versus descriptive Q: A months confinement or a month's confinement? Vacuum windowsills and corners with a vacuum hose. This article is a summary of AP style. So many choices to make! Please try again. Capitalization Begin each item in a list with a capital letter unless there's a reason not to (for example, it's a command that's always lowercase). Fax: 205-921-5595 2131 Military Street S Hamilton, AL 35570 View Location They are also written without terminal punctuation (i.e., they dont end in a period, comma, colon, or semicolon).9. Do use a comma before the last item in a series when it contains items with and/or. Should the first letter of the bullet list be capitalized? Capitalize every word in the headline; the main subhead is a complete sentence with a period. endstream endobj startxref Q: Why is "doctorate in psychology" not capped, but "Bachelor of Arts" is? Q: Great Depression is capitalized and so is American Revolution. The Gregg Reference Manual uses periods only after bullets that are dependent clauses and long phrases. If nothing else, your writing will be consistent. ?X~soOr{/'gqjfZIuVCZQ!SdbnU)pHuL`>b"wlh)}4!ybjK Examples: House Cleaning Tips: Remove items from shelves before dusting. Semicolons Use in Lists: Items with Internal Punctuation Important Note: If you follow The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style), see the Style Guide Alert at the bottom of this post for clarification on AP styles recommendations for unordered lists, which differ from the general guidelines explained below. Infants often display positive emotions when following parents behavioral requests, such as not touching the stove. Consider the examples below: Next, identify a newsworthy angle and set up your press release's header section. Q: My AP Stylebook always lists examples in italics, so it's difficult to see if italics are part of the style. Q: What is AP's style on the military's don't ask, don't tell policy? The same applies when someone may refer to specific items by number. endstream endobj 32 0 obj <>stream The default rule is to lowercase words unless theres a reason they should be uppercase. However, most people now leave out the extra punctuation. Again, these will depend on the specific style you choose (see Title Capitalization Rules by Style section). . The book club members made a list of their favorite genres: Individual list items following a complete sentence that are themselves complete sentences are each punctuated with a period.4. The first option is to use no punctuation after the bulleted items (including the final one), which may be better when the items are shorter and simpler. The Fantastic Shakers have won many awards. Mary founded Instructional Solutions in 1998, and is an internationally recognized business writing trainer and executive writing coach with two decades of experience helping thousands of individuals and businesses master the strategic skill of business writing. Numbered lists may appear with or without the period after the number. Unfortunately, many brands forego style guides and choose to wing . Lowercase to in the infinitive (though not defined in the stylebook). Below you'll find information on numbers, time and dates, locations, phone numbers, punctuation, capitalization and titles, and the Internet. APA allows the use of bulleted lists with or without punctuation. We wont send you spam. Chicago Manual of Style does not. [M zmp0&BLp$UPd67Z9Ha{0gPY "nG~h%rls 'wdt;:^2i+>f9V%EQ)j2"^e\KP"TiNc-((V A&N+E}E;SnIP Home Style and Grammar Guidelines Lists Lists Just as heading structure alerts readers to the order of ideas in a paper, lists help readers understand a related set of key points within a sentence or paragraph. A: Lowercase for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, hepatitis C, etc. Clean windows with a newspaper and . Certainly, your business writings substance and information are far more critical than exacting punctuation that technically is neither correct nor incorrect since style guides vary. social connection, in which people text as a way to connect with others; escapism, in which people text to get away from dull or uncomfortable situations such as waiting in line; distraction, in which people text to distract themselves while having a conversation with someone or being in a meeting; audacity, in which people text to get a response from someone, such as to break up with them or ask them on a date; nurturing, in which people text to foster relationships by saying things like good morning or I love you; and. Q: Is there a standard AP style for bulleted areas of text? In AP style, headlines capitalize the first word, proper names, or proper abbreviations, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs. hn7_@os@`v6Y8m.sSWloK6]G\#4:RsJ.Sv1b0',K4;mgbj\l~}7N|7W}v0qp}_n]QQL~yNy?NQ2*yZ_p@PnCx'q%6\zr0nqfopzpyb"uGh7? My name is Erin. Online and technology (the web; the internet; URL; computers; e-commerce ). We have three punctuation issues to consider: Should the ending punctuation at the end of each bullet list be a period, a semicolon, or no punctuation? Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this websites owner is strictly prohibited. A: Eight states are never abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Anation could be oppressed by its leaders, Judy Vorfeld Repellent and Repulsive both speak to driving others away, but REPULSIVE Three horizontal centrifugal pumps with design temperature of 100 degrees F. Three electric motors, in accordance with Appendices. This post deserves a standing ovation. Government, including federal government and U.S. government. Punctuation I like oranges. But if you are using a style guide, you may want to check it for guidance on which style to use. Lists Introduced with a Complete Sentence Include periods after independent clauses, dependent clauses, and long phrases, and also after short phrases or words that are necessary to make the sentence grammatically complete: To register for the Annual Meeting: Go to aad.org. %%EOF A: Commas in a series are for clarity and prevention of ambiguities. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions (regardless of length). You are reading a blog that focuses on business writing. In business writing, capitalize the first letter of bullet lists. Get an email every time a new blog post is published. A: Lowercase the compass point - central Louisiana -- unless it's a widely known section, as in Southern California or South Florida. The key thing is applying a clear and consistent punctuation style to all lists. Quickly convert your title or text to sentence case by simply clicking the Sentence case button in the tool above. Following are some questions and answers to use as guidelines: When is it better to use bullets than numbers? 2003-2022 Judy Vorfeld's Office Support Services. A: AP Stylebook entry on "collective nouns" says band names take plural verbs. With this format, use commas after each list item and on the next-to-last list, item use the word and close the list with a . However, in regard to headlines, is it now true that press release headlines should be in sentence case? Items that are complete sentences If bulleted items are complete sentences, begin each item with a capital letter and finish it with a period or other appropriate punctuation.