Hello all!
This is more of a generalized post than most I will make, but I received some questions about why I was writing like this and some comments about my lack of an Oxford comma.
This style of writing and punctuation is known as the Associated Press style, or AP style for short.
This style is used by journalists and public relations professionals alike, which makes it important to know if you want to “make it” in corporate companies.
A fun fact about AP style is that the stylebook gets updated every other year to keep up with what’s happening in our world TODAY.
That means that there are occasional changes between different editions, which include new words or changes in punctuation that reflect changes in the culture.
So, here’s a basic cheat sheet when reading (or writing) the current AP style.
Numbers
The first rule you’ll want to know is the rule about numbers in print.
When a writer needs to communicate numbers to his or her readers, they will write out numbers one to nine. After nine, such as with 10, 20 or 1,103, as seen here, the numbers are in their numeric form.
After all, it’s much easier to write 1,103 than one thousand one hundred and three, and it also saves space as well, which is at a premium when trying to communicate what’s important.
One of the only exceptions to this rule is regarding age, which brings us to our second rule.
Ages
It doesn’t matter if a person is 5 years old, 8 years old or 38 years old. Ages are always written out as a number.
When you use a person’s age as an adjective, you’ll want to write it with hyphens (little dashes with no spaces.)
For example, the 9-year-old girl plays hopscotch. Or you could also write, the girl, 9, plays hopscotch.
Commas
Now, if you are a comma aficionado like me, sprinkling them wherever the heart desires and sprinkling a few more on top just to be safe, you’ll have noticed the lack of an Oxford comma when listing off the various ages in the previous section.
This leads us to the third rule, the use of commas, or in this case, the lack of an Oxford comma.
The only time I can use an Oxford comma while using AP style is to clarify a sentence.
For example, another comma in the sentence “The author thanked the local brothel, his mother and his sister for their help in writing his book.” helps clarify that the author is thanking three different groups, not one that is composed of his mother and sister.
But other than that? If I were to write “The boy picked up his book, the puppy and the water bottle.” I would not be able to insert a comma before the word “and.”
Percentages
The fourth rule contains a change from previous stylebooks, considering the word “percent.”
In previous editions, an article had to say, “30 percent,” or “100 percent” and write out the symbol.
In the newest edition however, we can finally say “30%” without censure.
However, if you need to reference a percentage without a number to place with it, then you must write out the entire word.
Time
The fifth rule concerns the description of time.
For the communication of what time something occurred, then make sure to use numbers. The only exception to this rule would be noon and midnight, which are descriptive enough that you don’t need to add the actual numbers.
And to properly communicate which 1 o’clock you are talking about in your article, make sure to add an a.m. or p.m. That way your readers understand whether the scene is set in a dark alley or right after most people get lunch.
State Names
The sixth and final AP style rule that I will go over in this post is about the names of states.
Despite the potential knee jerk reaction of using the postal code to refer to a state, the only place that postal codes (aka IL, WI or NY) are used in AP style is in an address.
Most state’s abbreviations are intuitive, occasionally much more than a state’s postal code.
For example, Illinois’ abbreviation is Ill., and Wisconsin’s is Wis.
That doesn’t mean that all states have abbreviations. If a state has five letters or less, such as Idaho and Iowa, then it’s simpler to just write out the state name.
The two states that don’t need to be abbreviated that don’t apply to that rule are Hawaii and Alaska, simply because to abbreviate these states would be more trouble than it’s worth.
After all, abbreviating Alaska just gets us a regular word.
Alas!
However, most states are only abbreviated when used in datelines or if a lot of locations are listed off together.
Until next time!