AP Quiz A-D

court-matrial

no space or one word. only hyphen

bloc/block

A bloc is a coalition of people, groups or nations with the same purpose or goal. Block has more than a dozen definitions, but a political alliance is not one of them.

duel

A contest between two people. Three people cannot duel.

Apposition

A decision on whether to put commas around a word, phrase or clause used in apposition depends on whether it is essential to the meaning of the sentence (no commas) or not essential (use commas).

Acronyms and Abbreviations

A few universally recognized abbreviations are required in some circumstances. Some others are acceptable depending on the context. But in general, avoid alphabet soup. Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that the reader would not quickly recognize. Abbreviations and most acronyms should be avoided in headlines. BEFORE A NAME: Abbreviate titles when used before a full name: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Mr., Mrs., Rep., the Rev., Sen. AFTER A NAME: Abbreviate junior or senior after an individual's name. Abbreviate company, corporation, incorporated and limited when used after the name of a corporate entity. WITH DATES OR NUMERALS: Use the abbreviations A.D., B.C., a.m., p.m., No., and abbreviate certain months (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.) when used with the day of the month. (Right: In 450 B.C.; at 9:30 a.m.; in room No. 6; on Sept. 16.) IN NUMBERED ADDRESSES: Abbreviate avenue, boulevard and street in numbered addresses: He lives on Pennsylvania Avenue. He lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Generally, omit periods in acronyms unless the result would spell an unrelated word. But use periods in most two-letter abbreviations: U.S., U.N., U.K., B.A., B.C. (AP, a trademark, is an exception. Also, no periods in GI, ID and EU, among others.) In headlines, do not use periods in abbreviations, unless required for clarity. Use all caps, but no periods, in longer abbreviations when the individual letters are pronounced: ABC, CIA, FBI. Use only an initial cap and then lowercase for abbreviations and acronyms of more than five letters, unless listed otherwise in this Stylebook or Webster's New World College Dictionary.

author

A noun. Do not use it as a verb.

accused

A person is accused of, not with, a crime. To avoid any suggestion that an individual is being judged before a trial, do not use a phrase such as accused slayer John Jones; use John Jones, accused of the slaying. (keep it verb based non adjective)

Al Fatah

A secular Palestinian party and former guerrilla movement founded by Yasser Arafat. Do not use with the prefix al-.

Chinese names

A variety of systems are used for spelling Chinese names. For personal and place names from China, use the official Chinese spelling system known as Pinyin: Senior leader Deng Xiaoping, Beijing, or Zhejiang province. In personal names, Chinese generally place surnames first and then given names, Deng Xiaoping. Second reference should be the family name, Deng in this case. Some Chinese have Westernized their names, putting their given names or the initials for them first or sometimes using both an English name and a Chinese name: P.Y. Chen, Jack Wang, Frank Hsieh Chang-ting. In general, follow an individual's preferred spelling. Normally Chinese women do not take their husbands' surnames. The Pinyin spelling system eliminates the hyphen or apostrophe previously used in many given names. Use the new spelling for Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, but keep the traditional American spelling for such historical figures as Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek. If the new Pinyin spelling of a proper noun is so radically different from the traditional American spelling that a reader might be confused, provide the Pinyin spelling followed by the traditional spelling in parentheses. For example, the city of Fuzhou (Foochow). Or use a descriptive sentence: Fuzhou, long known in the West as Foochow, is the capital of Fujian province, on China's eastern coast. Use the traditional American spellings for these place names: China, Inner Mongolia, Shanghai, Tibet. Follow local spellings in stories dealing with Hong Kong and Taiwan. Capitalize the animal names for years in the Chinese lunar calendar: Year of the Sheep, Year of the Dog.

the dash

ABRUPT CHANGE: Use dashes to denote an abrupt change in thought in a sentence or an emphatic pause: Through her long reign, the queen and her family have adapted — usually skillfully — to the changing taste of the time. But avoid overuse of dashes to set off phrases when commas would suffice. SERIES WITHIN A PHRASE: When a phrase that otherwise would be set off by commas contains a series of words that must be separated by commas, use dashes to set off the full phrase: He listed the qualities — intelligence, humor, conservatism, independence — that he liked in an executive. ATTRIBUTION: Use a dash before an author's or composer's name at the end of a quotation: "Who steals my purse steals trash." — Shakespeare. IN DATELINES: NEW YORK (AP) — The city is broke. IN LISTS: See lists, bulleted lists. WITH SPACES: Put a space on both sides of a dash in all uses except sports agate summaries.

A.D.

Acceptable in all references for anno Domini: in the year of the Lord. Because the full phrase would read in the year of the Lord 96, the abbreviation A.D. goes before the figure for the year: A.D. 96. Do not write: The fourth century A.D. The fourth century is sufficient. If A.D. is not specified with a year, the year is presumed to be A.D.

averse/adverse

Adverse means unfavorable: He predicted adverse weather. Averse means reluctant, opposed: She is averse to change.

affect/effect

Affect, as a verb, means to influence: The game will affect the standings. Affect, as a noun, is best avoided. It occasionally is used in psychology to describe an emotion, but there is no need for it in everyday language. Effect, as a verb, means to cause: He will effect many changes in the company. Effect, as a noun, means result: The effect was overwhelming. He miscalculated the effect of his actions. It was a law of little effect.

aid/aide

Aid is assistance. An aide is a person who serves as an assistant.

adopt, approve, enact

Amendments are usually passed or enacted. A law is a bill that has been approved by a lawmaking body, usually at the state or federal level, and that sometimes requires the signature of an executive such as a governor or president. Laws are usually enacted and don't necessarily take effect at the time they are enacted. A resolution is a sentiment or recommendation of a lawmaking body, often described as binding or nonbinding depending on whether it has the force of law. Resolutions are adopted or fail. A rule is an authoritative regulation that can be enacted, created or ordered at various levels of government. A statute is a written and enacted law or ordinance.

altar/alter

An altar is a tablelike platform used in a religious service. To alter is to change.

assassin, killer, murderer

An assassin is one who kills a politically important or prominent person. A killer is anyone who kills with a motive of any kind. (could be an accident) A murderer is one who is convicted of murder in a court of law. (intent)

anticipate/expect

Anticipate means to expect and prepare for something; expect does not include the notion of preparation: They expect a record crowd. They have anticipated it by adding more seats to the auditorium.

assault/battery

Assault almost always implies physical contact and sudden, intense violence. Legally, however, assault means simply to threaten violence, as in pointing a pistol at an individual without firing it. Assault and battery is the legal term when the victim was touched by the assaulter or something the assaulter put in motion.

allege

Avoid any suggestion that the writer is making an allegation. Specify the source of an allegation. In a criminal case, it should be an arrest record, an indictment or the statement of a public official connected with the case. Use alleged bribe or similar phrase when necessary to make it clear that an unproved action is not being treated as fact. Be sure that the source of the charge is specified elsewhere in the story. Avoid, where possible, alleged victim. It is too easily construed as skepticism of a victim's account. Avoid redundant uses of alleged. It is proper to say: The district attorney alleged that she took a bribe. Or: The district attorney accused her of taking a bribe. But not: The district attorney accused her of allegedly taking a bribe. Do not use alleged to describe an event that is known to have occurred, when the dispute is over who participated in it. Do not say: He attended the alleged meeting when what you mean is: He allegedly attended the meeting.

dangling modifiers

Avoid modifiers that do not refer clearly and logically to some word in the sentence. Dangling: Taking our seats, the game started. (Taking does not refer to the subject, game, nor to any other word in the sentence.) Correct: Taking our seats, we watched the opening of the game. (Taking refers to we, the subject of the sentence.)

annual

Avoid the term first annual.

bail

Bail is money or property that will be forfeited to the court if an accused individual fails to appear for trial. It may be posted as follows: -The accused may deposit with the court the full amount or its equivalent in collateral such as a deed to property. -A friend or relative may make such a deposit with the court. -The accused may pay a professional bail bondsman a percentage of the total figure. The bondsman, in turn, guarantees the court that it will receive from him the full amount in the event the individual fails to appear for trial. It is correct in all cases to say that an accused posted bail or posted a bail bond (the money held by the court is a form of bond). When a distinction is desired, say that the individual posted his own bail, that bail was posted by a friend or relative, or that bail was obtained through a bondsman.

demolish, destroy

Both mean to do away with something completely. Something cannot be partially demolished or destroyed. It is redundant to say totally demolished or totally destroyed.

chairman/chairwoman

Capitalize as a formal title before a name: company Chairman Henry Ford, committee Chairwoman Margaret Chase Smith. Do not capitalize as a casual, temporary position: meeting chairman Robert Jones. Use chairperson, chair or co-chair if preferred by an organization. Chair is acceptable as a verb: She chaired the meeting; he chairs the committee.

Capitol

Capitalize U.S. Capitol and the Capitol when referring to the building in Washington: The meeting was held on Capitol Hill in the west wing of the Capitol. Follow the same practice when referring to state capitols: The Virginia Capitol is in Richmond. Thomas Jefferson designed the Capitol of Virginia. Use capital for a city or town that is the seat of government.

chief justice

Capitalize only as a formal title before a name: Chief Justice John Roberts. The officeholder is the chief justice of the United States, not of the Supreme Court.

colons

Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence: He promised this: The company will make good all the losses. But: There were three considerations: expense, time and feasibility. EMPHASIS: The colon often can be effective in giving emphasis: He had only one hobby: eating. LISTS: A frequent use of a colon is at the end of a sentence or phrase to introduce lists, tabulations, texts, etc. See lists, bulleted lists. LISTINGS: Use the colon in such listings as time elapsed (1:31:07.2), time of day (8:31 p.m.), biblical and legal citations (2 Kings 2:14; Missouri Code 3:245-260). DIALOGUE: Use a colon for dialogue. In coverage of a trial, for example: Bailey: What were you doing the night of the 19th? Mason: I refuse to answer that. Q AND A: The colon is used for question-and-answer interviews: Q: Did you strike him? A: Indeed I did. INTRODUCING QUOTATIONS: Use a comma to introduce a direct quotation of one sentence that remains within a paragraph. Use a colon to introduce long quotations within a paragraph and to end all paragraphs that introduce a paragraph of quoted material. PLACEMENT WITH QUOTATION MARKS: Colons go outside quotation marks unless they are part of the quotation itself. MISCELLANEOUS: Do not combine a dash and a colon.

army

Capitalize when referring to U.S. forces: the U.S. Army, the Army, Army regulations. Do not use the abbreviation USA. Use lowercase for the forces of other nations: the French army. This approach has been adopted for consistency, because many foreign nations do not use army as the proper name.

complement/compliment

Complement is a noun and a verb denoting completeness or the process of supplementing something: The ship has a complement of 200 sailors and 20 officers. The tie complements his suit. Compliment is a noun or a verb that denotes praise or the expression of courtesy: The captain complimented the sailors. She was flattered by the compliments on her project.

compose, comprise, constitue

Compose means to create or put together. It commonly is used in both the active and passive voices: She composed a song. The United States is composed of 50 states. The zoo is composed of many animals. Comprise means to contain, to include all or embrace. It is best used only in the active voice, followed by a direct object: The United States comprises 50 states. The jury comprises five men and seven women. The zoo comprises many animals. Constitute, in the sense of form or make up, may be the best word if neither compose nor comprise seems to fit: Fifty states constitute the United States. Five men and seven women constitute the jury. A collection of animals can constitute a zoo. Use include when what follows is only part of the total: The price includes breakfast. The zoo includes lions and tigers.

continual, continuous

Continual means a steady repetition, over and over again: The merger has been the source of continual litigation. Continuous means uninterrupted, steady, unbroken: All she saw ahead of her was a continuous stretch of desert.

disinterested, uninterested

Disinterested means impartial, which is usually the better word to convey the thought. Uninterested means that someone lacks interest.

Alaska

Do not abbreviate in datelines or stories. Largest land area of the 50 states. Postal code: AK

diseases

Do not capitalize arthritis, emphysema, leukemia, pneumonia, etc. When a disease is known by the name of a person or geographical area identified with it, capitalize only the proper noun element: Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Ebola virus, etc. Avoid such expressions as: He is battling cancer. She is a stroke victim. Use neutral, precise descriptions: He has stomach cancer. She is a stroke patient.

awhile/a while

He plans to stay awhile (adv.). He plans to stay for a while (n.).

comma

IN A SERIES: Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in most simple series: The flag is red, white and blue. He would nominate Tom, Dick, Harry or Jeannette. Include a final comma in a simple series if omitting it could make the meaning unclear. The governor convened his most trusted advisers, economist Olivia Schneider and polling expert Carlton Torres. (If Schneider and Torres are his most trusted advisers, don't use the final comma.) The governor convened his most trusted advisers, economist Olivia Schneider, and polling expert Carlton Torres. (If the governor is convening unidentified advisers plus Schneider and Torres, the final comma is needed.) Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction: I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast. Use a comma also before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases: The main points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude. 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. 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. WITH INTRODUCTORY CLAUSES AND PHRASES: A comma is used to separate an introductory clause or phrase from the main clause: When he had tired of the mad pace of New York, he moved to Dubuque. As a rule of thumb, use a comma if the subject of each clause is expressly stated: We are visiting Washington, and we also plan a side trip to Williamsburg. We visited Washington, and our senator greeted us personally. But no comma when the subject of the two clauses is the same and is not repeated in the second: We are visiting Washington and plan to see the White House. INTRODUCING DIRECT QUOTES: Use a comma to introduce a complete one-sentence quotation within a paragraph: Wallace said, "She spent six months in Argentina and came back speaking English with a Spanish accent." But use a colon to introduce quotations of more than one sentence. See colon. Do not use a comma at the start of an indirect or partial quotation: He said the victory put him "firmly on the road to a first-ballot nomination." BEFORE ATTRIBUTION: Use a comma instead of a period at the end of a quote that is followed by attribution: "Write clearly and concisely," she said. WITH HOMETOWNS AND AGES: Use a comma to set off an individual's hometown when it is placed in apposition to a name (whether of is used or not): Mary Richards, Minneapolis, and Maude Findlay, Tuckahoe, New York, were there. If an individual's age is used, set it off by commas: Maude Findlay, 48, Tuckahoe, New York, was present. WITH YES AND NO: Yes, I will be there. IN DIRECT ADDRESS: Mother, I will be home late. No, sir, I did not take it. IN LARGE FIGURES: Use a comma for most figures greater than 999. The major exceptions are street addresses (1234 Main St.), broadcast frequencies (1460 kilohertz), room numbers, serial numbers, telephone numbers, and years (1876). See separate entries under these headings. WITH FULL DATES: When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with a comma: Feb. 14, 2020, is the target date.

academic degrees

If mention of degrees is necessary to establish someone's credentials, the preferred form is to avoid an abbreviation and use instead a phrase such as: John Jones, who has a doctorate in psychology. Use an apostrophe in bachelor's degree, a master's, etc., but there is no possessive in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science. Use such abbreviations as B.A., M.A., LL.D. and Ph.D. only when the need to identify many individuals by degree on first reference would make the preferred form cumbersome. Use these abbreviations only after a full name — never after just a last name. When used after a name, an academic abbreviation is set off by commas: John Snow, Ph.D., spoke. Do not precede a name with a courtesy title for an academic degree and follow it with the abbreviation for the degree in the same reference.

attorney/lawyer

In common usage the words are interchangeable. Technically, however, an attorney is someone (usually, but not necessarily, a lawyer) empowered to act for another. Such an individual occasionally is called an attorney in fact. A lawyer is a person admitted to practice in a court system. Such an individual occasionally is called an attorney at law. Do not abbreviate. Do not capitalize unless it is an officeholder's title: defense attorney Perry Mason, attorney Perry Mason, District Attorney Hamilton Burger. Power of attorney is a written statement legally authorizing a person to act for another.

Courtesy Titles

In general, do not use courtesy titles except in direct quotations. When it is necessary to distinguish between two people who use the same last name, as in married couples or brothers and sisters, use the first and last name.

directions

In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate compass direction; capitalize these words when they designate regions. Some examples: COMPASS DIRECTIONS: He drove west. The cold front is moving east. REGIONS: A storm system that developed in the Midwest is spreading eastward. It will bring showers to the East Coast by morning and to the entire Northeast by late in the day. Showers and thunderstorms were forecast in the Texas Panhandle. High temperatures will prevail throughout the Western states. The North was victorious. The South will rise again. Settlers from the East went to the West in search of new lives. The customs of the East are different from those of the West. The Northeast depends on the Midwest for its food supply. She has a Southern accent. He is a Northerner. Asian nations are opening doors to Western businessmen. The candidate developed a Southern strategy. WITH NAMES OF NATIONS: Lowercase unless they are part of a proper name or are used to designate a politically divided nation: northern France, eastern Canada, the western United States.

dilemma

It means more than a problem. It implies a choice between two unattractive alternatives.

burglary, larceny, robbery, theft

Legal definitions of burglary vary, but in general a burglary involves entering a building (not necessarily by breaking in) and remaining unlawfully with the intention of committing a crime. Larceny is the legal term for the wrongful taking of property. Its nonlegal equivalents are stealing or theft. Robbery in the legal sense involves the use of violence or threat in committing larceny. In a wider sense it means to plunder or rifle, and may thus be used even if a person was not present: His house was robbed while he was away. Theft describes a larceny that did not involve threat, violence or plundering. You rob a person, bank, house, etc., but you steal the money or the jewels.

arctic

Lowercase for adjective meaning frigid; capitalize for region around the North Pole. Arctic Circle, arctic fox, Arctic Ocean

Attorney general/ attorneys general

Never abbreviate. Capitalize only when used as a title before a name: Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

all right

Never alright. Hyphenate only if used colloquially as a compound modifier: He is an all-right guy.

adviser

Not advisor.

amok

Not amuck.

collective nouns

Nouns that denote a unit take singular verbs and pronouns: class, committee, crowd, family, group, herd, jury, orchestra, team. Some usage examples: The committee is meeting to set its agenda. The jury reached its verdict. A herd of cattle was sold. Team names and musical group names that are plural take plural verbs. The Yankees are in first place. The Jonas Brothers are popular. Team or group names with no plural forms also take plural verbs: The Miami Heat are battling for third place. Other examples: Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Utah Jazz, Alabama Crimson Tide. Most singular names take singular verbs, including places and university names in sports: Coldplay is on tour. Boston is favored in the playoffs. Stanford is in the NCAA Tournament. Some proper names that are plural in form take a singular verb: Brooks Brothers is holding a sale. PLURAL IN FORM: Some words that are plural in form become collective nouns and take singular verbs when the group or quantity is regarded as a unit. Right: A thousand bushels is a good yield. (A unit.) Right: A thousand bushels were created. (Individual items.) Right: The data is sound. (A unit.) Right: The data have been carefully collected. (Individual items.)

arbitrate, mediate

One who arbitrates hears evidence from all people concerned, then hands down a decision. (judge) One who mediates listens to arguments of both parties and tries by the exercise of reason or persuasion to bring them to an agreement.

capitalizations

PROPER NOUNS: Capitalize nouns that constitute the unique identification for a specific person, place, or thing: John, Mary, America, Boston, England. Some words, such as the examples just given, are always 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, Fleet Street, West Virginia. Lowercase these common nouns when they stand alone in subsequent references: the party, the river, the street. Lowercase the common noun elements of names in plural uses: the Democratic and Republican parties, Main and State streets, lakes Erie and Ontario. Exception: plurals of formal titles with full names are capitalized: Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald R. Ford.

demensions

Pan dimensions are expressed as: a 9-by-12-inch pan or a 9-by-12 pan.

among/between

The maxim that between introduces two items and among introduces more than two covers most questions about how to use these words: The choice is between fish and tofu. The funds were divided among Ford, Carter and McCarthy. However, between is the correct word when expressing the relationships of three or more items considered one pair at a time: The games between the Yankees, Phillies and Mets have been rollicking ones.

Arabic numerals

The numerical figures 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. In general, use Arabic forms unless denoting the sequence of wars or establishing a personal sequence for people or animals.

couple, couple of

The of is necessary. Never use a couple tomatoes or a similar phrase. The phrase takes a plural verb in constructions such as: A couple of tomatoes were stolen.

as if

The preferred form, but as though is acceptable.

allude/refer

To allude to something is to speak of it without specifically mentioning it. (to imply) To refer is to mention it directly.

arrest

To avoid any suggestion that someone is being judged before a trial, do not use a phrase such as arrested for killing. Instead, use arrested on a charge of killing. If a charge hasn't been filed, arrested on suspicion of, or a similar phrase, should be used.

because/since

Use because to denote a specific cause-effect relationship: He went because he was told. Since is acceptable in a causal sense when the first event in a sequence led logically to the second but was not its direct cause: They went to the game, since they had been given the tickets.

blond/blonde

Use blond as a noun for males and as an adjective for all applications: She has blond hair. Use blonde as a noun for females.

compared to, compared with

Use compared to when the intent is to assert, without the need for elaboration, that two or more items are similar: She compared her work for women's rights to Susan B. Anthony's campaign for women's suffrage. Use compared with when juxtaposing two or more items to illustrate similarities and/or differences: His time was 2:11:10, compared with 2:14 for his closest competitor.

academic departments/titles

Use lowercase except for words that are proper nouns or adjectives: the department of history, the history department, the department of English, the English department, or when department is part of the official and formal name: University of Connecticut Department of Economics.

apostrophes

Use only in constructions where warranted: Patriots quarterback Tom Brady doesn't get an apostrophe as a descriptive but Tom Brady, the Patriots' starting quarterback, gets an apostrophe as a possessive.

addresses

Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Spell them out and capitalize when part of a formal street name without a number: Pennsylvania Avenue. Lowercase and spell out when used alone or with more than one street name: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania avenues. All similar words (alley, drive, road, terrace, etc.) always are spelled out. Capitalize them when part of a formal name without a number; lowercase when used alone or with two or more names. Always use figures for an address number: 9 Morningside Circle. Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names; use figures for 10th and above: 7 Fifth Ave., 100 21st St. Abbreviate compass points used to indicate directional ends of a street or quadrants of a city in a numbered address: 222 E. 42nd St., 562 W. 43rd St., 600 K St. NW. Do not abbreviate if the number is omitted: East 42nd Street, West 43rd Street, K Street Northwest. No periods in quadrant abbreviations NW, SE unless customary locally.

ages

Use when deemed relevant to the situation. If someone is quoted as saying, "I'm too old to get another job," the age is relevant. Generally, use ages for profiles, obituaries, significant career milestones and achievements unusual for the age. Use ages for people commenting or providing information only if their age is relevant to their comments (e.g., a teenager's comment on video games aimed at that age group). Appropriate background, such as a parent of two young children or a World War II veteran, may suffice instead of the actual age. Always use figures. The girl is 15 years old; the law is 8 years old; the 101-year-old house. When the context does not require years or years old, the figure is presumed to be years. Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun. Examples: A 5-year-old boy, but the boy is 5 years old. The boy, 7, has a sister, 10. The woman, 26, has a daughter 2 months old. The race is for 3-year-olds. The woman is in her 30s (no apostrophe).

biannual/biennial

biannual: occurs twice a year, synonym for semiannual biennial: every two years

cellphone

cellphone (one word)

bad, badly

should not be used as an adverb. It does not lose its status as an adjective, however, in a sentence such as I feel bad. Such a statement is the idiomatic equivalent of I am in bad health. An alternative, I feel badly, could be interpreted as meaning that your sense of touch was bad.

datelines

so much information

5 composition titles

—Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters, and verbs including is and are. —Capitalize an article — the, a, an — or words of fewer than four letters if it is the first or last word in a title. —Put quotation marks around the names of all such works except the Bible, the Quran and other holy books, and books that are primarily catalogs of reference material. In addition to catalogs, this category includes almanacs, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, gazetteers, handbooks and similar publications. Do not use quotation marks around such software titles as WordPerfect or Windows. —Translate a foreign title into English unless a work is generally known by its foreign name. An exception to this is reviews of musical performances. In those instances, generally refer to the work in the language it was sung in, so as to differentiate for the reader. However, musical compositions in Slavic languages are always referred to in their English translations.