Journalism AP Style Quiz
referring to the team by school name, team, or mascot
team and school name are singular (Trinity) mascot is plural (Saints)
full sentence quote followed by attribution
use a comma unless it's a question ("We were excited," Jones said. "Were we excited?" Jones asked.)
if two people with the same last name are quoted in a story
use first and last name for both the entire time
hyphens
use to combine adjectives that go together (five-volume report) don't use w/ very or -ly adverbs
age
15-year-old
specific dates
abbreviate months with 6+ letters, spell out months with five or less letters
gender-specific sport
apostrophe at the end of girls' or boys'
the word "web"
by itself it's capitalized (Web) part of another word it's lowercase (website, webcam, etc.)
classes (grade-level classes)
capitalize (Senior Class) lowercase when referring to a member of the class (Alex Rick, a junior)
clubs
capitalize clubs (the Forensics Club)
departments
capitalize departments (the Math Department) don't abbreviate "department"
first letter of a quote
capitalize if it is a full sentence quote
morning/night times
numerals, a space, lowercase letters, and periods (7 p.m.) no extra zeros
months without a specific date
spell out completely
rankings
No. 1 not numer one
12 versus noon
use noon and midnight instead of 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.
days of the week
don't abbreviate days of the week usually don't need both day of week and a date
numbers (word or number)
spell out numbers under 10 UNLESS: address, age, money, measurements, temperature, percentages, etc.
class periods
ordinal numbers (4th period)
numbers at the beginning of a sentence
spell out the number unless it's a year
NEVER ABBREVIATE
days of the week, percent as %, cents as c, and as & (unless an official part of a name)
unfamiliar abbreviations
don't put unfamiliar abbreviations in parentheses after the first reference either repeat full name or use generic references later
using the year
don't state the year if you are referencing the current year only use year if talking about past or future years
numbers in millions/billions
don't use all numbers (3,000,000), use number and word million/billion (3 million)
name of composition titles
quotations unless reference, newspaper, or magazine then don't put anything around it
apostrophes (not posessive)
referring to years, acronyms, etc. don't use apostrophe (1970s, ABCs, etc.) Use apostrophe if a single letter grade (she received six A's)
formal title capitalization
formal titles capitalized if they appear immediately before a name (make sure it's a formal title not just a job description)
use of names
full name on first reference, last name thereafter
referencing students
identify class level (junior, Cecelia Miller or Cecelia Miller, a junior)
album title
in italics
TV show title
in quotes
song title
in quotes
commas in a simple series
just don't use Oxford Commas unless it would be confusing without it
job description capitalization
never capitalize job descriptions (shortstop, attorney, etc.) only formal job titles
capitalizing names of sports, levels, or positions
no capitalization (varsity basketball; center)
capitalizing grades (freshman, senior, etc.)
no capitalizing
monetary values
no extra zeros ($6 not $6.00 or six dollars) but $2.30 is okay
sentence fragment quote in a sentence
no quotations and no capitalization
cities with state names
not all cities need state names if they have them use abbreviations not postal code (Portland, Ore. NOT Portland, OR)
capitalization of departments or classes
not capitalized unless a language
days of the month
number only, don't use th, st, nd, etc. (Aug. 2 NOT Aug. 2nd)
percentages
number then word "percent" (4 percent)
numbers in records/score and points
numerals for records/scores (51-48 in the third quarter) normal number rules apply for points (six points; 15 points)
