{"id":1175,"date":"2018-09-04T14:54:29","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T14:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/?page_id=1175"},"modified":"2020-08-06T17:37:46","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T17:37:46","slug":"ap-style","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/ap-style\/","title":{"rendered":"AP Style Basics"},"content":{"rendered":"

** Covid-19 update<\/a> from AP March 2020<\/p>\n

Ages<\/strong><\/p>\n

For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don\u2019t use apostrophes when describing an age range. Examples:\u00a0A 21-year-old student. The student is 21 years old. The girl, 8, has a brother, 11. The contest is for 18-year-olds. He is in his 20s.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dates, Months, Years, Days of the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n

For dates and years, use figures. Do not use\u00a0st, nd, rd,<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0th<\/em>\u00a0with dates, and use Arabic figures. Always capitalize months. Spell out the month unless it is used with a date. When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months:\u00a0Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov.<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Dec.<\/em><\/p>\n

Commas are not necessary if only a year and month are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given. Use the letter s but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an apostrophe before figures expressing a decade if numerals are left out. Examples:\u00a0Classes begin Aug. 25. Purdue University was founded May 6, 1869. The semester begins in January. The 1800s. The \u201990s.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you refer to an event that occurred the day prior to when the article will appear, do not use the word yesterday. Instead, use the day of the week. Capitalize days of the week, but do not abbreviate. If an event occurs more than seven days before or after the current date, use the month and a figure.<\/p>\n

Dimensions<\/strong><\/p>\n

When writing about height, weight or other dimensions, use figures and spell out words such as feet, miles, etc. Examples:\u00a0She is 5-foot-3. He wrote with a 2-inch pencil.<\/em><\/p>\n

Miles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Use figures for any distances over 10. For any distances below 10, spell out the distance. Examples:\u00a0My flight covered 1,113 miles. The airport runway is five miles long.<\/em><\/p>\n

Names<\/strong><\/p>\n

Always use a person\u2019s first and last name the first time they are mentioned in a story. Only use last names on second reference. Do not use courtesy titles such as\u00a0Mr., Mrs., Miss<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Ms.<\/em>\u00a0unless they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate between people who have the same last name.<\/p>\n

Numerals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Never begin a sentence with a figure, except for sentences that begin with a year. Examples:\u00a0Two hundred freshmen attended. Five actors took the stage. 1776 was an important year.<\/em><\/p>\n

Use roman numerals to describe wars and to show sequences for people. Examples:\u00a0World War II, Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth II.<\/em><\/p>\n

For ordinal numbers, spell out\u00a0first<\/em>\u00a0through\u00a0ninth<\/em>\u00a0and use figures for\u00a010th<\/em>\u00a0and above when describing order in time or location. Examples:\u00a0second base, 10th in a row.<\/em>\u00a0Some ordinal numbers, such as those indicating political or geographic order, should use figures in all cases. Examples:\u00a03rd District Court, 9th ward.<\/em><\/p>\n

For cardinal numbers, consult individual entries in the Associated Press Stylebook. If no usage is specified, spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above. Example:\u00a0The man had five children and 11 grandchildren.<\/em><\/p>\n

When referring to money, use numerals. For cents or amounts of $1 million or more, spell the words cents, million, billion, trillion etc. Examples:\u00a0$26.52, $100,200, $8 million, 6 cents.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Percent, percentage, percentage points<\/strong><\/p>\n

Use the % sign when paired with a numeral, with no space, in most cases: The S&P 500 future contract was down 3.2% and the future for the Dow dropped 3.3%.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dont begin sentences with numerals or percentages, but if absolutely necessary,\u00a0 spell out the number and percent: Example: Twenty-five percent were in favor.\u00a0 Also, if not paired with a number,\u00a0 spell out percentage\u00a0<\/em> (dont use percent): Example:\u00a0 A greater percentage of the world’s people drive on the right hand side of the road.<\/p>\n

Punctuation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Use a single space after a period.<\/p>\n

Do not use commas before a conjunction in a simple series. Example:\u00a0In art class, they learned that red, yellow and blue are primary colors. His brothers are Tom, Joe, Frank and Pete.<\/em>\u00a0However, a comma should be used before the terminal conjunction in a complex series, if part of that series also contains a conjunction. Example:\u00a0Purdue University’s English Department offers doctoral majors in Literature, Second Language Studies, English Language and Linguistics, and Rhetoric and Composition.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Commas and periods go within quotation marks. Example:\u00a0\u201cI did nothing wrong,\u201d he said. She said, \u201cLet\u2019s go to the Purdue game.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Time of day
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The exact time when an event has occurred or will occur is unnecessary for most stories. Of course, there are occasions when the time of day is important. In such cases, use figures, but spell out\u00a0noon<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0midnight<\/em>. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use\u00a0:00<\/em>. Examples:\u00a01 p.m., 3:30 a.m. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

** Covid-19 update from AP March 2020 Ages For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don\u2019t use apostrophes when describing an age … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1175","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1175"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1475,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1175\/revisions\/1475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}