Grammar. Punctuation. The English language. I know, it’s hard. But it’s so important, people! Here’s a little motivation for you: If you do it right, you can stop grammar-lovers from correcting you 24/7, and maybe you could even correct their mistakes from time to time, too, because as Derek Shepard once said, ”I'm a human being. I make mistakes. I'm flawed; we all are.”
The Associated Press Stylebook is practically the bible for journalists and anyone who is mindful of good writing. It’s updated every year by AP editors, AP’s member news organizations, journalism teachers and students, and everyday readers. The most recent AP Stylebook is the 2016 edition, so you’re about to get a lowdown on its basic rules that everyone--not just journalists--should know. Buckle your seat belt and hang on tight, kids. It’s time to learn things!
1. It's toward, backward and forward. It's not towards, backwards or forwards.
Simple. Live it. Learn it. Love it.
2. Who vs. that
Who is the pronoun used to reference human beings and animals with a name. That is the pronoun used to refer to inanimate objects or animals without a name.
Correct: The person who is in charge.
Incorrect: The person that is in charge.
3. The internet is no longer capitalized.
We will lowercase internet effective June 1, when the 2016 Stylebook launches. #ACES2016 pic.twitter.com/vv53323GL6
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) April 2, 2016
4. Always use numbers for ages, even when years or years old is not expressed. Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives.
Examples: The girl is 15 years old. The 15-year-old girl sat on a bench. The girl, 15, sat on a bench.
5. Spell out percent and use numbers for it.
Always spell out percent. Shorten it as pct. only if space is an issue, such as in headlines. Thank you, @EmilyLetterman #APStyle
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) September 23, 2011
Example: He said 50 percent of the dogs were running around.
6. Periods always go inside quotation marks.
Example: Ann said, "Punctuation is important."
7. Put a period outside of a closing parenthesis when the words inside do not form a sentence.
Example: Follow this rule for material that isn't a sentence (such as this fragment).
Example: (If it's an independent sentence in parentheses, then the period is placed before the closing parenthesis like this.)
8. Capitalize the names of months in all uses.
Abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. when a month is used with a specific date. Spell out the names of months when using them alone or with a year alone.
9. OK, OK'd, OK'ing, OKs
The AP Stylebook says to not use okay. This may be the one rule I only apply to journalistic/academic writing. We all need to rebel sometimes, right?
