Full List of Grammar Mistakes and Typically Misused Terms
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Glossary of Terms A e.g. 3:30 p.m. Always use figures City: E except for noon and midnight. Always capitalize when referring to Abbreviations: Email: Avoid redundancies such as 10 the City of Durham organization. Abbreviations of capitalized No hyphen and no capitalization, a.m. this morning or 10 p.m. Example: “The City expects words should also be capitalized. unless it begins a sentence or is tonight. to increase police patrols in Examples: Aug. (August), Mon. used in a headline. Use lowercase downtown Durham.” (Monday), St. (Street). Such And: and hyphen for e‐government abbreviations should be followed If space allows use the word and City Council: and e‐commerce. Do not underline by a period. See also “acronyms,” in most titles rather than the Always capitalize when referring email addresses in printed “dates,” and “FAQs.” ampersand (&). Do not capitalize in to the Durham City Council. publications. titles or headlines. Acronyms: Citywide: Use the two‐letter United States Articles, Conjunctions, One word. Do not hyphenate. F Postal Service abbreviations Prepositions: without periods, e.g. NC, VA, DC, In headlines or titles, write Commas: Facebook: in business correspondence. Use articles, conjunctions, and short Use commas to punctuate a One word with the first letter all caps, but no periods, in longer prepositions in lowercase (a, an, series of three or more words, capitalized. abbreviations when the individual and, at, for, in, of, on, or, the, to). phrases, or thoughts and include letters are pronounced, e.g. ABC, Exception: capitalize conjunctions a comma BEFORE the “and” or FAQs: CIA, FBI, IRS. with four or more letters, except “or.” Example: Jeff was interested Most people familiar with for from or with. in the electronic, printed, and TV the Internet know that this Academic degrees: versions of Durham Television means “Frequently Asked Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s Network. Questions.” Therefore, it is degree, a master’s, etc. There acceptable to use the abbreviation. is no possessive in Bachelor of B Do not spell it out. Arts or Master of Science. Use Bulleted lists: D Fax: abbreviations as B.A., M.A., LL.D., Do not use periods at the end of Fax may be used as a noun, and Ph.D. only when the need bulleted text, unless the bulleted Dates: adjective, and verb. Do not write to identify many individuals by items are complete sentences. Whenever possible, spell out the degree on first reference. month when writing a date, e.g. FAX in all caps. Examples: Charles Smith earned January 1, 2018. If space does not a bachelor’s degree from Duke permit, abbreviate the month with C University. The Mayor graduated a period after the abbreviation, H magna cum laude with a Bachelor Chair/Chairman/Chairwoman/ e.g. Jan. 1, 2018. Do not use st, Homepage: of Arts in political science. Linda Chairperson: nd, rd, or th. When typing a date in Write as one word. Evans earned a master’s degree in Unless a personal preference has which the apostrophe represents public policy. been indicated, use chairman a century, e.g. Class of ’99, be sure or chairwoman if the gender is to use a right single quote (not A.M. and P.M.: known. For a neutral reference, Class of ‘99). An easy way to do I Use a.m. and p.m. with periods. use chair. this is to type two apostrophes, Always include a space between i.e.: then delete the first one. Means “that is.” If no other mark the hour and the time, e.g. 7 a.m. Citizen(s): When the time is on the hour, Use resident(s). See “resident vs. precedes the abbreviation, place use the number by itself, e.g. 6 citizen.” a comma before it. No comma is p.m., not 6:00 p.m. Use a colon necessary after the abbreviation. to separate hours from minutes, (The City of Durham collects all refuse, i.e. bulk items, household Links (on the web only): two, three...). Any number larger and 311. Parenthesis should be trash, and hazardous materials. When linking to an email address than nine should be written as a used around the area code and [OR] The City of Durham or another webpage on the City’s number, e.g. 10, 374, 28, except at dashes should be used to separate collects all refuse (i.e. bulk items, website, do not display the URL the start of a sentence. (Example: the numbers. The only exception household trash, and hazardous in the text. Examples: 1) Email Twentieth century art hangs on is the stylized use of “dots” in the materials.) the Department Manager for the walls.) Use commas to separate pre‐printed official letterhead. more information. 2) For more thousands in number amounts, e.g. In‐house: information, visit the City of 1,000 or $15,335). When using Places: Hyphenate. Durham website. Links should numbers in budget or finance Spell out places (first, second, be displayed in all other forms of documents, it is appropriate to third) unless they refer to a street Instagram: correspondence, such as letters, show cents (Example: $15,335.23). number. Always capitalize. email, etc. Also see “places.” Example: The City of Durham won first, second, and third place in the Internet: Lists: website contest. Do not capitalize unless at the See “bulleted lists.” start of a sentence or in a headline. O Plural or Collective Nouns: Logo: Many words (including faculty, Intranet: Online: Reference the logo standards: here committee, board, youth, staff, Do not capitalize unless at the Do not hyphenate. Use initial team, class, public, group, and start of a sentence or in a headline. capital when appropriate. data) can be both singular and It’s: M plural. The choice of a singular or Do not use the contraction it’s plural verb depends on whether in publications or on the Web. Mayor: P the intent is to refer to the group The word Mayor is always Instead, spell out “it is.” In general, Percent: as a whole or to the members capitalized when it is placed before avoid contractions. One word, spelled out in regular of the group. For clarity, it helps the name as an official title. (Mayor text. Example: Only 45 percent of to add members of before the (Note: Use its for the possessive of John Doe). It is not capitalized the electorate voted. The symbol reference. it. Example: A flower is known for its when used in a sentence and (%) is only used in scientific and Examples: Our department’s faculty beauty.) not as a formal title. (“Today, the statistical text. is highly respected in international mayor was quoted....”) professional circles. Members of our Personal Names: faculty are highly respected. K Mobile Phone: Omit the commas before and Spelled with two words and not after Jr. and Sr. and after Roman Podcast: Kilobytes: capitalized unless at the beginning numerals. One word. Use initial capital when Abbreviate with the capital letter of a sentence. Mobile can also be appropriate. K. When listing the number used. Examples: Charles Williams Jr. is the of kilobytes, do not add space court’s nominee. Charles Williams III Position Titles: between the number and the K, is the court’s nominee. When referring to a specific City e.g. 300K. N Phone Numbers: employee, board member, or other representative, capitalize the title News Releases: The standard format is (area code) if it precedes the name. Lowercase Reference the downloadable news XXX‐XXX. If there is an extension, L the title if it comes after the release: here insert a space after the phone person’s name. Generic titles LinkedIn: number and use ext. before the One word with a capital L and I. Numerals: extension number. Emergency and should be lowercase. Numbers from one to nine should non‐emergency numbers should Exceptions: the Mayor, be spelled out as a word (one, be used without dashes, e.g. 911 Councilmember Q S T W Quotation Marks: Unless Seasons: Temperature: Website: providing a direct quote, use Do not capitalize unless part of When referring to temperature in One word with the first letter quotation marks sparingly, opting a proper name or title. Use the degrees, spell out the word degree lowercased unless it begins a instead for italics or an alternate season and the year. (Example: It is 75 degrees today). sentence. sentence construction to call Examples: She was elected in fall attention to a word or phrase. 2007. Visit our website to view the Time: Webfeed/Webpage/Webcast/ Place periods and commas inside Fall Schedule of Activities. See “a.m. and p.m.” Webmaster/Web: quotation marks; place colons These are one word with no Twitter: and semicolons outside quotation Sentence Spacing: capitalization. Always capitalize. marks. Place periods, commas, Use a single space between Wiki: colons, and semicolons outside sentences. One word. Only capitalize the “w” parentheses unless the text Spacing: when it begins a sentence. within parentheses is a complete U Letters should be single‐spaced sentence. with double spaces between URL: Wi‐Fi: Example: “I want to place even more paragraphs. Use only one space Do not underline web addresses Hyphenate and use capital W and emphasis on a proactive role for at the end of a sentence (tap the or email addresses in printed (hard F. the City,” said Deputy City Manager spacebar once). copy) publications. The underline Jane Doe. The City Manager’s may hide underscore marks and YouTube: vision for the City encourages a Staff: make it difficult for readers to One word and use capital Y and T.