When writing about taxes, there are some basic AP Style rules you should know about. AP Style – US Government When writing about the government of the United States of America there are some basic rules to follow. The first is that using the full United States of America is usually not necessary in most [...]
Recently a reader asked me what the AP Stylebook says about the difference between affect and effect. My first inclination was to tell them that this is one of those cases where the issue is not one of AP Style, but rather grammar and definitions, which the Associate Press Stylebook leaves up to other authorities. [...]
Neither et al. nor etc. have entries in the AP Stylebook. That does not mean that they are not allowed under AP Style per se, because the main rule of AP Style is to use Webster’s Dictionary unless there is an overriding rule provided in the Associated Press Stylebook. That would make both et al. [...]
The Associated Press announced that they will be updating the AP Stylebook to reflect the “evolution” of the language from e-mail to email. Most of us freelance technology writer types have long since moved on from the out-of-date e-mail, but occasionally sticklers and editors conditioned to toe the AP Style line exactly, have required the [...]
Over at Freelance Switch, there is an interesting article about Yahoo’s new stylebook being published in an effort to help establish writing standards for online content. As the article correctly points out, most sites currently follow the journalistic rules and suggestions found within the Associated Press Stylebook, or AP Stylebook. The conventions laid out within [...]
What are the rules for writing AP Sytle with abbreviations and acronyms?
This month has seen an increase in the number of articles written using the word “Trojan”, mostly thanks to Microsoft’s Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) being leaked as a torrent on various trackers around the world. Subsequent news suggested that some of the downloads were infected with malware, specifically a “trojan.” Spellcheck on every product [...]
So, what started out as a simple no-brainer article written for a few bucks in order to make enough money freelance writing online to beat out my income from freelance writing offline for the first time, turned out to be an Adventure in AP Style. BlackBerries On Airplanes I can’t honestly tell you what the [...]
The Associated Press Stylebook is the gold standard for journalistic (non-academic) style writing. The concepts of AP Style, for the most part, simply mirror those of good grammar and writing that is not wordy or overly flowery. Still, there are multiple concepts, examples, specific exceptions, and bizarre conventions that stump even seasoned writers with years [...]
Ah, the good old AP Stylebook , source of answers for professional writers everywhere. On some days, it seems there is nothing it doesn’t know. On other days, you can’t help but wonder why in the world it doesn’t have what you are looking for. Since it is tax season, we venture into the latter [...]
