ABBREVIATION 1. Never use an abbreviation that would be unintelligible to the average reader. Common abbreviations that may be used when the context makes the meaning plain are Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., W. C. T. U. But no abbreviation whose meaning is not clear at a glance is permitted either in text or headlines. 2. Use the following forms for the names of states, territories and possessions of the United States, when used after the names of towns or cities: 3. Spell out United States except in addresses, as Columbia, Mo., U. S. A., or in such connections as U. S. S. Oregon, Lieut. James Smith, U. S. A., Capt. William Jones, U. S. N. Abbreviation of United States in headlines to save space is permitted. 4. Do not abbreviate the names of states when not following names of cities, even in headlines. Note the following style: In Missouri. At Neosho, Mo. At Neosho, Newton County, Mo. In Newton County, Missouri. 5. Abbreviate Saint or Saints in proper names, as St. Louis, St. Paul, SS. Peter and Paul's Church, Sault Ste. Marie. 6. Spell out Fort and Mount in proper names, as Fort Worth, Fort Scott, Fort Leavenworth, Mount Vernon, Mount Olympus. 7. Do not abbreviate the names of cities, as St. Joe for St. Joseph, Frisco for San Francisco. 8. When used before the full name (as William Smith or W. K. Smith), abbreviate Doctor, Professor and the Reverend to Dr., Prof. and the Rev. Spell out the titles when used before the surname only, as Doctor Brown, Professor Jones, the Reverend Mr. White. (See also "Titles," Page 28.) 9. Abbreviate military titles only when used before a full name, as Brig.-Gen. J. B. Jones, Brigadier-General Jones. Use these abbreviations: Gen., Lieut.-Gen., Maj.-Gen., Brig.-Gen., Col., Maj., Capt., Lieut., Sergt., Corp. Do not abbreviate private. 10. When used before the full name, abbreviate naval titles that have commonly understood abbreviations, such as lieutenant and captain; spell out when used with last name only. Always spell out naval titles that have no commonly understood abbreviations, such as admiral, ensign, boatswain. 11. Spell out governor, lieutenant-governor, senator, representative, superintendent, principal, and president. Governor and lieutenantgovernor, but not the others, may be abbreviated in headlines when used before a name, as Gov. Gardner, Lieut.-Gov. Crossley. 12. Abbreviate Sr. and Jr. after names. Put a comma on each side; thus: "John Jones, Jr., also spoke." 13. Abbreviate degrees used after a name, as A. B., A. M., Ph.D., LL. D., D. D., etc. 14. In giving names of firms or corporations, use & for and and abbreviate company; spell out brothers, also railway and railroad. Thus: Smith & Jones Co., Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, Brown Jewelry Co., Jefferson Brothers, American Steel & Wire Co. 15. Abbreviate the names of political parties when used as follows in giving election returns: For senator: Smith (Rep.), 4,777; Wilkes (Dem.), 3,592. Otherwise spell out. 16. Abbreviate and capitalize number when followed by numerals, as No. 10, Nos. 3 and 8. 17. Class of '04 may be used for Class of 1904. 18. Spell out the names of months, except in datelines, and always spell out the names of days. In datelines use these forms: Jan., Feb., March, April, May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. 19. Never, except for special reason, abbreviate proper names, as Geo., Jno., etc. But Tom is not to be made Thomas; Dan, Daniel, etc., when the shorter forms are real names, as is often the case. Distinguish such diminutives, which take no periods, from abbreviations, such as Geo. and Jno., which require periods. (See also "Titles," Page 28.) 20. Spell out per cent; use figures before it and no period after it: "A gain of 10 per cent was made." Percentage is one word. 21. Do not abbreviate street, avenue or boulevard, as 10 North Tenth street, Hicks avenue, More's boulevard. Spell out and capitalize east, north, west, south, when used with the name of a street, as West Forty-fifth street. Northwest, etc., when forming the last part of a street address, should be abbreviated, as 118 E street, N. W. 22. Never use Xmas for Christmas. MEMORANDA FIGURES 1. In general (note exceptions below), definite numbers up to 100 are to be spelled out in news; use figures for 100 and above. Thus: "The petition was signed by seventy-five persons."-"The petition was signed by 100 persons." 2. Where a number smaller than 100 occurs in the same sentence and connection with one of 100 or more, put both in figures. Thus: "Deaths for the week nnmbered 75, as against 105 the preceding week." 3. Spell out numbered streets up to 100, as North Ninth street, Eighty-first street, East 107th street. 4. Spell out numbers of military organizations up to 100, as Fifteenth Infantry, Seventy-ninth Division, 446th Field Artillery. 5. Hyphenate thirty-two, one-fourth, etc., but not three hundred and similar forms. 6. Spell out all numbers, no matter how high, beginning a sentence in ordinary reading matter. Thus: "Three hundred and twentyseven were killed."-"Ten-year-old John was there." If spelling out a long number would make the sentence cumbersome, recast the sentence. 7. Numbers of more than three figures are pointed off with commas, as 1,426 men, $3,456,749.78. Exceptions are years, street numbers, license numbers, telephone numbers, etc., as 1918, 1004 Delmar avenue, City Ordinance 4555. 8. Spell out such round numbers as three or four hundred, nearly a thousand, half a million. But use figures unless the number is plainly indefinite. 9. Use figures for sums of money, as $5, $1.87, unless the sum is obviously indefinite, as about a hundred dollars, millions of dollars. Do not use needless ciphers, as in $5.00. Write it $5. 10. When the sum is in cents, use figures, with cents spelled out, as 10 cents, 5 cents. Do not use penny for cent. 11. Dimensions are in figures only when two or more are given. Thus: A tower fifty feet high, a street ten blocks long; but a lot 70 by 100 feet. Write by, not x. Where a number of single dimensions. are given in describing one object, figures should be used, as; in the description of battleship armament: Four 12-inch guns, six 8-inch guns, four 6-pounders, 12-inch plate. 12. Do not let one number written in figures follow another with only a comma between, if there is any possibility of confusion. Recast the sentence if necessary to avoid such a construction as this: "Of the 324, 168 have already been obtained." The space following the comma is not always a sufficient safeguard. 13. Spell out references to particular decades, as the nineties (no apostrophe). But a '49-er. 14. Spell out numbers of centuries, sessions of Congress, political divisions and all similar terms which are less than 100, as twentieth century (lower-case), Fifty-fourth Congress, First Ward, Second Congressional District. 15. Use figures in matter of a statistical or tabular nature. 16. Use figures for ages, as 71 years old. This form is pre ferred to "aged 71 years." Hyphenate the compound adjective form, as a 3-year-old girl. 17. Use figures in giving time, as 10 o'clock, 10 a. m. Use the colon between hour and minutes, as 7:30. Never use needless ciphers, as in 7:00. 18. Use figures for per cents, as 10 per cent. Make per cent two words; no period after it. Write one-half of 1 per cent, but 61⁄2 per cent. Percentage is one word. 19. Use figures for street numbers, as 10 West Broadway, 104 North Ninth street. A is added to a street number without a space, as 10A West Broadway. 20. Use figures for degrees of temperature, except in cases typified by the following example: "The thermometer stood at 40, a drop of four degrees." 21. Use figures for dates, as January 14, and spell out the names of months except in datelines. Don't write January 14th. However, the 14th, Monday the 14th, are permissible when it would be awkward to use January 14. In such cases write 2d, 3d, not 2nd, 3rd. Spell out the number in Fourth of July. 22. Be certain your arithmetic is correct. If your story includes a column of figures and the total, make sure that the figures given will actually make that total. If you say that 40 per cent of a sum |