APStylebook

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Go back to the basics and refresh your knowledge of AP style in Week 1 of our new course, Refine Your PR Pitch with the AP.
We'll go over the AP style guidance you're most likely to need in your pitches, and Stylebook Editor Anna Jo Bratton will be there to answer your vexing style questions.
PRSA members get a 20% discount, and we offer group rates, too.
https://t.co/4hj0mlda4W

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It's back-to-school as a compound modifier, but no hyphens in back to school on its own.
For example, he bought back-to-school supplies, and she went back to school.

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We know it's officially still summer, but once we're past Labor Day, you're feeling that fall vibe, right?

Join us for Refine Your PR Pitch with the AP, a new course that kicks off next week.
AP Writing Workshop: Storytelling for Any Platform starts this week.
AP Stylebook Workshop returns in October.

You might still be wearing shorts and sandals but let's start learning together.
https://t.co/MXgY7kJp8X

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Our primary dictionary, Merriam-Webster, shows Hail Mary pass with Hail Mary capitalized, like the Roman Catholic prayer, and no hyphen.
The Stylebook's guidance on compound modifiers says in part: Some two-word terms, particularly those used as nouns, have evolved to be commonly recognized as, in effect, one word. No hyphen is needed when such terms are used as modifiers if the meaning is clear and unambiguous without the hyphen. Examples include third grade teacher, chocolate chip cookie, real estate transaction, emergency room visit, cat food bowl, parking lot entrance.

https://t.co/VUeFBPq1wj

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We now style antisemitism and antisemitic as one word, no hyphen, all lowercase.
This is a change from the previous style (anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic).
https://t.co/HPSLJcp28Q

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The Stylebook's guidance says the AP Top 25 ranking should be used in headlines and at the top of stories, and can be used without distinction: No. 1 Ohio State, top-ranked Ohio State.
It goes on to say that while deferring to AP ranking, stories should later make note of where a team stands in the College Football Playoff rankings, which is used for playoff and bowl placement.
https://t.co/M2PLBZBf5d

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The print AP Stylebook includes about 3,700 entries.
We have almost 900 more entries that only appear on AP Stylebook Online.
In addition, the Stylebook Online Ask the Editor archives include nearly 40,000 questions our editors have answered.
If you want our most comprehensive and up-to-date guidance, subscribe to AP Stylebook Online: https://t.co/fCfjYvsDco

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Sharing this 2024 AP Stylebook Online Ask the Editor reply, because it namechecks the late great Dolly Parton.

Question from New York, New York, on July 29, 2024
Should the names of fictional characters portrayed by actors be surrounded by quotation marks?
Answer
No. Truvy Jones, portrayed by Dolly Parton.

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Stop wasting time repeatedly debating and discussing how to style a word or phrase.
Add your custom style notes to an AP Stylebook Online site license, so everyone on your team can easily check how to do it.
No more relying on memory or Google, or referring to an out-of-date memo. Make it simple to be consistent.
https://t.co/fCfjYvsDco

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The preferred spelling for the capital of Nepal is Kathmandu.

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A flash flood is a sudden, violent flood. It typically occurs after a heavy rain or the melting of a heavy snow.
Stories about floods usually tell how high the water is and where it is expected to crest. Such a story should also list flood stage and how high the water is above, or below, flood stage.
Wrong: The river is expected to crest at 39 feet.
Right: The river is expected to crest at 39 feet, 12 feet above flood stage.
https://t.co/QsRym2a10D

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Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree, a master’s, etc., but there is no possessive in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science.
https://t.co/tDNZuvBNvP

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We have a new entry on AP Stylebook Online to define prediction markets, the online platforms where people can bet on the outcome of an event, such as a football game, an election or even the weather.

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The AP Stylebook Workshop 201 is coming up this fall. We will cover the big-picture questions of how to improve your writing and editing to make your copy clear and compelling.
When you sign up, add the Stylebook Workshop 101 in early 2027 to learn the fundamentals including punctuation, capitalization and numerals.
You save money when you register for both at the same time. Let's dispel that old cliche that writers aren't good with math.
https://t.co/3RbzN4gyuQ

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Electoral systems that allow voters to cast ballots before the day of an election are broadly known as advance voting. Each state has its own procedures for advance voting, which may include voting by mail, voting absentee or voting in person before Election Day.
The term advance voting is preferred in states where voters have several options to vote before Election Day. In the states that conduct elections primarily by mail, mail-in voting, mail voting and mailed ballots are all acceptable terms. Hyphenate as a compound modifier: advance-voting procedures, mail-in voting, absentee-ballot votes.
https://t.co/fERq2enybT

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Our primary dictionary, Merriam-Webster, shows screwworm as one word. It's defined as a blowfly of the warmer parts of America whose larva develops in sores or wounds or in the nostrils of mammals including humans with serious or sometimes fatal results.
https://t.co/8tZWM2NNpp

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Artificial intelligence tools will confidently answer your question, even when they don't have access to the information needed for the reply.
Grammar Girl explains why it's important to go straight to the AP Stylebook to get answers you can trust.

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Are you looking to make your budget go farther?
We offer 20% off on many of our products for members of ACES, AAJA, PRSA, SPJ, AHCJ and RTDNA.
We also offer 20% off for members of the AP’s not-for-profit news cooperative.
You can get a discount on Stylebook Online when you opt in to our automated annual renewal program, and we offer a similar program for automated delivery of each new spiral-bound book we publish.
Take advantage of our best pricing so you can be sure you're using farther or further correctly. Farther refers to physical distance: He walked farther into the woods. Further refers to an extension of time or degree: She will look further into the mystery.
https://t.co/FysteW9WFL

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Our primary dictionary, Merriam-Webster, shows the term "Milky Way galaxy," capitalizing Milky Way but lowercasing galaxy.
It also lists "the Milky Way" to describe both a broad band of light that can be seen in the night sky and that is caused by the light of a very large number of faint stars, and the galaxy in which we live that contains the stars that make up the Milky Way.
https://t.co/WhOw4WJHO0

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What AP style questions come up the most in your public relations writing? What questions do you have about what journalists need from you?

Refine Your Pitch with the AP starts in about a month and you won't want to miss this opportunity to polish your PR skills.
https://t.co/4hj0mlda4W