Style Notes (Keep These Always )

STYLE NOTES (KEEP THESE – ALWAYS!!!)

AFFILIATION

AAA not 3-A

ACRONYMS

-Spell out on first reference, then abbreviate.

-First Reference: Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)

-Second Reference: YMCA

AVOID: Many, some, others, etc. Be specific. How many? Who?

BOOKS, MOVIES, SONGS, TV SHOWS, ETC.

-Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions if more than four words.

-Everything is in quotations: “The Great Gatsby” unless it is a dictionary or the Bible

NAMES --ADULTS

-First Reference: AP Literature teacher Anna Williams

-Second Reference: Mrs. Williams

-Do not capitalize a teacher’s class title unless it starts the sentence –

Ex. history teacher Allison Alison

-Do not capitalize generic names of classes- math, science, history, etc.

- Exceptions: Capitalize specific class names Ex. foreign languages (Spanish), Calculus, etc.

BULLDOGS:

-Always one word. Always capitalized. Avoid using. Who else would we be talking about?

DATES:

Spell out all dates.

Example: Monday, Jan. 5, 2005. No year if in the current year.

DAY OF THE WEEK

Spell out

NAMES – Students

-First Reference: junior Lauren Skelly

-Second Reference: Skelly

-Exceptions:

First names may be used in the case of siblings or other common names that might confuse the reader.

Always make the students class lower case: Ex- junior, senior, sophomore, and freshman

NUMBERS

-Spell out numbers zero through nine. Use numbers for 10 and above

-Exception: Spell out all numbers at the beginning of a sentence BUT rewrite sentence if necessary. Ex: if your sentence starts with the number 452 consider rewriting the number to be somewhere within the sentence

-Exception: Don’t spell out a numeral that identifies a calendar year.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Words such as: I, me, you, we, us, our, etc. May be used on in quoted material or with special permission for a special story.

REGIONALS, DISTRICTS, STATES:

All capital. Regionals, Districts, states

SCHOOL

Try not to reference the school by name. Your readers should know that the school is Stone Bridge (two words). If you must ,just say Stone Bridge (not SB or SBHS or Stone Bridge High School). If you use Bulldogs, then use the opponent’s mascot, not the school. Example: Bulldogs vs. Saxons. Notice: Stone Bridge is TWO WORDS.

SPORTS TEAMS

Do not capitalize the name of a sport.

VARSITY, JV, FRESHMAN

All lowercase. JV abbreviated – freshman, varsity, JV