In all your stories, you’ll use the same sorts of facts and grammar again and again — and you’ll make the same mistakes. Here are 17 common examples:
Articles usually feature people, and those people are usually named. It’s very easy to misspell or miswrite a name. Be sure to double-check spelling with your sources.
For clarity and brevity, AP style requires you to use a person’s full name the first time they appear in the story. After that you should only refer to them by their surname. Exception: if multiple people with the same surname are in the story, use the full names throughout. Another exception: Use the first name on second reference for children 15 and under. Another exception: Use the last name on second reference for children 15 or under who are the subjects of a serious story — for example, they’ve committed a horrific crime.
Check with sources on name preferences. If someone goes by a nickname or middle name, use it (Liz instead of Elizabeth). If they use a middle initial, include it with the full name on first reference (George W. Bush). And if they have two last names that aren’t hyphenated, ask which is correct for the second reference. For example, should Ruth Bader Ginsburg be quoted as Ginsburg or Bader Ginsburg?
Also consider cultural differences. In China, for example, the family name comes first and the given name second, which means the second reference should point to the first, rather than last, name (Li Xiaochang is quoted as Li later in the story). But be sure to check whether the source souce gave their name in the typical Chinese format, as many people with Chinese names may flip the order if they live in a culture that puts the given name first and the surname last. In addition to Chinese, the AP Stylebook gives guidance on names in Arabic, Korean, Russian and Spanish.
Finally, be sure not to name anonymous sources if you or another reporter agreed to keep them anonymous, particularly if using real names will compromise anyone’s safety.
In addition to first and last names, some people have official titles or academic degrees. These alphabet soups can be hard to get right.
Formal titles usually point to officials, royalty or academic experts. For formal titles, the basic rule is to capitalize if it falls in front of a name (Queen Elizabeth) but not otherwise (the queen loves corgis). Most formal titles should be spelled out (President, Pope and so on) but some are always abbreviated (Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., Sen.). Military titles are also often abbreviated, for example Gen., Lt. Gen, and Maj. Gen., although some are not, such as Master Chief Petty Officer. When in doubt, always check the stylebook.
As for academic degrees, only use these if they are key to the story — for example, if the source is cited because of specific expertise. Avoid abbreviations when possible (Katharine Hayhoe, who has a doctorate in atmospheric science). If a story has many experts and it is too wordy to spell out their credentials, it is acceptable to use abbreviations, which should be offset with a comma (Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., is an expert on climate change). If you must reference undergraduate or master’s degrees, be careful with the apostrophe. For example, use the possessive for bachelor’s degree but not for Bachelor of Science.
And if a person is a junior or senior an abbreviated form of the word should appear after their name without a comma (John F. Kennedy Jr.).
In addition to common abbreviations for titles and degrees, a handful of other words should be shortened. When writing about business, for example, abbreviate words such as company, corporation and incorporation in an official name (AT&T Inc.). The AP Stylebook lists the correct names, ticker symbols and headquarters for some of the world’s biggest companies.
Other common abbreviations include addresses. Here, you should shorten words such as avenue, street and boulevard if they are written with the street number (123 Fake St.) and otherwise spell them out (Marge Simpson gave the police an address on Fake Street).
For acronyms, beware of periods: in some cases they belong, and others they do not. In general, periods should only appear in acronyms that would otherwise spell a word (U.N. or U.S.). Longer acronyms do not have periods (DARPA, USDA, FEMA). Of course, there are exceptions, so always double-check the stylebook.
Most stories will have at least one quote — say from an expert, official or eyewitness. It’s very important to get quotes right, and not to make mistakes in terms of both accuracy and grammar.
According to AP style quotations may never be altered, not even to fix small grammatical errors. In the past, AP required the use of (sic) to show that quoted material or a person's words include a misspelling, incorrect grammar or peculiar usage. But there has been a change of policy. Instead, paraphrase if possible. If a quotation is necessary for the story — for example, it covers controversial topics — and it contains grammatical errors, use it as spoken or written. If there is a question about a quote, either don't use it or ask the speaker to clarify.
When a source provides a rambling or awkward comment on a tamer topic — one that doesn’t necessarily need to be attributed word-for-word — a more elegant solution is to paraphrase the quote. Regardless of whether it is a direct quote or paraphrase, all quotes should be put in appropriate context in order to ensure their accuracy.
There are lots of ways to write out a date:
Monday, December 31, 2018
Monday the 31st
Monday the thirty-first of December
The 31st of December
December 31, 2018
Dec. 31, 2018
Dec. 31
12/31/2018
All of these examples get the information across but not all are correct according to AP style.
When it comes to days and years, use Arabic numbers. The abbreviations st, nd, rd and th have no place in a news article (31 is correct while 31st and thirty-first are not).
Always capitalize months. Spell the name in full if the month is used alone (her birthday was in December). But the following months should be abbreviated if they are used conjunction with a specific date: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. (her birthday is Dec. 31).
As for years, if an event happened in the same year in which the article published, it is only necessary to include the month and day (The fireworks are scheduled for Dec. 31). Past or future dates should include the year separated by commas (She was born on Dec. 31, 1979, at 8:30 a.m.).
As with dates, there are also plenty of ways to express times. Is it 2 o’clock? Two in the morning? Two thirty or two-thirty or 2:30?
For AP style, use Arabic numerals for all times except noon and midnight, which should be written out. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes (2:30).
Although it is technically fine to use o’clock, the AP prefers a.m. and p.m. — always with periods — to denote times before or after noon, respectively. But a.m. is not synonymous with morning, or p.m. with evening. For example, don’t write she met him in the a.m., but rather she met him in the morning.
Both that and which can be used as pronouns to refer to animals or objects, but they are not interchangeable. That is reserved for essential clauses while which is for nonessential clauses. That shouldn’t appear after a comma and which usually does.
For example, use that when the information is essential to convey the meaning of the sentence: The officer wrote a ticket for a new law that had just gone into effect. And use which when the sentence would still make sense even without the clause: The ticket, which was the first of its kind, carried a fine of $50.
The percentage sign (%) is acceptable when paired with a numeral in most cases. When describing specific percentages, use Arabic numerals. When there is a fraction of a percent, write it as a decimal (50.5%) and with a zero in front if the amount is less than one (0.5%).
Many company and product names have unusual spelling in order to distinguish them from competitors. If a specific name isn’t necessary to the story, use the generic term (facial tissue). If the trademarked name is essential, use and capitalize it (Kleenex). The AP Stylebook usually includes common trademarks — in the 2018 edition these were listed under “brand names.”
Also note that trademarks can lapse. Thermos, for example, used to be a trademarked name and was thus capitalized, but now thermos can refer to any bottle or flask that uses a vacuum to keep the contents either hot or cold. In cases like this, use the capitalized version for the brand name (The judge determined that Thermos didn’t have an infringement case), but lowercase for the generic case (The thermos kept the soup warm).
English has many examples of homophones — words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. Homophones often pop up in stories as typos, particularly when you’re under a tight deadline. Keep an eye out for its (a possessive pronoun) and it’s (the contraction of it is), their (a plural possessive pronoun), there (an adverb indicating a place) and they’re (the contraction of they are).
There are other words that aren’t homophones, but differ by only a letter or two and are also often confused. For example, farther indicates an increase in a physical distance while further is an increase in time or scale. You may walk farther today than you did yesterday, but it won’t necessarily further your understanding of what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. And in AP style, entitled refers to someone who assumes they deserve special treatment, while titled is a way to refer to the name of an artistic work. Never say a book is entitled.
In news articles, a short line usually appears at the top indicating where the information was gathered. This is called the dateline. Don’t confuse it with date line, which is the imaginary line that bisects the Pacific Ocean and serves as the point where the calendar changes from one day to the next.
The dateline should include the city name in capital letters. In most cases, the state name or abbreviation will follow, separated by a comma (ALBANY, N.Y.), although some major cities shouldn’t include the state (NEW YORK). The AP Stylebook lists the cities that don’t require a state, as well as state abbreviations.
Some international cities also don’t require additional geographic information (HONG KONG), but smaller cities or towns typically include the country name, which should also follow AP style. Of course, datelines may change over time to match geopolitical shifts. The 2018 AP Stylebook has unique entries, for example, for the Balkans and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Most stories also have bylines, which indicate the writer’s name. Bylines should always start with By followed by the full name (By Jane Smith). For AP stories, the writer’s name only appears in the byline if they were actually in the location indicated by the dateline. Otherwise, write By The Associated Press.
In some cases, a story may have multiple writers and reporters. Here, the credit for the work is up to the editor (sometimes there are two names in a byline, while other times a second name may appear at the end of the story).
For numbers less than ten that describe an amount, spell the word out (three ponies). For 10 and higher, use Arabic numbers (10 ponies).
There are exceptions. If a number is the first word in a sentence, spell it out even if it is 10 or greater (Thirty years ago…). Use figures for all ages as well. If the age is used as an adjective, use hyphens (3-year-old sister or 48-year-old-man). If the age falls otherwise in the sentence, don’t use hyphens (her sister was 3 years old). And if the age is described as a general decade, use the numeral with an s and no apostrophe (the man was in his late 40s).
Dates and times should follow the rules outlined in the relevant sections above. When in doubt, use Arabic numbers for time, days and year.
As for money, also default to Arabic numerals. In U.S. currency, write out cents for amounts less than a dollar (3 cents and 50 cents for example) and use the dollar symbol and decimals for anything larger ($1.01). An exception: If the reference to money is casual, you may spell out dollar (The man on the corner asked for a dollar). If a decimal isn’t necessary, particularly for large numbers, don’t use it ($1,000,000). And for numbers higher than a million, only go up to two decimal places ($6.45 trillion).
In general, only capitalize the first word in a sentence, proper nouns and names (America, Jane, Democratic Party, Wall Street). Of course, there are exceptions. Some popular names aren’t formal designations, but are so common that they follow the same rule (the Lower East Side in New York). Also capitalize formal titles as outlined in the relevant section above.
Punctuation is necessary in any written text. Without punctuation it’s difficult to follow the logic in prose. In AP style, the goal for punctuation is to make the text as clear as possible.
The AP Stylebook has a section dedicated to punctuation that runs several pages — too many entries to include in this module. But here are a several examples that will likely show up in all stories:
Comma: In general, do not use the Oxford comma (left, right and center is correct while left, right, and center is not). There are exceptions. You can, for example, include the final comma if it is necessary in order for a sentence to make sense. Here is one often-cited example, which is allegedly from a published TV listing: By train, plane and sedan chair, Peter Ustinov retraces a journey made by Mark Twain a century ago. The highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector.
Dash: These are useful for asides — or for cases when a sentence requires an emphatic pause — and should be offset by one space on either side.
Quotation mark: The first quotation mark in a sentence typically curves forward around the quoted text (“) and the closing mark curves back (”). Also, always put commas and periods inside of the quotation marks, not outside. (“I can’t believe it’s still raining,” she said. “It was supposed to have stopped by now.”)
Colon: If the first word after a colon is a proper noun or could be the start of a full sentence, capitalize it (All of their names started with the letter B: Betty, Benny, Bobby, Boris and Bud and One thing was certain: He wasn’t going to sign the contract). Otherwise, use lower case. (The ice cream shop only had three flavors left: butter pecan, chocolate and peppermint).
Exclamation point: Use sparingly!
Readers will notice if you misspell the name of their hometown or if you place it in the wrong county or state. When in doubt, check names with a reputable source (for American cities try the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, an official state website or a local travel bureau). Also be sure to use state abbreviations as recommended by the AP Stylebook.
If an article cites a book, movie, poem, play, television show or any other composition, always follow the same basic rules. In general, put quotations around the entire title (do not italicize or underline). The only exceptions are religious texts such as the Bible and the Quran and reference books such as catalogs and encyclopedias, which should have no quotations.
Within the title, capitalize all of the main words, including prepositions and conjunctions with at least four letters. If an article that has fewer than four words appears first or last in the title, capitalize it; otherwise, don’t. (For example: “The Wizard of Oz”).