IBT Style Guide -- Oct 2013

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES Style Guide
Style References (in order of priority)
 IBT style guide bit.ly/ibtstyle
 APstylebook.com user: ibtimes, password: editorial
 m-w.com

Other references and resources:

 Grammar Girl website: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl

 Google Finance (for company names, tickers, etc.) In stories abt company
financials, first reference to company name should be as Google lists it, not as AP
prefers it. Exception: no comma before Inc., and put period after Inc., Ltd. and Corp.
 Google Trends (www.google.com/trends, for SEO purposes) On search bar, enter
up to 5 different terms, separated by commas, to see how people search those terms
differently. You can see the difference in search traffic for things like "cell phone" vs.
"cellphone," "3D" vs. "3-D," the various spellings for "Gadaffi," etc.
 For Web trends: Go to analytics.webtrends.com, under account: ibtimes, then enter
your username and pw. (Ask Mikka about setting up an account.)
 For special characters, like é in Beyonce and ç in François,
see: www.tedmontgomery.com/tutorial/altchrc.html

General Style Rules

 Display copy -- Always take special care writing/editing display copy –short titles,
summaries, captions – because they are readers’ first impression of content, and
because CMS does not spell-check display copy.
 Spell-check -- Always spell-check body copy before filing or publishing stories, or
(for copyeditors) after you copyedit a story.
 No serial comma (aka Oxford comma)
 Single spaces between sentences
 No one-sentence paragraphs (for SEO reasons)
 Names Use a person’s full name in first reference in body copy, and after that only if
needed to avoid confusion-- like when there is more than one person in the story with
the same last name.
 Pronouns Use a singular pronoun when referring to organizations, companies or
groups: “it” not “they,” “its” not “their” or “theirs”
 Cities, states Domestic and international capitals do not need the state or country
listed after them. For most noncapital U.S. cities, spell out (per new AP rule as of
June 2014) state name on first reference., e.g., Vero Beach, Florida. Most noncapital
international cities need the country after the name upon first reference, but there’s a
handful of noncapital cities known well enough that they don’t need state/country
after. See list of standalone cities (domestic and international) at end of this
document, or in AP.
 For obituaries, always provide the age of the deceased in the first sentence of the
story.
  Use simple sentence construction as much as possible. If it sounds convoluted
when read aloud, it is.
 Words/phrases to avoid: in the process of, in the midst of, in order to, back in
(when referring to a time in the past), icon (except in an Orthodox cathedral). Avoid
using “impact” or “task” as a verb. Avoid “Third World”; use “developing nations”
instead.

COMMON STYLE/GRAMMAR ISSUES

 that vs. which: Use “that” as much as possible, per AP.
 A comma always precedes “which” but a comma never precedes “that.”
 Ex: “The employee works at Altech, which manufactures smartphones.” OR “The
employee works at a technology company that manufactures smartphones.” The
meaning of the sentence is affected by whether you use “which” or “that.”
 who vs. that: Use “who” when talking about people; use “which” when talking about
entities/organizations.
 then vs. than: then refers to time and is used in if/then constructions; than is used
when comparing two things: She is taller than her sister.

QUOTE STYLE
 Less is more; keep quotes to 1-2 sentences max.
 Past tense for quotes from people (exception: feature stories can be in present
tense), present tense for attributions to sources/organizations. Ex: “AP reports,”
“according to the FBI”
 Begin with first sentence of the quote, followed by attribution, then the rest of the
quote: “Blah, blah, blah,” Mary Jane, the head of the company, said. “And more
blah.” Never: Mary Jane said, “Blah…”
 Use “said” after, rather than before, the person’s name, unless it causes confusion.
 Do not use partial quotes; paraphrase instead. However, you can use a single word
in quotes.
 Do not put words in quotation marks or italics for emphasis or when referencing a
colloquialism. It should be clear what you are saying without it.
 Fix bad grammar/English and make text conform to house style. Any further changes
for but make minimal changes so the meaning isn’t lost. For quotes that are
misspelled/written and it is important to retain for characterization of the person, use
“[sic]” after the relevant word or phrase.
 For editor’s insertions, use brackets, not parens: “[The U.S.] entered into
negotiations.”
 International Business Times – Spell out in summaries and on first reference in
body copy (no “the”); use “IBTimes” on second ref.
 Use “told International Business Times” (or “told IBTimes” on second ref) when it’s
an exclusive or in intro to Q&A.
 The /the lowercase “the” for publications whose proper name starts with that word,
e.g., “the New York Times,” “the Washington Post,” “the Associated Press” -- “the
AP” on second ref.
 For entities/organizations that are acronyms, use “the”, e.g., “the FBI,” “the CIA,” but
do not use “the” before org names that aren’t acronyms, e.g., “NASA”
 Do not cap the definite article “the” in proper names (unless it’s not in English, such
as “Le Monde newspaper”): “the Bronx.” Cap only when part of a media title, e.g.,
“The Ethicist”
INTERVIEW STYLE
 For interviewer --on first question, it’s International Business Times: (bold, with
colon), and on subsequent questions, it’s “IBTimes:” All questions themselves are
roman. For interviewee upon first reference, use full name in bold with a colon:
“John Doe:” For subsequent references, use last name only in bold with a colon:
“Doe:”
ABBREVIATIONS / ACRONYMS
 In general, put initialisms/abbreviations in parens immediately after first ref, e.g., “a
document posted Friday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA), says” or “Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) issued
another recall…” But if the entity appears again within a sentence or two of
first ref, don’t put abbrev in parens after first ref; use abbrev for second ref.
Also, don’t include an abbreviation/initialism at all if there story has no second
reference to the entity.
 States: DO NOT abbreviate state names after cities in body copy. Per new AP rule
as of June 2014, spell out, e.g., the Berkeley, California, firm
 Acronyms of four letters or less are all caps, e.g., NASA. For acronyms of five or
more letters, initial cap only, e.g., Unesco, Unicef, Dream Act, Nascar. Exception:
PRISM (all caps). Acronyms, generally, must be able to be pronounced and have a
vowel in them. Thus, NHTSA is not an acronym and all five of its letters are
capitalized.
 U.S., U.N., U.K. are acceptable as noun or adjective in body copy. EU (no
periods); but in headlines, US, UK and UN don’t get periods.
 Obscenities, vulgarities: replace the letters of the offensive word with hyphens,
using only an initial letter, Ex.: f---
-------------------------------------
PUNCTUATION
 APOSTROPHE: Proper names ending in s do NOT take an “s”: George Lucas’
most recent film, CBS’ new series. Plural nouns get apostrophe after the s: the
boys’ bikes, the Clintons’ dog
 BACKSLASH: No space on either side. Ex: According to IMF/U.S. rules…
 BRACKETS: Use for editor’s insertions within direct quotes, e.g., “She wanted to tell
[her husband] Bob about the incident.”
 COMMA: No serial comma unless needed to avoid confusion. Ex: ”Obama’s
favorite muffin flavors are blueberry, peanut butter and chocolate chip, and corn.”
(Peanut butter and chocolate chip is one flavor.)
 No comma before Inc. or Jr.
 Commas with conjunctions: No commas before conjunctions (and, but, yet, etc.)
when not followed by a subject. That is, do not separate phrases with conjunctions
that are not independent clauses: “Stocks rose but crashed later. Stocks rose, but
they crashed later.”
 “Who” or “which” should be offset by commas. Ex: “Obama signed the bill, which
was opposed by Republicans, after a series of delays.”
 COLON: Cap the first word after a colon if the sentence following the colon is a
complete sentence. “The projections were clear: The company would file for
bankruptcy. “ Do not cap if what follows colon is not complete sentence: “There was
only one option: a bankruptcy filing.”
  ELLIPSES: Use when a word or phrase has been omitted from a quote. For
omissions within a sentence, style is: Text, space, three periods, then a space.
Ex: “Wilson was named … prime minister of ...”
 Period, space, three periods, space, cap next word for an omission following a
complete sentence: “Wilson was named prime minister. … She ...”
 EM DASH and EN DASH: Reporters’ stories flow into CMS with a variety of dashes,
and since we can’t make em dashes in the CMS, we use two hyphens -- instead of
em dash, for insertions, interjections, sudden breaks in thought
 HYPHEN: (almost) never hyphenate a compound modifier when it’s an adverbial
phrase ending in -ly. e.g., a widely known fact, a critically acclaimed movie.
 Do not hyphenate words beginning with “cyber,” “multi” or “non” (exception: “non”
words where the word following non starts with n or is a proper name, e.g., non-
nuclear, non-Arab, non-U.S.) unless preceding an acronym/initialism. But generally
hyphenate words beginning with “anti” and “pro.” (See AP for list of exceptions.)
 PARENTHESES and PERIODS: If the sentence or fragment is within another
sentence, the period goes on the outside. If the sentence stands alone, the period
goes on the inside. Ex: “Tiger Woods announced he is dating Lindsey Vonn (the
rumors about their relationship began a few months ago).” OR “Tiger Woods
announced he is dating Lindsey Vonn. (The rumors about their relationship began a
few months ago.)
 QUESTION MARK: Regarding placement, if the question mark is part of a title or a
quote, place inside the quotation mark. e.g., When was “Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?” written? If it is not, place outside,e.g., Who wrote “Gone With the Wind”? If
a quote is a question, do not put a comma before attribution, e.g., “How long will it
take?” she asked.
 QUOTATION MARKS: Put book, film and video game titles and nicknames in
quotation marks. Newspaper and magazine titles do not take quotation marks or
italics.
 Periods and commas should always sit inside quotation marks (even single words --
no old-world British style). Ex.: McCain decided to switch his vote to “no.”
 SEMICOLON: Use semicolons to separate complete sentences that are part of the
same thought or to clarify a series. Conjunctions (“and,” “but”) are not used after
semicolons. Use semicolons to avoid run-on sentences. Ex: “Obama met with Pelosi,
Reid and Durbin; the president later met with Boehner and McConnell.”
---------------------------------------------------
CALL LETTERS
 For TV stations, use call letters rather than nicknames, e.g., local CBS affiliate
WRAL-TV (stedda CBS Raleigh 5)
 CAPITALIZATION
 Cap official titles preceding names: “… said Communications President Mary Jones.”
 Do not cap unofficial titles preceding names: “… said head of communications Mary
Jane.”
 Do not cap titles following names: “Mary Jane, the president of communications.
 Do not cap titles independent of names: “Mary Jane was named head of
communications.”
 Do not cap divisions of companies unless part of the official title preceding the
person’s name: “She was the head of communications.”
 COMPASS DIRECTIONS, REGIONS
  In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate
compass direction, but capitalize when they designate regions, e.g., “East Coast,”
“Northeast,” “West Coast,” “Western Hemisphere (note cap H), “Deep South.” Cap
“Western” when referring to the film genre.
CRIME

Avoid the unnecessary use of “allegedly.” Ex: “He allegedly robbed the bank at 3
p.m., police said,” since the police said it. Whenever possible, attribute criminal
accusations to a specific source, e.g., police, judges, prosecutors, witnesses, etc.
 Do not use “suspect” if the perp is unknown and there is no name given. Ex: “Two
suspects entered the store at 10 a.m. and started shooting.”
DAYS and DATES
 For specific dates with a day, abbreviate months that are six letters or more,
e.g., Nov. 14, 2011, For months with no day, spell out month, e.g., November
2013.
 Use the day of the week, never “today” “tomorrow” or “yesterday,” if the day cited is
within a week before or after the day of publication. If it’s more, use the date.
 In headlines, abbreviate days of the week if necessary for fit, and use period, e.g.,
“Wed. Futures Suggest Weak Open”; but it’s preferable to spell out if days of the
week in heads if you have the space.
 For date ranges, our style follows AP, e.g., Feb. 12-23
MONEY/FINANCE/BUSINESS
 Ratings: stocks and bonds -- Capitalize but do not put in quotation marks stock
ratings (e.g., Buy, Sell, Overweight, Underweight). Likewise, capitalize but do not put
in quotation marks bond ratings (e.g., AAA, A-3, F1+) and bond outlooks (e.g.,
Stable, Negative). When referring to bonds rated as not prime, it is acceptable to
refer to them as “junk” or “high-yield debt” (no quotation marks in actual text).
 Currencies – do not cap, e.g., euro, yuan, bitcoin
 For amounts less than a dollar, use numeral and spell out the word cents: 5 cents,
59 cents. Use the $ sign and decimal system for larger amounts: $1.01, $2.50
 Ranges $5 million to $8 million (not $5-8 million), 12 percent to 15 percent (not 12-
15 percent)
 $5 million (not “$5-million” as adjective)
 IPO acceptable on first reference, but it should be spelled out initial public offering
somewhere within next graf or so.
 millions of (not “millions and millions of”)
 more than “over” is OK as substitute to indicate greater numerical value (per March
2014 AP update)
 multimillion-dollar deal
 Always provide dollar conversion when citing monetary figures on first reference
(only).
 Q1, Q2, etc. Use in heds to abbreviate first quarter, second quarter, etc.
 earnings per share (not earnings a share)
 Regarding where companies are based: do not used -based; just give city/state,
e.g.: “the Princeton, N.J., firm” or put based in first, e.g., “based in Cupertino, Calif.
 credit ratings: S&P recently raised India's credit rating outlook to "stable" from
"negative."”
 Stock tickers -- parens, all caps, no space after colon. Example: (NASDAQ:AMZN)
NUMBERS
  Spell out numbers one through nine in body copy and summaries, except for
dimensions – He is 5 feet 8 inches tall, The rug is 9 feet by 12 feet. — and ages (of
people, things, laws) “The law was 2 years old.” In headlines, we have the option to
use numerals for 1-9 (one through nine).
 Use numerals for 10 and higher. “There are 20 days until Christmas.” “He’s 10 times
smarter than his friend.”
 Ordinals follow basic rule above – spell out first through ninth, use numerals for 10th
and up.
 more than (or “over”) and fewer than (not “less than”) when citing numerical
figures/nouns you can count (rather than nouns you can’t count, such as “money” or
“time”)
 Ex: “The ruling party lost by more than 20 percent.” “There were fewer than 30
people.” “There were fewer people.” “There was less time.”
 Don't make readers do math. If a number appears in display type, it shld also appear in the
story with explanation on how it was arrived at.
 an increasing number, increasingly (not “more and more”) “An increasing
number of people have been moving out of Syria.”
 Betting odds: Use figures and a hyphen: The odds were 5-4, he won despite 3-2
odds against him.
 Votes (as in congressional ): use figures and a hyphen, e.g., The Senate voted 64-36
TIME
Use figures except for noon and midnight.
Time style: Ex: “9 a.m. EDT” or “EST” depending on time of year.
Express time ranges like this: 9-11 a.m., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Avoid such redundancies as 10 a.m. this morning, 10 p.m. tonight or 10 p.m. Monday
night. Use 10 a.m. or 10 p.m. Monday, etc., as required by the norms in time
element. The construction 4 o'clock is acceptable, but time listings with a.m. or p.m.
are preferred.
CORRECTION STYLE
 Per AP, use straightforward statement that a previous version of the story contained
such-and-such an error, and then state what the correct info is, e.g., "A March 22
version of this story erroneously identified the CEO as Reginald Smith. His correct
name is Robert Smith.”
UPDATE and LIVE BLOG style
 Update style: Depending on case, write at the top of the story in bold: “This story
has been updated.” OR “This is a developing story.” Then UPDATE
 Live blog style: Additional information is added to the top with the time stamp in bold
followed by a colon. Ex: “9:20 a.m.:”
HEADLINE STYLE
 SEO Heds:
 Length can be as long as necessary, but generally 7 to 15 words.
 Cap ALL words (even prepositions), except for quirky proper names such as “iPad”
and “eBay” unless first word in hed, e.g., IPad Sales Dip In 2014.
Companies --put the ticker symbol in SEO heds.helps get story picked up on Google Finance 16:30

 Single quotation marks for titles of shows, books, etc. Ex: ‘Friends’ Reunion Show Is In
The Works
 No periods for US, UN, Corp
  Gov. (for Governor)
 For numbers, use numeral or spell out word depending on the situation
 When referencing a report or person, state person or report after the colon in short
headlines and before the colon in SEO headlines:
o Short headline: “Housing Boom Has Arrived: IDC Report”
o SEO headline: “IDC Report: Housing Boom Has Arrived And The Economy Has
Been Waiting”
 REGARDING CORRECTIONS to SEO heds: DO NOT change or make fixes unless
story is trending or getting good readership in general (I,000 hits or more), and then fix
ONLY factual errors and misspellings, following our SEO hed correction style:
 At the end of the headline add [CORRECTION]. And in the first line of the body copy, in
ITALS, note the correction in the following manner :
 A previous version of the story had a misspelled word in the headline .
 OR
 A previous version of the story incorrectly stated that ……
Short Titles (aka display heds):
 percent -- % use symbol in heds (but spell out in body copy)
 million, billion -- in general use M for million, B for billion, with no space, e.g., $50B
Budget
 Use present-tense verbs

SUMMARY STYLE
 Summaries should be complete sentences with periods, expanding on the title. They
can either stand alone or be dependent on the headline. Max length: approx. 20
words. Provide first names of all persons unless included in title.
 Do not repeat words that are in the headline. The summary should add information
not in the headline. Do not cut and paste a line from the body copy for the summary.
 Use double quotes around song/movie/book/TV show titles and around quotes, e.g.,
The “Modern Family” star called the script “ridiculous.”
SUBHEAD STYLE
 No more than 6 words, boldface, initial cap each word, with no colons. If you’re
using subheads in a story, there must be at least 2 . Use single quotes for
movie/show titles, quotes, etc., e.g., ‘Mad Men’ Lives On
PHOTOS
 ALWAYS include a photo and edit the photo headline, credit and caption.
 Main photos should be horizontal. If you want to use a vertical image as main
photo, convert it to horizontal format in Microsoft Paint. Vertical photos as secondary
photos are OK.
 Photo headlines: Capitalize all words. For non-slideshow images, if referencing
someone in the caption description, use full name in caption and only last name in
title. For slideshows, use full name in title. Quotation marks should be single. DO
NOT duplicate the caption in the photo headline, especially in slide shows.
 Captions: If IDing a person, use full title and name. If more than one person in
photo, their names should be in the same order as the people appear in the
photo. Caption can be complete sentence or fragment (no period after fragment) for
regular story captions. 1-4 sentences for slideshow captions. You can use the story
summary if it works with the photo.
 Directionals and dates: Use directionals for captions on pics with more than one
person if it's not immediately clear who's who. Spell out right, left, second from right,
 etc., and put in parens, e.g., "Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko (left) and Russian
President Vladimir Putin met to resolve the ongoing conflict." Re dates: Abbreviate
month names when a specific date is given, e.g., The group met on Feb. 4, 2015.
 Photo credits: ALWAYS provide a photo credit in the photo credit box, not the
caption description box. It should be initial caps: “Reuters” not “REUTERS.” If it’s a
website, exclude the www. No spaces between “/” for more than one credit name.
Note: It’s “Creative Commons” (with an s)

-----------------------------------
WORD LIST
3D (exception to AP)
adviser but advisory
African-American (n. and adj.) for American person of African descent. Also acceptable: black
(lowercase b). Similarly, hyphenate Indian-American, Mexican-American, etc.
afterparty
Al Jazeera
al-Shabab
al Qaeda (cap a Al Qaeda in headline)
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (ruler of Egypt); Sisi on second ref
allegedly refers to an act presumed to have been committed by someone ( vs.
reportedly, to be used when something was said about someone.
amid (not “amidst”)
among (not “amongst”)
antitrust
Apple Watch the watch or Apple Watch on second reference
asshole don’t use this word
automaker
backdoor (one word in tech context)
baby boomer (per AP)
Bashir (second ref for president of Sudan), Omar al-Bashir on first ref
betting odds: Use figures and a hyphen:, e.g., The odds were 5-4, He won despite 3-2 odds
against him.
binge-watch (v.)
bitcoin lowercase in all instances except heds (exception to AP)
black box
Bluetooth
body cam
BuzzFeed
ceasefire (exception to AP)
cell phone
chipmaker
circa means around or approximately, not some quaint time in the past
cloud lowercase in tech context, e.g., cloud computing
co- retain the hyphen when forming nouns, adjectives and verbs that indicate occupation or
status, e.g., co-owner, co-host, co-author
compared to/with Use “compared to” when the intent is to assert that two or more items are
similar: She compared her work for women’s rights to Susan B. Anthony’s campaign for
women’s suffrage. Use “compared with” to illustrate similarities and/or differences: His time was
2:11:10, compared with 2:18 for his closest competitor.
Congress always include political party and AP standard-abbreviated state affiliation on first ref
to a congressperson, offset by commas. Ex: “Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted to …”
But for independents, such as Bernie Sanders, make it “Ind-Vt.” A few state names do not get
abbreviated: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Ohio, Maine, Texas, Utah
congressional lowercase unless part of proper name
congressman, congresswoman
cord-cutter (n. and adj.)
counterterrorism
couple takes singular verb: The couple is now engaged.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (president of Argentina); Kirchner on second reference
* * *

crowdsource, crowdfund
cyber generally follow AP and do not hyphenate combined forms, e.g., cyberattack,
cybersecurity, cyberspace. Exception: cyber-espionage
decision-making, decision-maker
Deep Web
Dow Jones Industrial Average
eBay, but EBay if it starts a sentence or hed
ecotourism
editor-in-chief (hyphenate)
email (no hyphen) but e-book, e-reader, e-commerce
enterovirus D68
episode lowercase e and use numeral when referring to TV show episode, e.g., episode 6
eurozone
federal (lowercase f)
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles -- Fiat Chrysler or FCA on second ref; Fiat Chrysler in heds
first lady -- lowercase (not capitalized in any instance since it is not an official title)
filmmaker
fold generally no hyphen, e.g., fourfold, tenfold
follow-up (n. and adj.); follow up (v.)
frat boy
front-runner
G-7, G-8, G-20
Google cap when using as a verb; Google Plus (not +)
government – ok to abbreviate as Govt in heds
head-to-head (adv. or adj.)
healthcare
home page
Inc. (no comma before, put period at end) Ex.: Apple Inc.
indexes (not indices)
International Business Times – Spell out on first reference (no “the”), use “IBTimes” on
second ref. Use “told International Business Times” (or “told IBTimes” in second reference)
when it’s an exclusive/original quote.
Internet (cap I)
Internet of Things
Internet Service Provider, ISP on second ref
iPhone (but cap i IPhone if first word of headline or sentence)
IPO acceptable on first reference in a business story (and in many other stories as well), but it
should be spelled out initial public offering somewhere soon after.
the Islamic State group, or the so-called Islamic State, or the Islamic State group, also
known as ISIS; ISIS OK on subsequent refs as long as earlier ref has “also known as ISIS”
Jay Z (he dropped the hyphen in July 2013)
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kim Jong Un
live stream (n.) livestream (v.)
long as a suffix, generally no hyphen before, e.g., monthslong, weeklong
long-standing
longtime
mega can stand alone, e.g., “He has become a mega celebrity” or combined (without hyphen)
to create compounds, e.g., megabucks
microblogging
millennial lowercase m for person born in the 1980s or 1990s
Moammar Gadhafi
Mohammed Morsi former Egyptian leader
mock-up
Mt Gox (no period in heds) but Mt. Gox period in body copy
Nascar (departure from AP)
Nasdaq/NASDAQ initial cap only in body copy/ all caps in ticker
net neutrality
nicknames initial caps, not in quotes, and never both. Ex: He is known as El Chapo (not: He is
known as “El Chapo”).
No. 1
offline
offscreen
on-again, off-again
on-screen
opt in (v.) opt-in (n. and adj.)
OK, OK’d
passcode
pay-to-play (n. and adj.)
percent spell out in body copy (but use % in headlines)
PLC (all caps)
plug-in (n. and adj.)
post - postgame, postseason
policymaker
pre in general, no hyphen (e.g., pregame, preorder), but see m-w.com for exceptions
pre-existing
preorder
prime time (n). prime-time (adj.)
protester
powwow ok as noun, but avoid using as verb
real time (n.), real-time (adj.).
Re/code
re-elect, re-election
runoff (n. and adj.)
screenshot (1 word)
Season, episode cap s Season when referring to TV show, e.g., “American Idol” Season 6
winner, but lowercase e episode. Put comma between, as in Season 4, episode 7
sell-off (n. and adj.)
sext
Shariah
showrunner
Sisi on second ref for Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, ruler of Egypt
smartphone, smartwatch
so-called no quotes around the word/phrase that follows, e.g., the so-called Islamic State
sound bite
spinoff (n.); spin off (v.)
startup (n. and adj.)
storyline
super PAC
Quran (not Koran)
re-election
Taser cap T, because it’s a trademark
tea party lowercase for the movement, uppercase for specific group, e.g., Tea Party Patriots
time frame
T-shirt also: tee
touch-screen (adj.)
toward (not “towards”)
trans fat
tweet (lowercase t)
Twitter
underway
unheard-of
U.S.’s (add s after apostrophe )
vice president no caps unless formal title immediately before name, e.g., Vice President Joe
Biden
video game (n. and adj.)
vs. abbreviate and lowercase v and use period in all cases --even heds--except when citing a
legal case, for which you use “v.” e.g., Roe v. Wade. Lowercase v in heds is exception to initial
caps rule for heds
Walgreen is the parent company; Walgreen’s is the drugstore
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. vs. Walmart Use first, formal style when referring to the company in a
story about earnings, share price or something similar. Otherwise use “Walmart.” The company
itself uses “Walmart” in news releases.
Web (cap W) but website, webcam, webcast
whistleblower (departure from AP Style and m-w, per Marcus, Feb 2014)
Wi-Fi
WikiLeaks
Yusuf Islam (the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens)
DOMESTIC DATELINES: These domestic locations stand alone in datelines and text:
ATLANTA BALTIMORE BOSTON CHICAGO CINCINNATI CLEVELAND
DALLAS DENVER DETROIT HONOLULU HOUSTON INDIANAPOLIS LAS
VEGAS LOS ANGELES MILWAUKEE MINNEAPOLIS NEW ORLEANS NEW
YORK OKLAHOMA CITY PHILADELPHIA PHOENIX PITTSBURGH ST. LOUIS
SALT LAKE CITY SAN ANTONIO SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SEATTLE
MIAMI WASHINGTON
INTERNATIONAL DATELINES: These international locations stand alone in datelines and
text:
AMSTERDAM MEXICO CITY
BAGHDAD MILAN
BANGKOK MONACO
BEIJING MONTREAL
BEIRUT MOSCOW
BERLIN MUNICH
BRUSSELS NEW DELHI
CAIRO PANAMA CITY
DJIBOUTI PARIS
DUBLIN PRAGUE
GENEVA QUEBEC CITY
GIBRALTAR RIO DE
JANEIRO
GUATEMALA ROME
CITY
HAVANA SAN MARINO
HELSINKI SAO PAULO
HONG KONG SHANGHAI
ISLAMABAD SINGAPORE
ISTANBUL STOCKHOLM
JERUSALEM SYDNEY
JOHANNESBURG TOKYO
KUWAIT CITY TORONTO
LONDON VATICAN CITY
LUXEMBOURG VIENNA
MACAU ZURICH
MADRID