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Welcome! Today is Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Ask the Editor provides answers, clarification and guidance on style issues that go beyond the pages of the AP Stylebook. Before posing a question to AP editor David Minthorn, search the accompanying style archives for your topic. With thousands of questions and answers on file, your topic has very likely been covered. For typical style questions and responses, visit Ask the Editor FAQ.
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"Ask the Editor" questions from the past week:
| Q. Is it correct to use a hyphen with "ready" even after the noun? (e.g., The project was shovel-ready. The troops are combat-ready.) – from Washington, D.C. on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 A. yes, see COMPOUND MODIFIERS in "hyphen(-)" entry for guidance on hyphenated usage after a form of the verb "to be." |
| Q. When referring to the government of Belgium, does one use "Belgian government" or "Flemish government"? – from Walden, NY on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 A. Belgian government is the federal administration. Flemish government is the regional structure of the Dutch-speaking half of the country. |
| Q. AP says: "electrocardiogram: EKG is acceptable on second reference." I am seeing ECG more often in print and on the Web and was wondering why the change. Does it have to do with U.S. and non-U.S. style? If the publication is read internationally, does it make a difference? If a writer refers to a source that uses ECG, should we change it to EKG? – from New Jersey on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 A. Webster's sanctions both abbreviations for the measurement, though AP prefers EKG. |
| Q. When a sentence contains several bullet points, is a colon needed before the bullet point list? Are periods needed at the end of each bullet point or only at the end of the final bullet point? Thank you! – from FAIRFIELD, IA on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 A. In the "formats" category of this archive, search on "bullets" for multiple answers. |
| Q. Hi,
If we're writing about Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln or George Washington, is it still AP style to have to say President Thomas Jefferson on first reference? Could we just say Lincoln or Jefferson because they are so iconic?
Thanks.
Sincerely,
- Chris – from Howell, MI on Sun, Feb 07, 2010 A. Not always. It depends on the context and story reference. Here's an example where the title is appropriate: PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ A letter President Abraham Lincoln wrote to a boy whose friends didn't believe he had met the commander in chief is being sold in Philadelphia. |
| Q. I see we write cyberspace and cybercafe then is
it cyber attack or cyber-attack?- Thanks, Orysia – from Mississauga, ON, Canada on Sun, Feb 07, 2010 A. cyberattack (one word). |
| Q. Is the pronoun "you" interchangeable with "one" in formal writing? (As in the sentence, "If you want to see America, there is no better way than to travel by car." – from Telluride, CO on Sat, Feb 06, 2010 A. sure, with singular verb. |
| Q. Windows operating systems have a tool called a "taskbar." Is it "task bar" or "taskbar" or "Taskbar" or "Task Bar"? MSFT uses one word, if that matters. – from Chesterfield, MO on Sat, Feb 06, 2010 A. AP prefers task bar (two words), with a brief explanation of what it is. |
| Q. Computer question: AP says it's "dialogue," but I've never seen anyone refer to a "dialogue box" popping up on a computer. It's always spelled "dialog box." Which do you use? (BTW, I searched for this in the Q&A archive and found an unrelated answer that spelled it dialog sted dialogue.) – from Chesterfield, MO on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 A. dialogue box in rare uses in AP stories. the 2007 response counsels against dialog as a verb. |
| Q. "Repost" or "re-post"? Thanks. – from PORTLAND, Ore. on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 A. one word as n. and v. |
| Q. One of our Board members recently passed away. Do we keep her name on the list of members, and if so, how do we appropriately indicate her passing? – from Bloomingdale, IL on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 A. Your call on whether to retain name on the list. One possibility: Jane Doe (deceased) |
| Q. Recreate but re-creation?
(thank you!) – from Ewing, VA on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 A. yes, the sense is governing factor. |
| Q. Is it ok to use "e-mail" as a verb? Stylebook doesn't indicate. Dictionary defines it as a noun, with a secondary entry as a verb (no definition). Would imagine it could be since you just accepted "text" as a verb. – from New York, NY on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 A. yes, verb forms are fine. |
| Q. Do you draw down lines of credit or draw down on lines of credit? – from Kansas City, MO on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 A. doesn't require the preposition |
| Q. Thank you for answering my Rastaman v. Rasta man question. However, your answer is unclear. Answer: "one word in Bob Marley's "Rastaman Vibrations" album." Does that mean it's two words when we're not talking about Bob Marley's album? Does that mean because Bob Marley spells it as one word, we should all spell it as one word whenever we use it? I'm wondering what AP prefers to use because I already noticed that Bob Marley prefers one word. Thank you, again, for your help. – from Cleveland, OH on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 A. The only spelling I could locate in an AP story. |
| Q. Would chamber, as in Senate chamber, be upper or lowercase? – from Las Vegas, NV on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 A. lowercase |
| Q. Is it National Letter of Intent or national letter of intent (for college football signing day)? – from Miss. State, MS on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 A. lowercase |
| Q. Is it cyber security or cybersecurity? – from Washington, DC on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 A. Based on stylebook's "cyber-, cyberspace" guidance, one word. |
| Q. With the Vancouver Olympics fast approaching, we are having some debate over one of the events. Should it be Alpine skiing or alpine skiing? – from Santa Monica, CA on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 A. Alpine skiing (cap A, lowercase s) |
| Q. Is the proper form "landfill"," land-fill" or "land fill"? – from Barstow, CA on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 A. landfill (n.) |
| Q. I understand that we italicize and use the exclamation mark when referencing to Jeopardy! the game show. But how do we deal with the Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy rounds? Are they italicized as well? And what about
categories within these rounds -- would they be
within quotes? Writing a press release about a student who went to the game show and won. Thanks. – from San Jose, CA on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 A. "Jeopardy!" (in quotes, no italics), Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy rounds (capped, no quotes). see "italics" entry. |
| Q. What is the proper way to write "... place in a 8- by 8-inch baking dish," with regard to hyphens and spacing? – from Saratoga Springs, NY on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 A. 8-by-8-inch dish |
| Q. A question regarding the proper article to use:
The team has a 0-6 record (with "0" meaning "zero") or The team has an 0-6 record (with "0" being pronounced "Oh"). – from Erie, PA on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 A. The team is 0-6 ... winless in six games ... fell to 0-6 ... etc. |
| Q. Hi David: I'm editing a story that refers to "single headed households," which sounds very odd to me (of everyone living in the house, only one has a head?). The author is trying to get away from using "single-parent households" (my hyphen) because of cases where the adult who heads the household is a grandparent, aunt, sibling, etc. Any thoughts? – from Blacksburg, Va. on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 A. households headed by one person |
| Q. Is app for application OK in second reference? – from San Jose, CA on Wed, Feb 03, 2010 A. AP stories use app or the more customary apps after spelling out the term in technology stories. |
| Q. Will AP be deciding on a style for Tea Party -- specifically how to render it when writing about specific members of the movement, such as Tea Partyers or Tea Partiers? – from Henderson, NV on Wed, Feb 03, 2010 A. Usage is still evolving. AP stories tend to use Tea Party activists and Tea Party groups, though "tea party" candidates also appears. |
| Q. Hi - We have searched for what AP states on the term "service member" as referring to military members. Print news separates word into two as does the DoD style guide, which claims to follow AP Style. Does the AP style guide have a definition for use as either one
word (servicemember) or two (service member)? – from Washington, DC on Wed, Feb 03, 2010 A. service member (two words) in AP stories. |
| Q. What is the best way to work with university names that also depend on the city for identification? California State University-Northridge? or California State University, Northridge?
He received his B.S. degree in geology from California State University, Northridge and did additional graduate studies at California State Universities, Northridge, Los Angeles and Long Beach. – from Coweta, OK on Wed, Feb 03, 2010 A. He received his bachelor's in geology from California State University, Northridge and did graduate studies at California State universities in Northridge, Los Angeles and Long Beach. |
| Q. "Second-chance students." Should the hyphen remain? – from New York, NY on Wed, Feb 03, 2010 A. yes |
| Q. Does AP have a definitive and complete list of academic degree abbreviations? We are putting them into our college teacher-data/system, so I need all of the abbreviations.
If not part of AP, where is there a list you'd recommend? Thanks,
Joanne – from Catonsville, Maryland on Wed, Feb 03, 2010 A. American Association of University Professors might be able to help you. |
| Q. What's the preferred style with X-factor? Hyphenated or not? Capital X or lowercase x? Thanks. – from Berlin, NJ on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. "X Factor" TV competition |
| Q. Are the events in the Olympics capitalized like Half Pipe or is it half pipe? – from Mississauga, ON, Canada on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. lowercase the events within stories: half-pipe, men's downhill, women's figure skating, etc. |
| Q. Can "parts per billion" be abbreviated as ppb on second reference? – from Pratt, WV on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. AP stories often abbreviate ppb after spelling it out on first reference. |
| Q. When referring to the U.S. Supreme Court in subsequent references can you use Court or should it be lowercase for court and when referring to the justices of the Supreme court do we write five of the nine Justices or justices or do we use Judges or judges? – from Mississauga, ON, Canada on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. lowercase court in follow-up references to the Supreme Court. Justice is capped as title directly before name and lowercase in follow-up references. |
| Q. When you use a quote in a headline and put single quotation marks around it does the actual quote remain in sentence case? – from Mississauga, ON, Canada on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. yes. |
| Q. I know the style for U.S. telephone numbers is to use hyphens. On various Web sites, I have noticed some countries just use spaces between number sections when listing phone or fax numbers. When we are running a list that includes U.S. numbers as well as telephone numbers from other countries, would it be OK to put hyphens in all of them instead of having some with spaces and some with hyphens? – from New Jersey on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. For international numbers, AP telephone directory uses this format: (44-20) 7482-8000 |
| Q. Does AP capitalize the names of categories for Oscar nominations, e.g., "Avatar" was nominated for Best Picture? – from San Francisco, CA on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. AP lowercases category names like best picture, best director, best actor, etc. |
| Q. In Webster's dictionary, mustache is spelled both
with and without an 'O' asa variant spelling, but
what is AP style? – from Bakersfield, CA on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. AP stories occasionally used mustachioed as a descriptive. |
| Q. In basketball terminology, is lay up hyphenated? – from Bakersfield, CA on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. see "basketball" entry |
| Q. I did find an answer to my question of whether to hyphenate end user or not in "Ask the Editor," however, I'm confused because the answer cites Merriam-Webster, and when I look at merriamwebsteronline.com, I only find end user without a hyphen. What am I doing wrong? This from your answer:
Q. Is it proper to use "end user" or "end-user"?
A. end-user (n.), per Webster's. 2009-05-25 (Source: Ask the Editor, Spelling) – from Cassopolis, MI on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. See Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, the stylebook's first dictionary reference. |
| Q. "The world became upside down then rightside up." Is the use of "rightside up" correct in this instance, or should it be "right side up" or "right-side up"?
Thanks! – from Neenah, WI on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 A. right-side up |
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