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Last Seven Days

Question from Blue Springs, Missouri, on July 27, 2026

I struggle with phrasing around ratios. Is it better to have a higher ratio or a lower ratio? For example, this article is trying to say that there are more caregivers for the residents than the alternative, so is "Nonprofits consistently have higher caregiver-to-resident ratios" correct in that case? 

Thank you!

Answer

A higher ratio is better. For example: Three caregivers for every ten patients is better than one caregiver for every ten patients. 

Question from Baltimore, Maryland, on July 23, 2026

I see AP style now styles onscreen as such. Currently, there is no entry for offscreen, just the Merriam-Webster entry that lists off-screen (with hyphen) first. Is offscreen or off-screen correct?

Answer

For consistency, offscreen. We will consider adding an entry. Thanks for bringing it up!

Question from New York, New York, on July 23, 2026

From 2020, in response to a query about reskilling and upskilling:
We consider both terms jargon that should be avoided. Instead, use more words to explain what is involved. .
I work for a financial publication and this term is often used in quotes, where  we do not have the luxury of recasting the sentence using more or different  words — a situation AP too often  does not take into account.  Thank you.

Answer

That is understandable, and you should of course do what is right for your audience. One feature of Stylebook Online is the ability to add entries for your own internal style. This seems like one that would be appropriate to add. 

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