Grammar Tips¶
Acronyms¶
When referencing a term for the first time, spell it out and include the acronym in parentheses immediately after the word. When referencing the term again you can now use the acronym by itself.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a great source for median annual salaries. In fact, the BLS says that doctors make about $50,000 a year.
Follow the same rule for the names of different degrees. The abbreviations of degrees should have no spaces and no punctuation.
Psychologists have a Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) in psychology. Their PhD is important to their career.
Acronyms vs Abbreviations¶
Acronyms are when each letter is a word. Acronyms are usually all caps and don't include periods unless they are not a well-known acronym. EX: Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
Abbreviations are when a word is shortened. Abbreviations are usually sentence cased and include a period. EX: Corporation (Corp.)
Capitalization¶
Capitalize all proper nouns. names, holidays, religions, organizations, countries, languages, days of the week, months, races, ethnicities, nationalities
Capitalization can also be used for emphasis, especially in ad copy or designs. Otherwise, use capitalization for emphasis sparingly.
Tip: if you're not sure if a noun is in an instance where it should be capitalized or not, you can sometimes know it needs to be capitalized if you can put "the" in front of it or if it is talking about "the" thing and not just any version of that thing.
For example, if you're referring to THE Army of the US, then capitalize the word Army, but if you are just talking about armies in general, then lowercase it.
Titles and Offices¶
Titles and offices are capitalized when they precede a proper noun (someone's name) and not when they are used alone.
Before you can post online you need permission from President Jane.
You can ask the president for permission.
Titles and Headings¶
Most words in a title should be capitalized. Connecting words (prepositions and conjunctions) are not capitalized in a title unless they are the first word:
at / by / down / for / from / in / into / like / near / of / off / on / onto / over / past / to / upon / with / and / as / but / for / if / nor / once / or / so / than / that / till / when / yet
Capitalize both words in hyphenated compounds within a title or heading.
NO: Make Exercise a Life-long Habit YES: Make Exercise a Life-Long Habit
Lowercase both letters in the abbreviation for versus (vs) in titles and headings. The abbreviation vs also doesn't need any periods.
NO: Baseball Vs. Soccer YES: Baseball vs Soccer
Diseases¶
Lowercase the names of diseases, disorders, medicines, therapies, treatments, theories, concepts, hypotheses, principles, models, and statistical procedures.
Some exceptions are when the name of the disease has a proper name in it.
Geography¶
America
Instead of saying America, use the United States of America, the United States, or the US. The US does not need any periods, should be capitalized, and should have the word "the" before it.