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Differences Between 'The Yahoo! Style Guide' and 'The Associated Press Stylebook'
The following table lists the major differences between "The Yahoo! Style Guide" and "The Associated Press Stylebook." No entries were made for matters on which the two manuals agree. Sources for AP style were the online version of "The Associated Press Stylebook," the AP website's Ask the Editor archives, and "Webster's New World College Dictionary."
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YAHOO! STYLE GUIDE |
AP STYLEBOOK |
Spelling authority |
"The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language" |
"Webster's New World College Dictionary" |
Spelling and the Treatment of Words | ||
If the shortened form may be unfamiliar to your readers, spell it out the first time it's used or include the abbreviation or acronym in parentheses following the spelled-out form. |
Generally, do not follow the spelled-out name with an abbreviation or acronym in parentheses. And do not use the abbreviation or acronym if its meaning would not be clear on second reference without this arrangement. | |
Generally, no periods in abbreviations: PC, PhD. Some exceptions: A.D., B.C., U.S., U.K., L.A. (the city), a.m., p.m. |
No periods in abbreviations of three or more letters, and in common two-letter initialisms: AA, AP, CD, DA, ER, EU, FM, GI, IM, IQ, IT, LA. But use periods in most two-letter abbreviations and in abbreviations with lowercase letters: B.A., Ph.D., f.o.b. Abbreviations in headlines take no periods: US, NY, etc. | |
In general, do not abbreviate state names, even when they follow the name of a city. |
Abbreviate the state name when it follows a city name: Berkeley, Calif. Use traditional abbreviations, not two-letter postal codes (except with full addresses). | |
When space is tight, "Wash. DC" is an acceptable abbreviation for "Washington, D.C." |
Never abbreviate "Washington" when referring to the District of Columbia. | |
Avoid abbreviating days of the week. If abbreviations are unavoidable, use the first three letters, with a period: Sun., Mon., Tue., etc. Exception: In tables or where space is very tight, periods may be omitted, and abbreviations may be trimmed: M, Tu, W, Th, F, Sa, Su. |
Do not abbreviate days of the week except in tables. Use the first three letters, without a period: Sun, Mon, Tue, etc. | |
Avoid abbreviating months: November 3, 2010. If abbreviations are unavoidable, use the following: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. |
Abbreviate the following months when they precede a date: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. Examples: November 2010; Nov. 3, 2010. | |
Use italics or, preferably, quotation marks for the titles of reference material. Do not use italics or quotation marks for the titles of games. |
Do not put quotation marks around catalogs of reference material. Use quotation marks for the titles of games. | |
In title case, capitalize the conjunctions "if," "how," and "why." |
In title case, lowercase "if," "how," and "why" unless they are the first or last words of a title. | |
In title case, capitalize the second part of a hyphenated compound if it is a word that would be capitalized in title case on its own: Re-Election Results, Real-World Experience. |
In title case, lowercase the second part of a hyphenated compound: Re-election Results, Real-world Experience. | |
Punctuation | ||
Apostrophe (possessives) |
(1) For singular common nouns, add an apostrophe and an "s" to the end of the word: the campus's science building. (2) For singular proper names that end in "s," use an apostrophe and an "s": Agnes's dress. However, if the name ends with an "eez" sound, use an apostrophe alone to form the possessive: Ramses' wife. (3) A word ending with an "s" sound and followed by a word beginning with an "s" is treated like other regular nouns: for appearance's sake. (4) Use an apostrophe in genitives to indicate the relationship of one noun to another: a teachers' union. |
(1) For singular common nouns, add an apostrophe and an "s" to the end of the word except when the noun ends in an "s" and the following word begins with an "s":the campus' science building. (2) For singular proper names that end in "s," use just the apostrophe: Agnes' dress. Exception: St. James's. (3) When a word ends with an "s" sound and is followed by a word beginning with an "s," use an apostrophe only: for appearance' sake. (4) Do not use an apostrophe when a word is used in a descriptive sense: a teachers union. |
Use the serial comma. |
Do not use the serial comma in a simple series. Use the serial comma in a complex series. | |
If desired, use for a range of numbers and for a compound adjective that includes a proper noun of more than one word: 8–10 people, pre–Civil War. |
Use a hyphen in such cases. | |
A space before and after an em dash is optional but should be used consistently. |
Insert a space before and after an em dash, represented by an underscore, except at the beginning of a paragraph. | |
(1) Follow the dictionary for two-thought compounds: seriocomic, socioeconomic. (2) Use no hyphen in compounds denoting dual heritage: Chinese American. (3) For prefixes and suffixes, decide whether to apply blanket rules or to apply your rules only if a word is not listed in your dictionary. Generally, we recommend closing up prefixes and suffixes with root words. For suffixes, use a hyphen when the consonant is doubled and when a compound would be hard to read: shell-like, daffodil-like, hippopotamus-like |
(1) Use a hyphen to join the elements of two-thought compounds: serio-comic, socio-economic. (2) Use a hyphen to indicate dual heritage: Chinese-American. (3) For prefixes and suffixes, see separate listings. Follow general rules, then "Webster's New World Dictionary." The general rules are: For prefixes, do not hyphenate when the root word starts with a consonant. (A notable exception is "anti-," which is generally hyphenated.) For suffixes, generally close up. If a word combination isn't listed in the stylebook or in "Webster's New World," use two words for the verb form; hyphenate any noun or adjective forms. Use a hyphen to avoid tripled consonants: shell-like, daffodillike, hippopotamuslike (see entry on "-like") | |
If it's necessary to use numerals for a full date, separate the parts with slashes rather than hyphens or other marks. |
Do not use slashes to indicate dates. Exception: 9/11. | |
Usage | ||
Replace gender-specific words such as "actress," "chairman," "spokesman," and "manmade." |
Gender-specific terms are often preferred. Examples: anchorman and anchorwoman, not anchor or co-anchor; chairman and chairwoman rather than chairperson, chair, or co-chair. It's OK to use "actor" for a woman if she wishes. Preferred nongendered terms include "firefighter" and "letter carrier." "Man" and "mankind" are acceptable when referring to both men and women. | |
"That" versus "which" |
Use "that" to introduce an restrictive clause: She told her mother that the top floor of the house that burned down was their neighbors' flat. |
When "that" introduces another clause in the same sentence, "which" may be used to introduce an essential clause when referring to an inanimate object: She told her mother that the top floor of the house which burned down was their neighbors' flat. |
Formatting | ||
Boldface and italics |
Code boldface and italics with HTML tags. |
Neither boldface nor italic type can be transmitted over AP newswires. |
Accented and other special characters |
Code diacritical marks, symbols, and other special characters in HTML. |
Nontransmitting symbols, including accented letters, plus the tilde (~), asterisk (*), at sign (@), brackets ([ and ]), bullet (•), equal sign (=) , percent sign (%), and pound or number sign (#) should not be used. |
Headings can be in title case, sentence case, or all uppercase. |
Headlines are in sentence case. | |
Keep headings 65 characters or shorter for search engine optimization. |
All stories get two headlines. The one for websites should be 60 characters or shorter; the longer one should be 94 characters or shorter. | |
Use bulleted or numbered lists. If one or more elements is a complete sentence, capitalize the first word of every list element and use ending punctuation after each element. Do not use ending punctuation after sentence fragments. |
Use dashes (underscores) to set off list items. Capitalize the first word following the dash. End all list items with periods. | |
Embed links in the story. When including a domain-name URL in copy, do not include "http://" at the start of URLs that include "www" and the domain name alone. For deeper-level pages, include the full URL, even "http://." If it's necessary to break a URL, do so after most punctuation marks except a hyphen, but break it before a period, slash, or other mark that could be mistaken for the end of the URL. |
If an address breaks, split it directly after a slash or dot that is part of the address, without an inserted hyphen. Use "http://" or other protocol at the start of the Web address. Some symbols, such as the at sign, the equal sign, the underscore, and the tilde, should be spelled out with an explanatory note. A URL-abbreviation service such as bit.ly can also be used. | |
Numbers |
3D |
3-D |
A |
African American, Asian American, and similar compounds (n., adj.) — Two words, no hyphen. |
African-American, Asian-American, and similar compounds (n., adj.) — Hyphenate. |
antivirus, antiwar |
anti-virus, anti-war (see AP's "anti-" entry for other examples) | |
B |
BA (academic degree) |
B.A. |
biannual(ly), bimonthly, biweekly — Do not use. |
OK to use "biannual" (meaning twice a year, as synonym for "semiannual"); "biennial" (every two years); "bimonthly" (every other month); "biweekly" (every other week). | |
bil — OK as abbreviation for "billion" when space is tight. Example: $45 bil. |
B — OK in headlines. Example: $45B. | |
C |
°C — Acceptable abbreviation for "degrees Celsius." Example: 40°C. |
Use the form "40 degrees Celsius" or "40 C" (no period after the "C"). |
C.E. (common era) and B.C.E. (before the common era) — Include the periods, but don't put a space between the letters. Place abbreviation after the year. |
Use "A.D." and "B.C." only. | |
cell phone |
cellphone | |
chair, chairperson |
chairman, chairwoman | |
checkbox |
check box | |
clickthrough (n., adj.), click through (v.) |
click-throughs (n.) | |
congressman, congresswoman — Do not use. See word list for details. |
congressman, congresswoman | |
data — Treat as a singular noun. |
data — Treat as a plural noun in most cases. | |
D |
decision maker |
decision-maker |
E |
the 11th hour |
the eleventh hour |
F |
°F — Acceptable abbreviation for "degrees Fahrenheit." Example: 40°F. |
Use the form "40 degrees Fahrenheit" or "40 F" (no period after the "F"). |
farmers' market |
farmers market | |
G |
Google — Do not use as a verb. Use "search," "search for," or "search on" instead. |
Google, Googling, Googled |
| govt. — Acceptable abbreviation for "government" when space is tight. | Never abbreviate "government" except as a last resort in headlines, where it can be "govt" | |
grader — No hyphen in combining form: a fifth grader. |
grader — Hyphenate in combining form: a fifth-grader. | |
Ground Zero (9/11 site), ground zero |
ground zero | |
H |
homepage |
home page |
hotspot — One word for a Wi-Fi access point. |
hot spot | |
I |
ID (n., adj., v.) — Other acceptable forms: IDs (n. pl.); ID's, ID'ed, ID'ing (v.). |
ID, ID'd, ID'ing |
IM (n., adj., v.) — Other acceptable forms: IMs (n. pl.); IM's, IM'ed, IM'ing (v.). |
IM, IMed, IMing | |
K |
K — OK as abbreviation for "thousand" if space is at a premium. |
OK to use "K" for modem speeds (56K), with no space, but not to mean 1,000 or $1,000. |
L |
L.A. — Periods in the abbreviation for the city. |
LA — Abbreviation is acceptable on second reference. |
M |
M — Do not use as abbreviation for "million" or "thousand." |
M — OK as abbreviation for "million" in a headline. |
media — Generally, treat as a singular noun. |
media — For mass communications, consider this a plural word. | |
mike — Shortened form of "microphone." |
mic (n.) | |
mil — OK as abbreviation for "million" when space is tight. |
M — OK in headlines. Example: $45M | |
O |
OK (n., adj., v.) — Other acceptable forms: OKs (n. pl.); OK's, OK'ed, OK'ing (v.). |
OK, OKs, OK'd, OK'ing |
onscreen |
on-screen | |
P |
percent — OK to use "percent" or the percent sign (%) in text, as long as use is consistent. |
percent — Use "percent" in running text. Use "pct." in headlines if space is tight. |
PhD (sing.), PhD's (pl.) |
Ph.D. (sing.), Ph.D.s (pl.) | |
Pres. — Acceptable abbreviation for "President" used as a title before a name. |
"President" is not abbreviated. | |
Q |
Q&A |
Q-and-A |
R |
racked (in "pain-racked" and similar expressions) |
wracked (in "pain-wracked" and similar expressions); but: She racked her brain. |
resumé |
resume | |
ringtone |
ring tone | |
S |
screensaver |
screen saver |
screenshot |
screen shot | |
semiautomatic |
semi-automatic | |
slideshow |
slide show | |
smartphone |
smart phone | |
social networking (n.), social-networking (adj.) |
social networking | |
standalone (adj.) |
stand-alone (adj.) | |
sync, synching |
sync, syncing | |
T |
touchscreen (n., adj.) |
touch screen (n.), touch-screen (adj.) |
trainwreck |
train wreck | |
U |
upper-left corner, upper-right corner |
upper left corner, upper right corner |
U.S. (n., adj.) |
U.S. (n., adj.), US (no periods in headlines) | |
V |
vice president, vice-presidential |
vice president, vice presidential |
voicemail |
voice mail | |
W |
webpage |
Web page |
western (for film, book, or country music) |
Western (for film or book), western (for country music) | |
word-processing (adj.) |
word processing (adj.) | |
Numbers | ||
In headlines, follow the general rule to spell out numbers below 10. Exception: If space is tight or you want to call attention to a figure, digits can be used for cardinal and ordinal numbers below 10. |
Use numerals in headlines. | |
If a passage (a single sentence or paragraph) contains two or more numbers and one is 10 or higher, use numerals for all numbers. Example: The delegation included 3 women and 11 men. |
Apply the usual rule — with exceptions, spell out "one" through "nine" and use numerals for 10 and higher — regardless of inconsistent treatments within a sentence. Example: The delegation included three women and 11 men. | |
If space is an issue, use the following abbreviations: "mil" (million), "bil" (billion), and "K" (thousand). |
Use "M" and "B" in headlines: $1M, $2B. | |
Use numerals with units in technical contexts. Examples: Please enter a 5-digit ZIP code. Enter a 6-character password. |
Apply the usual AP rule. Examples: Please enter a five-digit ZIP code. Enter a six-character password. | |
For "one and a half": 1½ or 1.5 (preferred) or 1-1/2. For "one and a third": 1-1/3. |
For "one and a half": 1 ½. Insert a full space between whole number and fraction for 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, and 7/8, which are set as built fractions. For other fractions, insert a hyphen to separate numerator from denominator: 1 1-3. | |
Centuries |
Use numerals for the ordinal: the 2nd century. |
Spell out ordinals under 10: the second century. |
Use numerals when referring to distance. Example: She walked 3 miles. |
Spell out numbers below 10 for distance (but not dimensions). Example: She walked three miles. | |
For English units of measurement (inches, feet, yards, etc.) use either the symbol, if one exists (double straight quotation mark for inches, straight single straight quotation mark for feet), the full word, or the abbreviation with a period ("in.," "ft.," "yd.," etc.). You can abbreviate a unit of measure without a period in tight spaces — just be consistent. When describing two or more dimensions of an object, repeat the symbol for each figure. Separate the dimensions with either an "x" or the word "by. " (Use only an "x" with symbols.) If using an "x," a space before and after is optional — as long as you're consistent. Examples: He is the 7-foot-3-inch center. He is the 7 ft. 3 in. center. He is the 7'3" center. Order 4"x6" or 8"x10" prints. |
Spell out the unit of measurement. Examples: The beach is 2 miles long. The room was 9 feet by 6 feet. In very technical contexts, use an apostrophe to indicate feet and double quotation marks to indicate inches, with no space: 9’6”. Other examples: He is the 7-foot-3-inch center. Order 4-by-6-inch prints. | |
To list international phone numbers, use a plus sign and the country code, then the area or city code and the local phone number. Examples: +1-415-555-XXXX (a San Francisco number), +81-3-XXXX-XXXX (a Tokyo number). Extension numbers are not separated by a comma: XXX-XXX-XXXX ext. 29. |
Begin international numbers with 011, then use the country code, the city code, and the phone number: 011-44-20-7535-1515. Extensions are separated by a comma: XXX-XXX-XXXX, ext. 29. | |
You can use either the word "percent" or the percent sign (%) in text — as long as you're consistent. Note that if a passage (a single sentence or paragraph) contains two or more percentages, the percent sign makes it easier for readers to compare the numbers. Example: Motor vehicles account for about 43% of U.S. oil consumption. Electric energy production accounts for 23%, and lawn mowers account for less than 1%. |
Always use "percent." In headlines, "pct." is acceptable. Example: Motor vehicles account for about 43 percent of U.S. oil consumption. Electric energy production accounts for 23 percent, and lawn mowers account for less than 1 percent. | |
Ranges of numbers (such as times, dates, game scores, and pages) can be separated by an en dash, a hyphen, or the word to. Example: Join us at the Open House July 6–7. Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. |
Use hyphens. Example: Join us at the Open House July 6-7. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. | |
If it's necessary to specify the type of dollar, use the format US$000, CAN$000, AUS$000, or NZ$000 (without a space). Note: This is the only instance where "United States" is abbreviated without periods. For euros, insert the code for the symbol, without a space (for example, €150), or write "EUR000." |
For currencies other than the euro, spell out the name of the currency following the amount, then provide in parentheses the equivalent in U.S. dollars: Japan approved a 1.8 trillion yen ($18 billion) extra budget to partially finance an economic stimulus package. When dealing with a non-U.S. dollar currency, use the following abbreviations before the dollar amount on second and subsequent references: | |
When referring to the age of a person or animal, use numerals. When referring to the age of an object rather than a person or an animal, spell out the number if it's nine or less; use numerals for 10 or more. Examples: The child is 4 years old. The company is four years old. |
Always use numerals for ages. Examples: The child is 4 years old. The company is 4 years old. | |
Shortened versions of time zone abbreviations are preferred: "PT" rather than "PST" or "PDT," for example. |
Indicate daylight saving or standard time in zone abbreviations. | |
