How to not write bad - Ben Yagoda 2013

The elements of house style - Numbers and abbreviations
How to not write wrong

Note: In Parts II and III, examples of what not to do will be crossed out or [set in brackets].

A. The elements of house style

Which is correct, 6 PM, 6 P.M., or 6 p.m.?

The answer is, all of them!—and I apologize for starting off this part of the book with a trick question. This is an issue of style in the sense of The AP Stylebook and MLA Style—basically, a set of rules and conventions having to do with abbreviation, capitalization, and so forth that is followed by a particular publication or organization. If your professor, company, or publication subscribes to a certain house style, follow it. If not, the most important thing is to be consistent. That is, if on page 1 you write 6 p.m., spell out the number fifteen, and put “Gone with the Wind” in quotation marks, make sure you do things the same way all through your text.

1. Numbers and abbreviations

That said, not-bad writers tend to follow some general style guidelines. Most prominently, they try to stay away if at all possible from numerals, abbreviations, capitalization, and symbols like &, %, #, +, >, /, and @. The underlying reason for this has to do with the whole read-aloud thing. In reciting the sentence below, for example, you wouldn’t say “St.” or “Dr.”; and fourteen just reads more fluently than 14.

[The Dr. has had his office @ #321 Livingston St. for >20 years.]

It’s better to write it as you would say it:

The doctor has had his office at 321 Livingston Street for more than twenty years. (Street addresses are always given in numerals, hence the 321.)

As for state names, never abbreviate when they’re four letters or less, or when they’re standing alone.

He hails from Calif. California.

It isn’t wrong or necessarily bad to abbreviate a state name when it immediately follows a city, but note that the Associated Press stopped doing this in 2010. That is, the AP now refers to Albany, New York, not Albany, N.Y.

It’s similar with months. Always spell out the months from March through July. For the rest, spell out when alone (I was born in February); when it’s followed by the day, abbreviation is okay, as long as you’re consistent (I was born on Feb. 22).

Of course, it would look silly to spell out terms customarily given by abbreviations, initials, or acronyms—to write, that is:

[The band played a song from its new compact disk on Mister David Letterman’s talk show, which airs on the Columbia Broadcasting System.]

The band played a song from its new CD on David Letterman’s CBS talk show.

Long-established custom dictates that numbers above 100, sports scores, dates, temperatures, ratios, betting odds, prices, street addresses, phone numbers, and generally stuff referring to numbers as numbers be presented in numerals rather than words.

The Yankees beat the Red Sox yesterday by a score of 5—2. The two teams have met 223 times; the Yankees lead, 130—93.

Otherwise, you won’t go wrong if you follow a simple principle: when in doubt, spell it out.