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The Speaker uses AP style.
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Headlines
Headlines are written in capitals. This is one main point at which we differ from AP style. For example:
Kosovo, Still Fragile After Seven Years Of Independence
Headlines never have periods.
Headlines will be cut at various lengths by various displays — for example, Google News and Facebook. The ideal length for a headline is thought to be around 55-58 characters, with a broader ideal range of around 42-69 characters. Narrower characters mean you can use more, and capitals are narrower than lowercase characters.
[WpProQuiz 2]
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Datelines
Datelines are used to tell the reader that the information for the story was obtained in a particular city. At The Speaker, the location of the writer may be important even if the writer did not do any field reporting — for example, if a story took place along a Serbian river or in Kosovo, that the writer is located in Belgrade and not in Vancouver, Canada could be relevant.
Some of the information on datelines will not be relevant to you — for example, if you are only ever going to write from Kansas City, Kan., you do not need to know the correct dateline for other U.S. or international cities. We advise you learn how to do your job in reporting news before anything else.
A dateline is usually: CITY IN CAPITALS, Country — Text begins…
For example:
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — President Obama announced today…
Note that the dateline is separated from the text by a space, a dash, and another space. Note that dashes are created “–” — not “-” (dashes are created with two hyphens).
Which is correct?
VICTORIA, British Columbia — Saint Patrick’s Day festivities began…
VICTORIA, British Columbia – Saint Patrick’s Day festivities began…
Answer (highlight this): The first one, which uses a dash.
Some U.S. Cities stand alone in datelines (you do not include the state). These cities are considered synonymous with their states:
ATLANTA BALTIMORE BOSTON
CHICAGO CINCINNATI CLEVELAND
DALLAS DENVER DETROIT
HONOLULU HOUSTON INDIANAPOLIS LAS VEGAS LOS ANGELES
MIAMI MILWAUKEE MINNEAPOLIS NEW ORLEANS NEW YORK
OKLAHOMA CITY PHILADELPHIA PHOENIX PITTSBURGH
ST. LOUIS SALT LAKE CITY SAN ANTONIO SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SEATTLE
WASHINGTON
For U.S. cities that do not stand alone, not all states are abbreviated. Spell out Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Abbreviate the others (this list includes abbreviations for the stand-alone states as well, even though those abbreviations are never used in datelines):
Ala. — for Alabama
Alaska — this state is not abbreviated in text
Ariz. — for Arizona
Ark. — for Arkansas
Calif. — for California
Colo. — for Colorado
Conn. — for Connecticut
Del. — for Delaware
Fla. — for Florida
Ga. — for Georgia
Hawaii — this state is not abbreviated in text
Idaho — this state is not abbreviated in text
Ill. — for Illinois
Ind. — for Indiana
Iowa — this state is not abbreviated in text
Kan. — for Kansas
Ky. — for Kentucky
La. — for Louisiana
Maine — this state is not abbreviated in text
Md. — for Maryland
Mass. — for Massachusetts
Mich — for Michigan
Minn. — for Minnesota
Miss. — for Mississippi
Mo. — for Missouri
Mont. — for Montana
Neb. — for Nebraska
Nev. — for Nevada
N.H. — for New Hampshire
N.J. — for New Jersey
N.M. — for New Mexico
N.Y. — for New York
N.C. — for North Carolina
N.D. — for North Dakota
Ohio — this state is not abbreviated in text
Okla. — for Oklahoma
Ore. — for Oregon
Pa. — for Pennsylvania
R.I. — for Rhode Island
S.C. — for South Carolina
S.D. — for South Dakota
Tenn. — for Tennessee
Texas — this state is not abbreviated in text
Utah — this state is not abbreviated in text
Vt. — for Vermont
Va. — for Virginia
Wash. — for Washington
W. Va. — for West Virginia
Wis. — for Wisconsin
Wyo. — for Wyoming
Also: District of Columbia (DC)
Some international cities stand alone in datelines:
AMSTERDAM BAGHDAD BANGKOK BEIJING BEIRUT, BERLIN, BRUSSELS
CAIRO
DJIBOUTI DUBLIN GENEVA GIBRALTAR GUATEMALA CITY
HAVANA HELSINKI HONG KONG ISLAMABAD ISTANBUL JERUSALEM JOHANNESBURG KUWAIT CITY LONDON LUXEMBOURG
MACAU MADRID MEXICO CITY MILAN MONACO MONTREAL, MOSCOW MUNICH NEW DELHI
PANAMA CITY PARIS PRAGUE QUEBEC CITY
RIO DE JANEIRO ROME SAN MARINO SAO PAULO, SHANGHAI SINGAPORE STOCKHOLM SYDNEY TOKYO TORONTO
VATICAN CITY VIENNA ZURICH
Which is correct?
PARIS — French President Francois Hollande…
PARIS, France — The Parliament today passed…
Answer (highlight this): PARIS — French President Francois Hollande…
Which is correct?
BELGRADE — Serbian railways will deliver…
BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbian MPs will discuss…
Answer (highlight this): BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbian MPs will discuss…
Canadian datelines include the city in capital letters followed by by province (not abbreviated) in all cases except for Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto. Examples:
VANCOUVER, British Columbia —
CALGARY, Alberta —
TORONTO —
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia —
QUEBEC CITY —
For datelines in the United Kingdom, do not use United Kingdom. Use England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales (not abbreviated). Examples:
LONDON —
CAMBRIDGE, England
EDINBURGH, Scotland —
BELFAST, Northern Ireland
CARDIFF, Wales
Datelines can also denote locations other than cities:
IN THE TOBEATIC WILDERNESS, Nova Scotia —
ON BOARD THE CHARLES DE GAULLE —
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE —
ABOARD THE SOSI INSPECTOR —
ABOARD THE FISHING VESSEL AL MULAHI —
OVER THE NORTH POLE —
ABOARD PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S FUNERAL TRAIN —
UNITED NATIONS — (Used when referring to the UN headquarters in N.Y. only)
If two reporters collaborate on a story from two different locations, AP omits a dateline, but we will print the article with a dateline or two datelines if it is appropriate.
The test (right click and open in a new window to keep this page available while writing the test):
[WpProQuiz 1]
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Dates and times
Always month date, year. Do not use st, nd, rd, or th. For example:
July 4, 2008
Abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec., but only when you use the month with a date. Commas are not used when you include only month and year. Memorize the following usages — they cover every formulation. Refer to this page in the future when you are uncertain:
He was elected Nov. 8, 1960.
He was elected in November 1960.
He was elected in early November.
He was elected Nov. 8 of that year.
He was president in the 60s.
He served as president during the 1900s.
Do not use “yesterday.” Use the day of the week. Do not abbreviate days of the week.
Do this for events up to seven days before or after the current date. Beyond that, use the month and a figure.
For times of day, there is also a standard formula. For example,
9 a.m., 10:30 p.m.
The formula changes only for noon and midnight.
[WpProQuiz 3]
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Double spaces?
There are no double spaces. Between sentences, use a single space.
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Spaces between paragraphs
Always leave a single space between paragraphs.
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Italics, bold, underline
Never use these. For those of you used to italicizing certain titles, you will usually be using quotations instead.
[WpProQuiz 4]
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Quotation marks
Always use double quotation marks. If you need to put quotation marks inside your double quotation marks, use single marks. If you need to put a quote inside those single marks, use doubles:
She said, “I quote from his letter, ‘I agree with Kipling that “the female of the species is more deadly than the male,” but the phenomenon is not an unchallengeable law of nature,’ a remark he did not explain.”
Punctuation almost always goes inside of quotation marks. Not always, though.
When does it? Periods and commas always go within quotation marks.
Netanyahu said Sunday that a better deal would tie the lifting of all sanctions, “to an end of Iran’s aggression in the region, its worldwide terrorism and its threats to annihilate Israel.”
Note here that the first word in the quotation is not capitalized. This is because the quote is only a segment of Netanyahu’s sentence.
Other punctuation sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t. It depends on what the punctuation applies to.
For example, a question mark can be part of the quote (it would be placed within quotations in this case) or it can be part of the sentence in which the quotation is provided (it would be placed outside quotations). For example:
The last one was in Houston last week, where after every round he would go home and Ellie would say, “Jordan, did you win? Did you win?”
What do you think she reacted when he said, “I can tell her I won now”?
Question marks outside of quotations are not often used in news writing unless it is opinion.
Besides question marks, dashes, exclamation points and semicolons can go within or outside of quotation marks.
[WpProQuiz 5]
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Numbers
Spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above, in general:
Zero, one, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 203, 2,004, 20,005, 200,006.
Numbers at the beginning of a sentence are spelled out:
Twenty plus 20 is 40.
There are a lot of usages to memorize when it comes to numerals. Take a look at the following list just to get an idea:
The Supreme Court ruled 3-4 against, , 3 1/2 laps with four more to go, tw0-thirds, four-fifths, 4 miles, he added 2 and 2 together, multiply that by 4, 3 parts cement, Chapter 2, Room 4, third act, Game 1, best of seven, 7 mph, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 3rd Congressional District, 8 degrees. 5 o’clock, a quarter of a mile.
We don’t expect everyone to memorize every usage. Just spell out numbers below 10 and use figures above, and refer to this guide for the most common usages: ages, percentages, times, money amounts and numbers of people.
The 7-year-old boy and his 30-year-old father have lived in the house for six years. The boy was six years old when his mother left. His sister, now 5, lives with his mother, who is in her 40s. She has a new 40-something boyfriend. She has known the man since the 1990s.
Less than 4 percent, 40 percent, o.o4 percent, 1 million people, $2 billion, 16 trillion tons, 10:30 a.m., noon, midnight, two hours, two minutes.
[WpProQuiz 6]
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Hyphens
Hyphens join words. The reason they are used is to avoid ambiguity or form a single idea from two or more words.
Usage is not standardized. It is a matter of judgement. Use as few as possible.
When to use hyphens: only when not using them causes confusion.
For example, “small-business owner” makes it clear that the business owner is not small. Even more necessary: “The president will speak to small-business men.” In the latter case, you might notice that businessmen is the normal spelling, but this is also modified for clarity.
It would be wrong to put a hyphen anywhere in “health care center.”
There are many usages to memorize, but some of the most common ones are:
Sports scores: a 5-5 tie.
Ages: a 20-year old.
Suspensive hyphenation: The class was for 10- to 14-year-olds.
Compound modifiers: full-time job, well-known person, better-qualified individual, quick-witted, soft-spoken, second-rate.
Two-thought compounds: socio-economic, serio-comic.
Compound proper nouns and adjectives: Italian-American, Mexican-American. Note: not used in French Candian or Latin American.