ELLIPSIS [ … ]
Treat it as a three-letter word, constructed with three periods and two spaces.
You can put an ellipsis after a period. But you don’t put a period after an ellipsis. When starting a sentence with an ellipsis, capitalize the first word that follows it.
In informal writing, an ellipsis can be used to indicate trailing off of thought or hesitation, but these uses are less common in news writing. In news, an ellipsis is usually used to condense something long and maybe redundant or partially irrelevant.
I just explain ellipsis first because you’re going to see it a lot here.
TITLES
When reading the following passage on titles, if you don’t understand why something is treated the way it is, keep reading till the end. Some answers come later, which will explain examples given higher up.
Capitalize formal titles used directly before an individual’s name, but lowercase otherwise:
Prime Minister Hassan Majaliwa has denied that Magufuli is unwell. The prime minister said Friday that Magufuli, who has not been seen in public for 15 days
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez had been visiting a region in Patagonia
the demonstrators were able to surround the president’s bus
Do not capitalize the qualifying word for former and future titles:
said former President Carlos Mesa.
In this Jan. 7, 2009 file photo, then-President George W. Bush, center, poses with President-elect Barack Obama, and former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, left, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, right.
This goes for plurals, too:
Vice Presidents Yukari Nakamura and Vanessa Smith
former Presidents Clinton and Bush attended
But if you use a comma, lowercase always:
the vice president, Kamala Harris, was visiting
the president, Alberto Fernandez, said he
Practice:
Gen. Colin Powell
Sen. Rand Paul
the Senate passed SB 211 Thursday; bill sponsor Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Benton
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will be holding a virtual town hall for students on Monday, March 15
an undertaking in which Dr. Fauci was instrumental in facilitating
retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré
former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, deposed King Constantine and acting Mayor Doug Ford
former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and current Secretary-General António Guterres
Secretary of State Antony Blinken
Blinken, who became secretary of state in 2021
ORGANIZATIONS
the U.N. Security Council
the Security Council
the council (talking about the U.N. Security Council)
the Senate
the state Senate
the student senate
the U.S. Congress
the Congress
the Argentine Congress
the Congress
the Argentine Consulate
the consulate
NUMBERS
At The Speaker, we consider numbers largely a style choice, but AP style is a good place to start, which is what we show below. The choices codified in AP style’s numbers have solid reasons behind them.
Speeds: use Arabic figures.
The fastest horses have a top speed of 88 km/h. That is 55 mph. In school zones, they are required to go below 50 km/h. Winds that day were 25 knots, but there had been records of 50-knot winds in that valley.
Spacecraft: use Arabic figures and capitalize the name
Gemeni 7.
When using numbers regularly, to count things, spell out one through nine. Arabic figures for 10 and above.
after the nine months of pregnancy
the 12 months of the year
Figures also for any number when you’re referring to ages or statistical and sequential forms.
At the age of 8, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium (now known as the Albert Einstein Gymnasium).
they brought their 2-year-old girl along
when he was in his 20s he was a 20-something
But in all cases, if you are starting a sentence with the number, you spell it
Eight years old when he was transferred, …
Two-year-olds are known for being terrible.
“Twenty-something” was how he gave his age then.