What Grammar Girl wants you to know about AP style

The Associated Press Stylebook is an essential tool for connecting to journalists and audiences alike. While many of these style suggestions have been in place for years, they change over time as culture does.

Mignon Fogarty, better known as “Grammar Girl,” noted that the latest update to the AP Stylebook ventures into AI for the first time, laying out definitions and offering general advice about ethical use.

To help communicators stay up-to-date, Fogarty joined Ragan recently for a webinar on the latest changes to the AP Stylebook.

Hyphens

The AP used to hyphenate most words with “semi” prefixes like “semi-automatic” and “semi-autonomous,” but now they write these words without a hyphen.

“The guidance is to use hyphens when they’re needed to avoid confusion,” Fogarty said. “They (AP) provide some great real-life examples to illustrate when hyphens are necessary, like the difference between a ‘tiny house fire’ and a ‘tiny-house fire.'”

The stylebook provides a list of prefixes and suffixes that almost always take hyphens:

• Prefixes: self, all, ex and half
• Suffixes: free, based and elect

AP style recently got rid of some hyphens, such as those in words where the letter “e” repeats, like “preempt” and “preexisting.” But it still recommends them for words that could be hard to read with double or triple letters, like “anti-intellectual” and “shell-like.”

Sometimes, there end up being little inconsistencies, Fogarty said. There’s a hyphen in “co-worker” but not in “coworking.” The AP says that’s because the hyphen makes it easier to understand. However, the coworking industry widely uses no hyphen and the AP wants to be in line with what the industry calls itself.

The AP Stylebook is more likely to recommend using a hyphen than not, Fogarty said. Ultimately, it comes down to using best judgment while maximizing readability and clarity.

“When you do decide how to write your word, add it to your house style guide so you can be consistent in the future,” she added.

Oxford comma

The AP has long recommended avoiding the use of Oxford commas (or serial commas) in simple series, such as “red, white and blue.” However, the AP continues to stress the importance of using them when they can improve the clarity of a list or sentence.

For instance, use the comma when the sentence has multiple elements that use conjunctions – “peanut butter and jelly, ham and eggs, and macaroni and cheese.” Also use it even if only one of the items has a conjunction: “I like peanut butter and jelly, ham, and cheese.”

The serial comma is also useful in simple sentences that can benefit from added clarity, Fogarty said. She provided the infamous internet meme as proof: “They invited the strippers, Stalin, and JFK.” Without that serial comma, it sounds like Stalin and JFK are the strippers.

Pronouns

In the last few years, most style guides, including the AP, have accepted the use of “they” as the singular pronoun in most cases. Its use has grown recently, especially among people who don’t identify as “he” or “she.”

“The AP notes that the singular they can sometimes confuse readers, but at the same time, trying to write without pronouns to avoid confusion can make people feel censored or invisible,” Fogarty said. “So, you have to balance these priorities.”

When using the singular “they,” make sure readers understand that it refers to just one person. If needed, add an explanation, like “Morales, who uses the pronoun they, said they will retire in June.” The AP says not to say someone’s pronouns are “preferred” or “chosen.”

If the copy requires a reflexive pronoun for someone who uses the singular “they,” the correct form is “themself,” not “themselves,” Fogarty said. But the word “you” takes a plural verb when used as a singular pronoun.

In general, writers should use the names and pronouns provided to them, Fogarty said. But the AP Stylebook discourages use of neopronouns such as “ze” or “zir” because of their infrequent use and likelihood of causing confusion.

“You could use them if you were using a direct quote, if you were directly quoting someone else, if it were in a direct quotation,” Fogarty said. “But you might want to explain the word choice to your audience in that case.”

Quotes

When quoting someone who’s speaking, format what they said in AP style as much as possible. For example, use “II” in “World War II” rather than the number two. In an address, still use the abbreviation for “street.” But when quoting a written source, use the exact wording, even if it doesn’t match AP style.

Fogarty advised not to use “sic” to call attention to misspellings or grammar errors as it’ll make the quoted person look bad. If a quotation requires a “sic,” paraphrase it instead.

A notable exception is when it comes to dialect spellings, like “gonna” or “wanna.” Change it to “going to” or “want to”.

Social media posts and text messages often include emojis that can provide important context. In those situations, describe them using words. For example, “Chavez posted a photo of Beyoncé with the goat emoji, suggesting the musician is the greatest of all time.” Don’t describe the emoji or meme in parentheses because it could make the reader believe the person wrote out the description, Fogarty said.

Again, it’s all about being clear.

“Be wary. Get other people’s input if you can,” Fogarty said. “When you use memes without understanding their origin… you could be conveying something you don’t mean.”

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.