benefit, benefited, benefiting
best seller (n.), best-selling (adj.)
better, best—Compounds formed with better and best are hyphenated before a noun and open after a noun: better-prepared student; best-loved films; she is better educated; he is best known for his short stories.
bi- (prefix)—Generally closed, no hyphen: bilingual, bimonthly, bipartisan. (See prefixes and suffixes.)
black—Lowercase for African American.
board of directors—Generally lowercase unless part of a proper name: the Buffalo State Foundation Board of Directors, the board of directors.
Board of Education (Buffalo Board of Education, the board)
Board of Regents (Regents, Regents biology)
Board of Trustees (SUNY Board of Trustees, the board)
book—Most compounds with book are closed. Consult the dictionary; if the entry is not listed, spell it as an open compound (two words): checkbook, notebook, textbook, pocketbook, coupon book, reference book, trade book.
books, parts of—Use arabic numerals with parts of books. Lowercase and spell out in running text: chapter 3, volume 11. Abbreviations may be used in parenthetical references: (chap. 3), (vol. 14, pp. 77–82).
Use the following abbreviations for parenthetical references: Plurals for all except page (pp.) and note (nn.) are formed by adding s.
(vol.) volume
(pt.) part
(no.) number
(bk.) book
(chap.) chapter
(p.) page
(n.) note
(app.) appendix
(pl.) plate
(fig.) figure
books, titles of—See titles, composition.
borne—Compounds formed with the suffix borne are generally closed but are “hyphenated after words ending in b and after words of three or more syllables: waterborne, foodborne, cab-borne, mosquito-borne.” (2) (See prefixes and suffixes.)
Buffalo History Museum (formerly the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society)
The Buffalo News —See newspapers, names of.
Buffalo Niagara (n., adj.)
by (prefix)—Generally closed, no hyphen: bylaws, byline, byproduct. (See prefixes and suffixes.)
(2) Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (2003), 7.90
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