offices—Always spell out; do not abbreviate. Capitalize formal names of offices. Use XYZ Office rather than Office of XYZ: Marketing and Communications Office, not Office of Marketing and Communications.
over, under—Compounds beginning with over or under are generally closed: overboard, overeager, overzealously, underreported, underhandedly, underway.
part time (adv.), part-time (adj.): He works part time. She has a part-time job.
percentages—Use numerals. Use decimals, not fractions. Spell out the word percent (do not use the % symbol unless space is limited, as in tables or charts): 10 percent, 47 percent, 3.5 percent. For amounts less than 1 percent, precede the decimal with a zero: 0.8 percent.
periodicals, titles—Italicize. See titles, composition and titles, articles and features.
pickup (n., adj.), pick up (v.): Call us to schedule a pickup. He drives a pickup truck. She must pick up her daughter at 3:30.
plural figures and letters—Add 's to single letters and to abbreviations with two or more internal periods; add s to multiple letters; add s to numbers:
p.m.—See a.m./p.m.
possessives—The general rule for forming the possessives of singular common nouns—add 's—covers most proper nouns as well, including names ending in s, x, or z: Burns's poems, Jones's reputation, Marx's theories, Dickens's novels, Margaux's bouquet, Descartes's work, Xerxes’s armies.
Exceptions to the general rule that form their possessives with an apostrophe only:
post- (prefix)—Generally closed, no hyphen: postbaccalaureate, postdoctoral, postimpressionism, postmodern, posttraumatic, but post-Vietnam. (See prefixes and suffixes.)
practicum (singular), practicums (plural) (See curriculum and symposium.)
pre- (prefix)—Generally closed, no hyphen: predoctoral, preeminent, preempt, premajor, premedical, preprofessional, preschool, preservice. Hyphenate with a compound modifier: pre-latency-period episodes. (See prefixes and suffixes.)
prefixes and suffixes—Most words with prefixes such as co-, pre-, un-, post-, and mini- and suffixes such as -borne,-like, and -wide are formed as closed compounds. Some exceptions:
Presidents Day (no apostrophe)
preventive (n., adj.)
prime meridian
printmaking (n.)
prior to—avoid when possible; use before or until instead.
pro- (prefix)—Most compounds formed with pro that denote support for something are hyphenated. A few are closed. Consult the dictionary: pronuclear, pro-family, pro-democracy, pro-choice, pro-life, pro-American. (See prefixes and suffixes.)
proved, proven–Use proved as the past participle, proven as an adjective only: She has proved her case. It is a proven remedy.
punctuation— Generally, punctuation marks take the same style or font of type as the word, letter, character, or symbol immediately preceding them. Exceptions: A question mark or exclamation point that immediately follows an italicized title but is not part of the title should be set in roman type: When did she write Out of Africa? Plurals of italicized terms also set the s or es in roman type: She bought two Christian Science Monitors. Parentheses preceding or following italics are set in roman type: Hal Ashby films (Harold and Maude, Shampoo, Coming Home, and Being There). (See italicized words.)
push button (n.), push-button (adj.)
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