Style is the way in which something is written or spoken.
Style generally refers to the rules related to capitalization, spelling, hyphenation, abbreviation; punctuation, including ellipsis points, parenthesis, and quotation marks; and the way numbers are treated.
Some publishers rely on their own stylebooks for editorial purposes. For instance, the New York Times publishes the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. Many other publishers, however, choose to adhere to one of the major style guides. Two of the largest and most widespread style guides currently in use are “The Associated Press Stylebook” and “The Chicago Manual of Style.” Both style guides are used by different people for different things.
AP Stylebook
The AP Stylebook has been around in its current form since 1953. It focused on “where the wire set a specific style,” and, in doing so, was more attractive to newspapers and media outlets. Even today, 60 years later, the AP Stylebook is the preferred style guide for those writers working at newspapers or news magazines.
Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style was first published in 1906. First only 203 pages, The Chicago Manual of Style is now over 1,000, making it one of the most thorough and comprehensive style guides in print. Generally speaking, The Chicago Manual of Style is used primarily by book authors and publishers.
This section of My Online Writing Class deals with some of the basic, generally accepted stylistic conventions of American English and examines them through the lens of both the AP Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style. When applicable, we also look at what AP and Chicago have to say on proper usage.
These two style guides overlap in many of their recommendations on style and usage, but they do have some important differences. Be sure to always follow the style for which your place of employment adheres. Or, if you are self-publishing, it is important to stay consistent with one style over the other.
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