When Hyphenation Is Unnecessary
One of the main reasons to insert a hyphen between two words that aren’t normally hyphenated is to help readers sort out the text when those words are used as a compound modifier before a noun.
Chicago Style Workout 80: A Little History
How well do you know the history of The Chicago Manual of Style, otherwise known as CMOS? This quiz is designed to give you a brief overview of the long history of the Manual (see question 2 for how long)—and of Chicago style.
Chicago Style Workout 79: Some Technical Abbreviations
Even writers and editors who work with nontechnical documents will encounter the occasional abbreviated unit of measure or other abbreviation from the sciences. Knowing some basic conventions about such expressions will help you spot potential errors.
Chicago Style Workout 78: Other Languages
Most writers and editors who work in English will encounter at least the occasional word or phrase from another language. To spot potential problems, it’s a good idea to know some of the conventions of the more commonly used languages, the subject of chapter 11 in CMOS.
Chicago Style Workout 77: Numerals
In Chicago’s default style for numbers, whole numbers under 101 are usually spelled out, as in three or ninety-three. Chicago’s alternative rule spells out numbers up to and including nine. But some expressions always call for numerals (July 2, page 9), and in scientific and technical contexts, numerals (also called digits) are the norm.
Chicago Style Then and Now
The first edition of The Chicago Manual of Style was published in 1906, when horses outnumbered cars and typewriters and telephones had only recently become fixtures of the modern office. Yet the books and articles published back then weren’t all that different from the ones published today, and a lot of the advice in the original Manual still applies.
Chicago Style Workout 76: Good Grammar?
When it comes to putting words together, the difference between correct and incorrect—or standard and nonstandard—can be subtle. For this workout, we dip back into chapter 5, which covers grammar.
Citing Book Reviews
Chicago-style source citations are designed to be both concise and informative. Ideally, readers should be able to tell what a citation refers to despite its abbreviated nature.
Capitalizing Kinship Names and the Like
A kinship name is a name for a family member, whether close or distant. Such names include mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, and so on.
Chicago Style Workout 75: Spaces and Spacing
From the blank page to the gaps between words, space is central to what writers and editors do every day. But just because space is empty doesn’t mean there’s nothing there.
