Countdown to CMOS 17
CMOS 17 is almost here—and at the University of Chicago Press, that’s a really big deal. Every seven to ten years the team here revs up for an overhaul of The Chicago Manual of Style, and two to three years after that,
Chicago Style Workout 17: Hyphens, Part 1
This workout centers on section 1, “Compounds According to Category,” in our extended hyphenation table under paragraph 7.96 in CMOS 18. We’re calling this workout “part 1” because hyphens are a vast topic, destined to confound us in many ways and certainly worth a series of workouts.
Sections 8.167−68 in the Spotlight
Readers are sometimes puzzled by Chicago’s recommendations of when to lowercase or drop an initial the from the title of a work in running text. Sections 8.167 and 8.168 of CMOS (16th edition) lay out the rules. For a bonus, we’ll also cover the use of the in titles of websites (8.186) in running text. Chicago guidelines for the use of the
Chicago Style Workout 16:
Word Usage, Part 3
This workout returns to the usage list under paragraph 5.254 of CMOS 18. Writing and editing are more efficient when you never have to look up gauntlet or dither over farther versus further.
Styling Titles of Websites, CMOS 17
This week we’ll explain further one of the changes you will find in the new 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style when it appears in September. It’s not a big change, but it’s one you may use often.
Joli Jensen talks about “taming” your writing projects
“Writing, no matter how much we like our project or use various productivity techniques, can trigger all kinds of emotional baggage. . . . Acknowledging—rather than suppressing or talking yourself out of—whatever project-related feelings are coming up helps . . .”
Chicago Style Workout 15: Punctuation and Closing Quotation Marks
This workout centers on paragraphs 6.9–11 of CMOS 18. Advanced editors might tackle the questions cold; learners can study the relevant paragraphs of the Manual before answering the questions.
Who’s a “Lazy” Copyeditor?
Like all professional copyeditors, I try to keep up with news in my field, which means browsing the posts and articles of editors, grammarians, linguists, and lexicographers online. I do this both through RSS feed subscriptions—Feedly is my reader of choice—and also by bookmarking
Chicago Style Workout 14: Editing Tables
This workout centers on paragraphs 3.82–89 of CMOS 18. Advanced editors might tackle the questions cold; learners can study he relevant section in CMOS before answering the questions.
Section 8.1 in the Spotlight
It’s not always obvious whether a word should be capitalized. We know to cap proper names of people, holidays, cities, and countries. But what about words like dad, state, or president? Confusion arises when the same word is capped in one context and lowercased in another:
