Thursday, October 13, 2011

Murder: Write With (AP) Style

Does the general AP Style number rule of spelling out numbers under 10 and using numerals for 10 and over?

Actually, no. Here is what it says in AP Style under times:

Use figures except for noon and midnight.

So 9 a.m. is 9 a.m., not nine a.m.

Also, is it 5-feet-10-inch or 5'10 or five foot ten or 5 feet 10 inches?

It's the first one or the last one. AP Style, under dimensions:

Use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards, ect, to indicate depth, height, length and width. Hyphenate adjectival forms before nouns.

EXAMPLES: He is 5 feet 6 inches tall, the 5-foot-6-inch man, the 5-foot man, the basketball team signed a 7-footer.

Use an apostrophe to indicate feet and quote marks to indicate inches (5'6") only in very technical contexts.

Moving on, in referring to the day of the week, should you have said yesterday or Tuesday (or Wednesday, depending on which day you filed your assignment)?

In general, it's the latter. Sayeth AP Style under time element:

Use the days of the week, not today or tonight in print copy. Use the month and a figure where appropriate.

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