More Ledes: Writing With (AP) Style

In this assignment you weren't asked to write conforming to AP style. And on this one I won't grade you on that basis. Still, we're going to use this opportunity to start picking up some of the more common AP style points.

Like with how to refer to money. Is it $25 with the dollar symbol ahead of the amount or 25 dollars, with dollars spelled out?

It's the former. This is what I pulled from the AP Stylebook, under dollars: "Use figures and the $ sign in all except casual references or amounts without a figure."Number usage has its own specific style under AP rules. Here's the most basic AP guideline, in your style book under numerals: In general "Spell out whole numbers below 10, use figures for 10 and above."

So two should be two, not 2. And 10 should be 10, not ten.

So then, is this correct to start a sentence, under AP Style rules, by spelling out a number like this?

Twenty-two . . .

Actually, that IS correct number use. This is under the numerals heading:

Spell out a numeral at the beginning of a sentence.

Also, Is it 6 month-old with a hyphen between month and old or 6-month-old with hyphens between everything or 6 month old with no hyphens at all? AP Style under ages: Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun.

So it's 6-month-old, with hyphens between the 6 and month, and between month and old.

Also, please note it is NOT six-month-old girl with six spelled out,; rather, the six is in numeric form, like this: 6-month-old girl.

It's another exception to the general AP number rule. In AP Style under ages:

Always use figures.

Moving on, let's talk about names. On first reference, you use a first and last name: Megan Perakiss. But what do you do on a second and subsequent references?

Here is AP Style, under names:

In general, use only last names on second reference.

But what if there is more than one person with the same last name? AP Style has that covered, too. Also under names:

When it is necessary to distinguish between two people who use the same last name, as in married couples or brothers and sisters, use the first and last name.

So in the case of any member of the Perakiss family -- who has the same last name -- it would be first and last names in all references, if more than one Perakiss is referred to in the story. If there's only one Perakiss in the story, it would simply be Perakiss in all references after the first.

Either way, try not to use just a first name on any reference.

FYI, this may be a good time to start an AP Style cheat sheet, where you write down and keep track of some of the more common AP Style rules cited in blog posts. There's also another way to have a quick-look AP Style cheat sheet: simply click on "ap style" under "labels" at the bottom of this blog, and EVERY AP STYLE POST WE'VE DONE SOFAR will appear!