Conciseness

--Not necessary to use “on” with time element.

A three-car collision Saturday on I-40 killed two tourists from Germany, a Tennessee Highway Patrol spokeswoman said this morning.

Content

Attribution

--In most cases, use “said.” It is neutral.

--Be careful with “says.” Usually better for feature stories than news stories.

--Used “stated” when referring to documents.

--Also use “according to” for documents. “According to” with speakers sometimes implies doubt.

--Be careful about having inanimate objects “saying” something.

…, the White House said.

--Use a comma to separate attribution.

More than 40 applicants are seeking five available teaching jobs in the city school system, Superintendent Rose Nelson said this morning.

Time element

--Need to put the time element as close to the verb as possible.

Mayor John Ellis welcomed five members of the delegation from China to City Hall this morning.

Mayor John Ellis this morning welcomed five members of the delegation from China to City Hall.

--Do not begin sentences with expletives “there” and it.”

It was band class in high school that instilled the love for music that I have today.

Band class in high school instilled the love for music that I have today.

There are many aspects that make up the person who I am today.

Many aspects make up the person who I am today.

Avoid use of passive voice

The motion to give the raise to part-time city employees was approved by the council members with a 4-3 vote.

The council members approved the motion to give the raise to part-time employees with a 4-3 vote.

Council members voted 4-3 to give the raise to part-time employees.

Punctuation

--Do not use serial commas: commas before “and” in a series

--Use commas to separate parenthetical expressions

--Use commas after introductory time elements.

--Do not use commas with most prepositional phrases.

Compound Sentences

Connect independent clauses with:

--a coordinate conjunction and a comma

Council members approved funding for the project, but they agreed to put the funding in the budget for the next fiscal year.

--a semi-colon

Council members approved funding for the project; they agreed to put the funding in the budget for the next fiscal year.

--a conjunctive adverb

Council members approved funding for the project; however, they agreed to put the funding in the budget for the next fiscal year.

--Use hyphens for compound modifiers:

family-oriented

Style

--State names

--Country names

--Dates

--Numbers

Spell out numerals for “one” to “nine,” use numerals for 10 and greater numbers,

but ages and percentages always are numerals

--Titles

Capitalize no titles unless they appear before names.

--Composition titles

Use quotation marks

--Regions

Capitalize regions

--Academic departments and majors

Use lower case unless a proper noun such as English or unless part of an official and formal name: MTSU Department of Economics

Grammar

--“that” is restrictive

This is the only time that we can register for classes.

--“which” is non-restrictive and requires use of commas to set off phrase

The office, which has five employees, provides information about living off-campus.

--Use parallel construction

I met a lot of nice people, opened up more, and it challenged me academically.

I met a lot of nice people and opened up more, and it challenged me academically.