G. HERBST2012

Grammar Crammers 51-60

States

Standing alone spell out the names of all 50 U.S. states

Abbreviating Use abbreviations when states are listed with the name of a city, town,

village or military base Ex: Beverly Hills, Calif.; Albany, N.Y.; Detroit, Mich. If unsure of abbreviations, reference AP Style Guide

NEVER ABBREVIATE in text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, Utah

Punctuation Place one comma between the city and state, and another comma after

the state name unless ending a sentence Ex: He was traveling from Nashville, Tenn., to Austin, Texas.

In headlines Use abbreviations No periods necessary for those abbreviated with two capital letters

Ex: NY, NJ, NC, SD, RI

Loose, Lose

Loose Adjective

Ex: Those pants are too loose on you.

Lose Verb

Ex: It would really be a shame for her to lose her job.

Choose, Chose

Choose Verb

Present tense To select from a variety of options

Ex: You need to choose which idea you like best.

Chose Past tense of choose

Ex: Yesterday, you chose which idea you liked best.

Prefixes

Prefixes Generally do not hyphenate when using a prefix with a

word starting with a consonant Three constant rules:

Except for cooperate and coordinate, use a hyphen if the prefix ends in a vowel and the word that follows begins with the same vowel

Use a hyphen if the word that follows is capitalized Use a hyphen to join doubled prefixes: sub-subparagraph

Bi-, Semi-

Bi- In general, no hyphen Examples: bifocal, bilateral, bimonthly, bipartisan,

bilingualSemi-

In general, no hyphen Examples: semifinal, semi-invalid, semiofficial,

semitropical

Lightening, Lightning

Lightening Verb Ex: I am lightening the load of your backpack.

Lightning Noun Electrical discharge Ex: There was lightning and thunder.

Seasons

Lowercase spring, summer, fall, winter and derivatives such as springtime UNLESS part of a formal name: EX: Dartmouth Winter Carnival, Summer Olympics,

Winter Olympics

Envelop, Envelope

Envelop Verb

Other forms: enveloping, enveloped Ex: She couldn’t wait to envelop her arms around her

puppy.Envelope

Noun Ex: Make sure to properly address your envelope

before mailing it.

Media, Medium

Media In the sense of mass communication, such as

magazines, newspapers, the news services, radio, television and on-line, the word is plural

Ex: The news media are resisting attempts to limit their freedom.

Medium In the sense of art, artists often specialize in a specific

medium such as painting, drawing, photography. Ex: Her chosen medium was charcoal.

Percents

When writing a percentage, always use the number and spell out the word percent Ex: A study found that 22 percent of kittens enjoy

playing with string.HOWEVER, spell out the number when it

begins a sentence Fifty percent of kittens enjoy watching birds.