Get Ready to Write Like a Pro: Style Guide Updates You Need to Know

Ch-ch-changes! The professional writing and editing world has gone David Bowie, with AP and Chicago styles getting a makeover this year. Let’s take a sneak peek at the key changes affecting how we write.

Chicago

While the good folks at the University of Chicago are busy putting the finishing touches on the 18th edition for publication this September, here’s what they have so far:

Simplifying book citations. Say goodbye to extra location details in book citations! Just the publisher and year will be needed. (This is a huge relief for writers and editors!)

Title case tweaks. Prepositions with five letters or more get a capital letter in titles (think "Much Ado About Nothing"). We'll use the term title case instead of headline style.

Keeping The in periodicals. Don't ditch the initial The at the beginning of newspaper titles like The New York Times when referencing them in your writing.

Capitalizing derived words (sometimes). Merriam-Webster gets the final say! Words like French dressing get a capital F, while french fries stay lowercase.

Sentences after colons get capitals. Starting a complete sentence after a colon? Capitalize the first word. (This is in line with AP convention.)

Exceptions to the hyphenating e- words. Now ebook and esports are joining email in the unhyphenated club.

Compound modifiers get more options. Hyphens are allowed for some compound modifiers after nouns (think first-rate editor and an editor who is considered first-rate). Open modifiers like guest room access remain hyphen-free.

Double-duty dashes. Use an en dash to separate the names of two people in compound modifiers (e.g., Epstein–Barr virus). A hyphenated name for one person stays hyphenated (Albers-Schönberg disease).

(Speaking of the en dash, there have been discussions about doing away with it, much to the shock of pro word nerds.)

They goes formal. The singular they, referring to unknown genders or indefinite pronouns (e.g., "someone forgot their coat"), is officially okay for formal writing. (I don’t know how I feel about this, but many people are definitely jumping for joy.)

Other updates. As of August 15, 2024, here's what's new in the 18th edition (Chicago Manual of Style Online). 

AP

For more details on AP updates, go to New Entries and Recent Changes, available with a subscription. Here's a mini breakdown of the AP Stylebook updates, effective immediately:

Your dictionary matters. Get ready for a fresh face in the dictionary world! The AP Stylebook is switching to Merriam-Webster as its go-to source, affecting how we handle prefixes and suffixes. (Now AP and Chicago share a dictionary. Talk about convenience if you use both AP and Chicago like I do!)

The change will take place in the AP Stylebook, 57th Edition, to be published on May 29. A Merriam-Webster subscription add-on with AP Stylebook Online will be offered beginning on the same day.

Hyphens get a haircut. Say no to a bunch of unnecessary hyphens! Words with prefixes like out-, post-, pre-, and re- generally won't need them anymore. This streamlines things and makes writing smoother.  Other prefixes, such as anti- and semi-, and suffixes also generally lose the hyphen, with some exceptions. This hyphenation rule has long been a part of Chicago style, so again, if you use both AP and Chicago, you’ll also find this change pretty convenient.

Bonus random fun stuff: UFOs vs. UAPs. The US government is now using UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) instead of UFO (unidentified flying object). Until UAP becomes more widely known, use UFO first and explain the government's term later in your writing.

One Last Note

I’ve chosen to share some of the changes that are more relevant to our verticals, and these changes generally apply to writers and editors as well. 

I’m also leaving out certain changes and additions (terms, conventions, etc.) that are associated with a certain agenda or persuasion popular in the publishing industry and the media. As an apolitical, antipolitical, and spiritual supporter of freedom of speech and expression and the freedom of humankind in general, I refrain from the use and discussion of such terms.

Having said all this, I have yet to decide which style guide to use for my digital content. I’ve been thinking about creating my style sheet or house style combining AP and Chicago conventions that will streamline the writing and reading process, but obviously, I can’t do that just yet until I have access to the latest Chicago edition, and I’m still adapting to the AP changes. In the meantime, if you see typos and other inconsistencies and irregularities in my content, please don’t shoot me. (But you can shoot me a kind email!)

Need help navigating these updates and changes? It’s hard to keep up with these ever-evolving rules and conventions, so feel free to reach out to me. Let’s keep your content or publication professional, fresh, and current!