1 Comma in a series Use the Oxford/serial comma; comma before and/or/but etc. We ate corn, beans, and potatoes for dinner. We ate corn, beans and potatoes for dinner. 2 Possessives Always add an apostrophe s to a singular possessive noun, even when the noun ends in a s The party is at Sally Joness house. The party is at Sally Jones house. 3 Numbers MPA program prefers: Spell out whole numbers up to and including nine, use numerals for the rest; spell out numbers that begin a sentence One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine 10, 11, 12, 13
One hundred protesters attended the event. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
ten, eleven, twelve
100 protesters attended the event. 4 Dates Dates should be written without suffixes March 5 March 5 th
5 Names Spell out one word references to a proper noun UNC School of Government = the School the school 6 State abbreviations; state names Two letter state abbreviations are closed without periods; use written out names in running text US, NC, TX
I live in North Carolina. U.S., N.C., T.X.
I live in NC. 7 Titles Lower case professional titles that follow a name (Capitalize if before name) Mike Smith, dean Dean Mike Smith Mike Smith, Dean dean Mike Smith 8 Space after period Only use one space after a period at the end of a sentence Today is Sunday. Tomorrow is Monday. Today is Sunday. Tomorrow is Monday. 9 Space with ellipses Use a single space before, after, and in between the periods of an ellipse I was wondering . . . where do we want to eat? I was wonderingwhere do we want to eat? 10 Space with em dash Use no spaces before or after an em dash Can you pick up the cake ingredientsflour, milk, and eggsat the store? Can you pick up the cake ingredients flour, milk, and eggs at the store? 11 Colons Lowercase the first word after a colon, unless a proper noun or start of at least two complete sentences Heres what we should do: complete our homework and then go to the movies. Heres what we should do: Complete our homework and then go to the movies. 12 Subject-verb agreement Singular subject = singular verbs Plural subjects = plural verbs One of the families in my neighborhood is moving tomorrow. The families in my neighborhood are moving tomorrow. One of the families in my neighborhood are moving tomorrow. The families in my neighborhood is moving tomorrow. 13 Parallelism in a sentences Use the same tense throughout a list/series; use the same subject/object order Hurricane Irene downed power lines, flooded state roads, and left many people homeless. Hurricane Irene downed power lines, flooded state roads, and many people are now homeless. 13 Parallelism in a bulleted list Use the same tense throughout a list/series; use the same subject/object order My experience includes: Fundraising from public, private, and government sources Hiring and supervising staff Writing policy reports My experience includes: Fundraising from public, private, and government sources Hiring and supervising staff Policy reports
14 Who vs. whom Who o Referring to the subject of a clause o If the answer to the question is "he" Whom o Referring to the object of a clause o If the answer to the question is "him" Who drank the coffee? He drank the coffee.
Whom do you work for? I work for him. Whom drank the coffee? He drank the coffee.
Who do you work for? I work for him. 15 Clarity Know your audience Write to be understood Use small words Avoid ambiguity Write in the positive (say what is, not what isnt) Dont chop up thoughts Emphasize the end Be concrete 16 Active vs. passive voice Write in the active voice; have the subject do the action Lisa analyzed the data. The data was analyzed by Lisa. 17 Concise Avoid long sentences Take out unnecessary words and phrases Use transitions to orient reader Use fewest words possible Use bullets for listed items Eliminate redundancy
18 Confident Dont hedge Be confident Separate facts from opinions Avoid sexist language