The Chicago Manual of Style
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The venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar. An indispensable reference, informing the editorial canon with sound, definitive advice at cmos.style/ONLINE. We answer your “Chicago Style” questions at cmos.style/QandA.
Curious about spaces before punctuation marks in French text? Change your proofing language to French in Microsoft Word and watch what happens as you type. Details in the Q&A.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
Find it. Write it. Cite it. The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. ¶ It is the indispensable reference for ...
chicagomanualofstyle.org
Chicago style for abbreviating number ranges is efficient and (once you get the hang of it) easy to apply. For a quick refresher, check out this post from CMOS Shop Talk.
316–7, 316–17, or 316–317? Chicago Style for Number Ranges
Abbreviating number ranges according to the system recommended by The Chicago Manual of Style is easy if you can remember three basic rules (illustrated here with page numbers, which don’t require com...
cmosshoptalk.com
When naming the title of a book or an article or the like, either “titled” or “entitled” is correct, though the former is usually preferred. And don’t use a comma after either one. Details in the Q&A.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
Find it. Write it. Cite it. The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. ¶ It is the indispensable reference for ...
chicagomanualofstyle.org
Q. Do you need a comma before “then” when it means “in that case”? Q. Is it “the angel Gabriel” or “the Angel Gabriel”? Q. Do typefaces/fonts need to be credited? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the July Q&A at CMOS Online.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
Find it. Write it. Cite it. The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. ¶ It is the indispensable reference for ...
chicagomanualofstyle.org
ICYMI: The phrase “dogs have tails” is generally preferred to “dogs have a tail,” but either one depends on readers knowing something about dogs and tails. Details in the Q&A.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
Find it. Write it. Cite it. The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. ¶ It is the indispensable reference for ...
chicagomanualofstyle.org
ICYMI: An em dash can be used in place of almost any mark of punctuation in a sentence—for better or worse. Details in the Q&A.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
Find it. Write it. Cite it. The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. ¶ It is the indispensable reference for ...
chicagomanualofstyle.org
ICYMI: When the name of a friend follows the word “friend,” a comma is rarely required (“my friend John”); with spouses, commas are the default (“my husband, John”). Details in the Q&A.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
Find it. Write it. Cite it. The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. ¶ It is the indispensable reference for ...
chicagomanualofstyle.org
Do you like commas? We do too, even if we don’t require them with “too” (or “either”). Get the full story (going back to 1906) in this latest update from CMOS Shop Talk.
Commas with “Too” and “Either”
The seventeenth edition of CMOS was the first edition to rule explicitly on whether “too” in the adverbial sense of “also” should be set off by commas. The rule applies also to “either,” which as an a...
cmosshoptalk.com
Q. Should a compound modifier be hyphenated if the noun doesn’t directly follow? Q. Should I retain accents in Spanish city names? Q. How should amendments to laws be cited? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the June Q&A at CMOS Online. cmos.style/QandA
If “a.m.” means before noon and “p.m.” means after, then what do “12 a.m.” and “12 p.m.” mean? Noon and midnight (or midnight and noon) are the subjects of this latest update from CMOS Shop Talk.
Noon and Midnight
Many of us write or say “12 p.m.” (or “12:00 p.m.”) when we mean noon and “12 a.m.” when we mean midnight. This seems reasonable enough, at least intuitively.
cmosshoptalk.com
The commenting tools in Adobe Acrobat have helped to make on-screen proofreading the norm. But how exactly do they work? PDF markup is once again in the spotlight, in a newly updated post from CMOS Shop Talk.
PDF Proofreading Markup
Copyeditors typically work in Microsoft Word or Google Docs or the like, making and suggesting changes directly in the document, which at that stage is still referred to as a manuscript. Proofreaders ...
cmosshoptalk.com
Q. Is “The more the merrier” a complete sentence? Q. Is “kindly” used correctly in “We kindly ask …”? Q. “It’s not only this, it’s that.” Is that a comma splice? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the May Q&A at CMOS Online. cmos.style/QandA
Hyphens can help make words with prefixes easier to read, but when do you draw the line? This latest update from CMOS Shop Talk will help you decide.
Prefixes: A Nonissue, or a Non-Issue?
A prefix is a partial word that joins to the front of another word (and sometimes a phrase) to create a new word with a different meaning. The pre- in prefix is a prefix, for example.
cmosshoptalk.com
Q. Should “ill” plus a verb be hyphenated? Q. How are titles of books treated in Spanish text? Q. What is the rule on hyphenating multiple colors? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the April Q&A at CMOS Online. cmos.style/QandA
Are tabular figures proportional or monospaced? What is a serif? Is letterspacing the same thing as kerning? What does the “S” in “HTTPS” mean? Explore these and other editing-adjacent terms in the latest update from CMOS Shop Talk.
Key Terms Every Editor Should Know
In editing as in life, things tend to come in pairs. Life has its ups and downs, left and right, sea and land, victory and defeat. In editing you have capitals and lowercase, justified and ragged righ...
cmosshoptalk.com
Q. Should asterisk note references be superscripts? Q. Is it OK to use “where” for something other than a place? Q. I’m trying to cite info about The Simpsons. It’s complicated. Can you help? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the March Q&A at CMOS Online. cmos.style/QandA
Footnotes or endnotes? Many of us prefer footnotes, but endnotes can be less distracting, especially when there are no numbers in the text. Find out how these “invisible” endnotes work, this week at CMOS Shop Talk.
“Invisible” Endnotes
This post discusses the pros and cons of so-called invisible endnotes in books and how to prepare a manuscript that has them.
cmosshoptalk.com
Q. Is it “password protect” or “password-protect”? Q. Why aren’t “heaven” and “hell” always capitalized? Q. How would I cite an unpublished diary entry? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the February Q&A at CMOS Online. cmos.style/QandA
Until about a century ago, most publishers did “this.” But many publishers now do ‘this’, or “this”. Find out what happened, and why, in this newly updated post at CMOS Shop Talk.
Commas and Periods with Quotation Marks
In publications that follow Chicago style, commas and periods are placed before a closing quotation mark, “like this,” rather than after, “like this”. This convention has persisted even though it’s no...
cmosshoptalk.com
Q. “Do the speaker or the characters have any faults?” Or “Does”? Q. En dash or hyphens in “time clock punching employees”? Q. Can you have a footnote 1 with no 2? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the January Q&A at CMOS Online. cmos.style/QandA
The spaces between these words are just one of more than a dozen kinds of spaces. Discover more in this latest update from CMOS Shop Talk, which includes links to several related (and newly updated) posts.
Navigating Spaces in Manuscripts and Beyond
To a copyeditor working on a manuscript, a space is usually just a space, and line breaks are random, fluid occurrences that vary as text is added and deleted and moved around. Designers and typesette...
cmosshoptalk.com
Q. I know about commas and spouses, but what about friends? Q. Do we refer to fictional characters by first or last name? Q. Is “four-hundredth birthday” correct? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the December Q&A at CMOS Online. cmos.style/QandA
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Peter B. Kaufman’s new book provides a publisher’s road map for a world in which video has become at least as important as text. The Moving Image: A User’s Manual is the subject of our latest interview at CMOS Shop Talk.
Peter B. Kaufman talks about The Moving Image
Peter B. Kaufman is Associate Director of Development at MIT Open Learning. He is the author of The New Enlightenment and the Fight to Free Knowledge (Seven Stories Press, 2021) and founder of Intelli...
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The abbreviations “i.e.” and “e.g.” are clearly not the same, so why are they always getting mixed up? And which one can be used with “etc.”? Refresh your knowledge of three common Latin abbreviations, this week at CMOS Shop Talk.
I.e., E.g., Etc.
Latin may be a dead language, but many of its words and phrases flourish in today’s English. The most common Latin borrowing might be an abbreviation: the all-purpose etc., short for et cetera, “and o...
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Q. Why doesn’t “post-traumatic stress disorder” have an en dash? Q. Neither I/me nor my dog responded. “I” or “me”? Q. What’s the best way to style “the f-word”? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the November Q&A at CMOS Online. cmos.style/QandA
Interruptions can be annoying, especially when you’re not sure where to put the commas. Interrupted conjunctions are the subject of this newly updated post, only at CMOS Shop Talk.
Punctuating Interrupted Conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions join pairs of words, phrases, or clauses, but when such a conjunction is interrupted by an intervening phrase or clause, it can be difficult to know where to put the commas.
cmosshoptalk.com
Q. Should “little blue heron” be capitalized? Q. Should it be “sample A” or “Sample A”? Q. How would you style the title of a playlist? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the October Q&A at CMOS Online. cmos.style/QandA
Family members may deserve our love and respect, but when do they merit an initial capital? Get the latest advice for capitalizing kinship names and similar words for people, this week at CMOS Shop Talk.
Capitalizing Kinship Names and the Like
A kinship name is a name for a family member, whether close or distant. Such names include mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, and so on.
cmosshoptalk.com
Q. Why is MS Word asking me to change “all of” to “all”? Q. Do I have to put boat names in italics? Q. How do I cite a Substack post? We answer these and other questions about Chicago style in the September Q&A at CMOS Online.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
Find it. Write it. Cite it. The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. ¶ It is the indispensable reference for ...
chicagomanualofstyle.org