Introduction

In general, Duke University follows The Associated Press Stylebook for stylistic issues pertaining to news releases and other information generated for news media and for news material distributed on the Web. When an issue is not covered in the stylebook, we rely on Webster’s New World Dictionary.

The discussion of grammar and usage is far from comprehensive, but some common errors have been highlighted. When in doubt, or when the example you’re seeking isn’t covered, we strongly recommend that you consult the guides mentioned above, as well as others, such as Strunk & White’s “The Elements of Style.”

In addition, Duke’s new Inclusive Language Guide offers guidance on language related to gender, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation and more. (Note: As this is a living document subject to revision, it is being shared with members of the Duke community here via shibboleth sign-in).

For general grammar and usage questions, there are also a number of helpful online dictionaries and usage guides, among them:


A

Abbreviations
Academic degrees
Academic departments
Academic titles
Affect, effect
Alumnus, etc.
American Indians
Among, between

C

Capitalization
Carat, caret, karat
Collective nouns
Commas in a series
Compose, comprise
Compound nouns

D

Dean’s list
Disc, disk
Disinterested, uninterested
Due to
Duke’s units, official names

F

Foreign words and phrases
Full time, part time
Fundraising, fundraiser

H

Handicap, disability
He or she, his or her
Historic, history
Hopefully
Hurricanes
Hyphenation

I

Impact
Imply, infer
Institutes
Internet, Web, Technology
Iran, Iraq
Italics, quotation marks

K

Kmart, Wal-Mart, etc.

L

Lay, lie
Less, fewer
Like, as
Local places

M

Months, seasons
Mohammed
Mount, mountains
mm, mph

N

Numbers

O

Only

P

Possessives
Prefixes

R

Ranges
Religions
Religious holidays

S

Saint
Schools and years
Scot, Scots, Scottish, Scotch
States, names of

T

That, which
Time element
Titles of books, movies, plays, etc.
Trademarks

W

Who, whom

Please note: Through the following examples, italics are used to highlight the word or phrase in question, and not to indicate that the word or phrase should be italicized.

abbreviations These titles are capitalized and abbreviated before a name. Note: Duke deviates from AP style for titles referring to medical doctors and those who hold doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees. On first mention please use M.D. (use last name only on subsequent references to the person):

Anthony Fauci, M.D.,  told Congress …
Fauci later clarified his comments ….

Angela King, M.D., and Natalie Lopez. M.D., attended …

Also, use Ph.D. on first reference only:

Josh Jenkins, Ph.D., published his first book …
Jenkins graduated from Duke in 1993.

Gov.
Lt. Gov.
Rep.
Sen. (Sens.)
and all military titles (Gen., Adm., Col., Maj., Capt., Pvt., Pfc, etc.)

Professor is never abbreviated and only capitalized if part of a title, e.g. Joe Smith, the Eugene Jones Professor of Chemistry, …

Speaking to students, chemistry professor Jane Doe …

United States and United Nations — spell out on first reference, then abbreviate U.S. and U.N. as nouns on second and subsequent references. Abbreviate always when used as adjectives.

The United States contribution to the U.N Climate Fund is larger than that of any other nation.

The U.S. ambassador said she will not protest the meeting at the United Nations. But a U.N. spokeswoman said …

academic degrees bachelor of arts (B.A.)(a bachelor’s)

bachelor of divinity (B.D.)

bachelor of laws (LL.B)

bachelor of science (B.S.)

doctor of law (J.D.) (a doctorate)

doctor of laws (L.L.D.)

doctor of medicine (M.D.)

doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.)

master of arts (M.A.) (a master’s)

master of public policy (M.P.P.)

master of science (M.S.)

academic departments Academic departments are in lowercase (the music department, the physics department) except when the subject in question is a proper noun (the English department, the German department).

Department names used in an official sense are uppercase (e.g., Duke’s Department of Chemistry, the Department of Music). The same is true for institutes, centers, schools, etc.

Also, note some schools use ampersands as part of their title:
Duke Department of Psychology & Neuroscience
Duke Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

(Not: department of psychology and neuroscience)

Other options:
The psychology department
A professor of psychology and neuroscience
A professor of psychiatry and behavioral science

academic titles Capitalize titles before a name.

Duke University President Vincent E. Price

Trinity College Dean Valerie Ashby

Lowercase after a name or when used alone.

Vincent E. Price, the president of Duke University

Valerie Ashby, dean of Trinity College

Exceptions are names of chaired professorships.

Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of History William H. Chafe and

William H. Chafe, Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of History

Professor is never abbreviated and only capitalized if part of a title, e.g. Joe Smith, the Eugene Jones Professor of Chemistry, …

Speaking to students, chemistry professor Jane Doe …

Doctor, M.D., Ph.D. — See entry here.

affect, effect Affect, the noun, describes an emotion, and is used mainly in psychology. AP style says to avoid using “affect” as a noun.

The patient showed little affect.

Affect, the verb, means to influence.

His illness affected his grades.

Effect, the noun, means result or outcome.

His illness had an effect on his grades.

Effect, the verb, means to bring about, to create.

The department chair effected big changes.

alumnus, etc. An alumnus is a male graduate, an alumna a female graduate. Alumni are both male graduates and male and female graduates combined. Alumnae are female graduates.

The same endings apply for emeritus, meaning a retired faculty member.

American Indians The AP Stylebook suggests that this usage is preferable to Native Americans, since the ancestors of American Indians migrated to North America from Asia.
among, between Between introduces two items, among more than two.

The applicant had to decide among Duke, Harvard and Princeton.

The applicant had to choose between Duke and Princeton.

Pronouns following these prepositions are in the objective case.

The choice was between us and them.

capitalization Avoid unnecessary capitals.

Capitalize:

proper nouns: James B. Duke

proper names: Duke University, the Eno River

popular names: the Bull City, the Triangle

titles (see Academic Titles, above, and Titles, below): “Dear Old Duke”

University, by itself, meaning Duke, is never capitalized.

President Price described the university’s master plan.

faculty is not capitalized unless it’s part of a proper name: Duke Faculty Commons; The faculty agenda includes ….

carat, caret, karat A carat is a measure of weight of precious stones. A caret is a proofreader’s symbol, indicating where words or letters are to be inserted. A karat is a measure of the portion of pure gold in an alloy.
collective nouns Nouns and proper nouns denoting units (class, choir, committee, fraternity, orchestra, team, Duke, Microsoft) are singular and take singular verbs and pronouns.

The Arts & Sciences Council adjourned for the summer. It meets again in September.

The team is on a road trip. It plays tonight in Atlanta.

However, team names and band names take plural verbs and pronouns.

The Beatles remain the world’s most influential band.

The Blue Devils won last night. They dominated on defense.

commas in a series Use a comma after each item in a series except before the conjunction (unless the last item includes a conjunction.)

Example:
Students eat lunch at the Cambridge Inn, the Alpine Atrium and the Perk.

compose, comprise Compose, in the passive voice, means to be made up of.

Duke University is composed of nine schools.

Comprise, best used only in the active voice, means to contain or include.

Duke University comprises nine schools.

compound nouns When in doubt whether a noun is open (half note, half brother), closed (halfback, halftone), or hyphenated (half-moon, half-life), consult a dictionary. (Also see Prefixes, below.) Some examples:
African-American

Afro-American

attorney general

blue green

bookkeeping

coal mining

crosswalk

decision maker

decision making

ex-president

first-grader

French Canadian

full moon

half-century

half-dollar

headache, toothache

Italian-American

key of B minor

key of B-flat

key of F-sharp

key of G major

Latin American

mid-Atlantic

midsummer

near miss

northeast

notebook, textbook

one-half, one-eighth

oversight

policymaker

president-elect

quasi corporation

self-knowledge

vice chairman

vice president

vice provost

dean’s list Always lowercase;

Example:
He made the dean’s list three straight semesters.

disc, disk computer disk or diskettedisc jockey
disinterested, uninterested Disinterested means impartial, uninterested means lacking in interest.
due to Due is an adjective that follows the verb to be or modifies a particular noun.

The cancellation was due to snow.

Cancellations due to snow disrupted the semester.

It should not be used in adverbial phrases to mean because of.

Instead of: Due to snow, classes were canceled.

Use: Because of snow, classes were canceled.

Duke’s units, official names Arts & Sciences and Trinity College

Divinity School

Duke University Health System (lowercase “health system” if on its own)
*(Duke Medicine is an umbrella term that refers to all of the component entities — Duke University Health System, Duke University School of Medicine, Duke University School of Nursing, etc. Duke University Health System refers ONLY to the clinical entities — Duke University Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, outpatient clinics and facilities, etc.)

The Fuqua School of Business

Graduate School

Nicholas School of the Environment

Pratt School of Engineering

Sanford School of Public Policy

School of Law

School of Medicine

School of Nursing

Undergraduate women who attended Duke between 1930 and 1972 were students in the Woman’s College, not the Women’s College.

See also: Schools and class years, below.

foreign words
and phrases
Foreign words and phrases found in a standard English dictionary are not italicized:
al-Qaida

dolce vita

fait accompli

hacienda

jihad

kibitz

mah-jongg

mea culpa

troika

tsunami

Nouns that in German would be capitalized are in English lowercase: doppelgänger or doppelganger, schadenfreude, weltschmerz.

full time, part time Hyphenate the adjective, not the noun.

Full-time employees work full time. Part-time employees work part time.

fundraising, fundraiser One word in all cases.

The Campaign for Duke was a fundraising effort. Fundraising is important to the university’s future.

handicap, disability Do not use handicap or handicapped to describe someone.

Instead refer to the person and their condition, using person-centered language such as a person with a disability

he or she, his or her Using he or she and his or her can be awkward. It is often simpler to make the noun plural.

Instead of:
A student gets good grades when he or she studies hard.

Use:
Students get good grades when they study hard.

historic, history When the h in these words is pronounced, the indefinite article should be a:

a historic moment
a history professor

hopefully This adverb means in a hopeful manner.

The students waited hopefully for tickets.

It should not be used to mean it is hoped.

Instead of:
Hopefully, tickets would be available.

Use:
They hoped tickets would be available.

hurricanes All hurricanes take an indefinite pronoun.

Hurricane Fran hit Durham in 1996. It (not she) caused extensive flooding.

hyphenation Compound modifiers before nouns are hyphenated.

The trustees approved a long-term strategic plan.

Exceptions: Compounds with very and with adverbs ending in –ly.

A D is a very low grade.

A D is not an easily forgotten grade.

Compound modifiers after the verb to be are hyphenated.

The strategic plan is to be a long-term document.

impact Impact is a noun.

The team’s losing record had an impact on attendance.

Its use as a verb meaning affect or influence is common, but should be avoided.

Instead of:
The team’s losing record impacted attendance.

Use:
The team’s losing record affected attendance.

imply, infer Speakers and writers imply, listeners and readers infer.
institutes Duke’s six university-wide institutes serve as crucial incubators of innovations in research, pedagogy and civic engagement. More information is at https://sites.duke.edu/interdisciplinary

Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke Global Health Institute, Kenan Institute for Ethics, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Social Science Research Institute

Internet, Web, etc. The following capitalizations, spellings and hyphenations are recommended:

app
avatar
blog
cellphone
click-throughs
crowdsourcing
Duke on Demand
Duke Today
e-commerce
eBay
email
e-reader (Kindle, Nook)
GIF
geotagging, geolocation
Google, Googling, Googled
hashtag
Internet (The Net is acceptable)
iPad, iPhone, iPod (iPod Nano, iPod Touch, etc.)
iTunes U
JPG
mashup
microblogging
“Office Hours”
online
PDF
smartphone
to text, text message, texted, texting
Tumblr
Twitter (n.), tweet (n., v.)
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP on second reference)
Web, website (or World Wide Web)
wiki, Wikipedia
Working@Duke
YouTube (also, Duke’s channel on YouTube)

Iran, Iraq Iran is not an Arab nation. Its people are Persian, Azerbaijani, Kurdish and other ethnic groups. The principal language is Farsi, an Indo-European language, also known as Persian, that is written with Arabic characters. Ninety percent of Iranians are Shiite Muslims, 10 percent Sunni Muslims.

Iraq is an Arab nation. The principal language is Iraqi, a dialect of Arabic. Sixty-five percent of Iraqis are Shiite Muslims, 30 percent Sunni Muslims.

The Kurds, Sunni Muslims who speak a dialect of Farsi, are a large minority in both countries.

italics, quotation marks In general, do not use italics or quotation marks for emphasis or to suggest irony or special usage:

Some students questioned whether the painting should be considered “art.”

In particular, do not use italics or quotation marks around clichés or figures of speech:

The tuition increase will have an impact on the university’s “bottom line.”

Nicknames are enclosed in quotation marks.

Harold “Spike” Yoh, former chairman of Duke’s Board of Trustees.

Kmart, Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Packard Bell, etc. When in doubt about the spelling and punctuation of company names, check with the press relations department at corporate headquarters. Even official websites may contain errors.
lay, lie Lay (past tense: laid; past participle: laid; present participle: laying) is an action verb meaning to put or place; it takes a direct object.

The student lays down his pencil.

The student laid down his pencil.

He has laid down his pencil.

He is laying down his pencil.

Lie (past tense: lay; past participle: lain; present participle: lying) means to be or stay at rest horizontally. It cannot take an object.

The pencil lies on the desk.

The pencil lay on the desk.

The pencil has lain on the desk.

The pencil is lying on the desk.

less, fewer In general, less refers to things that can be measured, fewer to things that can be counted.

The student had less free time, even though he took fewer classes.

like, as Like is a preposition that requires an object.

She plays defense like a pro.

As is a conjunction that introduces a clause.

She plays defense as the coach taught her.

local places Research Triangle Park, then RTP in subsequent references.

the Triangle, and eight-county region in the Piedmont of North Carolina consisting of  Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Harnett, Johnston, Orange, Person, Wake.

months, seasons Months are uppercase, seasons are lowercase. Abbreviate all months with a date except March, April, May, June, July.

May 15. July 4. Feb. 13. Dec. 25.

It was the summer of 1975. We worked hard all winter.

Mohammed Preferred over Muhammad, Mahomet or other spellings for the founder of Islam.
mount, mountains Mount is spelled out, mountain is capitalized as part of a proper name.

Mount Mitchell is in the Black Mountains.

mm, mph Do not use periods; abbreviate in all uses.

The White Lecture Hall has 16mm and 35mm film projectors. (Note: No space is used.)

The campus speed limit is 25 mph.

numbers Spell out whole numbers below 10, use figures for 10 and above.

The department has 15 faculty and two administrative assistants.

Exceptions:

Ages:
She has a son, John, 7.
She has a 7-year-old son, John.

Dimensions:
The photograph is 6 inches by 9 inches.
The sophomore is 6 feet 5. He is a 6-foot-5 sophomore.

Percentages:
Only 4 percent of undergraduates do not return for their sophomore year.

Time:
The class starts at 9 a.m. (Not: 9:00 a.m. or 9 A.M.)
Try to avoid starting a sentence with a figure.
Seventy students enrolled in the class.

Rewrite: There are 70 students enrolled in the class.

only Make sure that only modifies what you want it to modify.

He only studies on weekends means that on Saturday and Sunday he does nothing but study.

He studies only on weekends means that he doesn’t study Monday through Friday.

possessives Singular nouns add an apostrophe and an s.

Example:

the team’s record.

Exceptions:
appearance’ sake, conscience’ sake, goodness’ sake

The AP Stylebook lists as exceptions singular nouns ending in s and followed by words beginning with s:

the witness’ story, but the witness’s recollection
the hostess’ soirée. but the hostess’s party

Plural nouns add an apostrophe:

the students’ grades

Exceptions:

Plural words used descriptively.
The Blue Devils coach

a writers guide

Names ending in s, add an apostrophe:

Charles’ dog

Chameides’ staff

Jesus’ mother

Moses’ law

Achilles’ heel

Euripedes’ plays

For names ending in z and x, add an apostrophe and an s:

Berlioz’s opera

Marx’s writings

Xerox’s profits

prefixes most nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs formed with the following prefixes are closed (e.g., anteroom, neoclassical):
ante (antediluvian)
anti (antihero)
bi (bisexual)
bio (biodiversity)
co (coauthor, cooperate)
counter (counteroffensive)
extra (extracurricular)
infra (infrastructure)
inter (intercollegiate)
intra (intrasquad)
macro (macroeconomics)
meta (metadata)
micro (micromanage)
mid (midcentury)(but: mid-Atlantic)
mini (minibus)
multi (multistory)
neo (neoclassical)
non (nonviolent, nonprofit)
over (overvalued)
post (postdoctoral)
pre (prearranged)
pro (proconsul) (but: pro-choice,
pro-life, pro-American)
proto (prototype)
pseudo (pseudoscience)
re (reunite, reexamine)
semi (semiannual, semiconductor)
socio (socioeconomic)
sub (substandard)
super (superego, superimpose)
supra (supraorbital)
trans (transoceanic)
ultra (ultraconservative)
un (unenthusiastic)
under (underfunded)
ranges Use this form:

$5 million to $10 million, not $5-10 million

5,000 to 10,000, not 5-10,000

religions Anglicanism (Anglican)
Baptist Church (Baptist)
Buddhism (Buddhist)
Catholicism (Catholic)
Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Scientist)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints (Mormon)
Religious Society of Friends (Quaker)
Hinduism (Hindu)
Islam (Muslim)
Judaism (Jew)
Eastern Orthodox churches (Greek Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church)
Protestantism (Protestant)
Religious Society of Friends (Quaker)
Roman Catholicism (Roman Catholic)
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Shiism (Shiite)
Shintoism (Shintoist)
Sunnism (Sunni)
Taoism (Taoist)
United Methodist Church (Methodist)
religious holidays Please use the following spellings:
Ash Wednesday
Christmas (and Christmastime)
Easter
Good Friday
Hanukkah
Holy Week
Lent
Passover
Ramadan
Rosh Hashana
Yom Kippur
Saint Abbreviate in place names and the names of saints:

St. Paul, Minn.; St. John’s Newfoundland; St. Christopher

Exceptions:
Saint John, New Brunswick; Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

schools and years For external use, say, “Jones, a 1965 graduate of the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences at Duke, …

For internal use, our style for the school and class year of alumni is: School initial ’YY (use an apostrophe, not a single open quotation mark)

(In 2024 and thereafter, we will have to distinguish between, for example, T’2024 and T’1924.)

Trinity College T’YY
Divinity School D’YY
The Fuqua School of Business B’YY (Do not use F, which is reserved for graduates of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, formerly the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies)
Graduate School G’YY
Nicholas School of the Environment F’YY
Pratt School of Engineering E’YY
Sanford School of Public Policy S’YY
School of Law L’YY
School of Medicine M’YY
School of Nursing N’YY
Woman’s College WC’YY

Also:
Engineering/Professional Programs X’YY
Graduate School of Nursing R’YY
House Staff (hospital interns treated as alumni by Medical Development) H’YY
Parents are designated P’YY, with an explanation of which school their child or children attended. Grandparents are GP’YY.

Scot, Scots, Scottish, Scotch A Scot is a native of Scotland.

Scots are the people of Scotland.

Scottish modifies someone or something from Scotland.

Scotch is a type of whiskey. When the two words are used together they are spelled Scotch whisky.

states, names of The following states are never abbreviated in conjunction with the name of a city, town, village or military base:

Alaska
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Maine
Ohio
Texas
Utah

Put a comma between the city and state name, and another comma after the state name, unless it ends a sentence.

Reynolds Price was born in Macon, N.C., and graduated from Duke in 1955.

If the abbreviated state name ends the sentence, use only one period.

Sen. Richard Burr attended college in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The abbreviations of the remaining states are:

Ala.
Ariz.
Ark.
Calif.
Colo.
Conn.
Del.
Md.
Mass.
Mich.
Minn.
Miss.
Mo.
Mont.
N.D.
Okla.
Ore.
Pa.
R.I.
S.C.
S.D.
Fla.
Ga.
Ill.
Ind.
Kan.
Ky.
La.
Neb.
Nev.
N.H.
N.J.
N.M.
N.Y.
N.C.
Tenn.
Vt.
Va.
Wash.
W.Va.
Wis.
Wyo.
that, which That introduces clauses essential to the meaning of a sentence (and never set off by commas).

Duke is the university that James B. Duke founded.

Which introduces nonessential clauses (always set off by commas).

Duke, which was founded by James B. Duke, is located in Durham, N.C.

time element In external news releases, use the day of the week, not “today.”

President Vincent E. Price announced Wednesday …

titles of books, movies, plays, etc. Put quotation marks around the titles of books, movies, operas, plays, poems, songs, television programs and works of art. Capitalize the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs and subordinating conjunctions (if, because, as, that, etc.). Lowercase definite and indefinite articles, coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor) and prepositions.

“Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”

“It Happened One Night”

“The Marriage of Figaro”

“Death of a Salesman”

“Ode on a Grecian Urn”

“Just One of Those Things”

“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”

“Adoration of the Magi”

Exceptions:

The Bible, the Koran, the Torah,

Reference books, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.

Encyclopedia Britannica

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Books In Print

Names of newspapers, journals or magazines do not take quotation marks and are not italicized. (Note:“the” may or may not be part of a paper’s name. Check each publication to be sure. Websites are a good source.)

The Herald-Sun

The News & Observer

The New York Times

New York Daily News

The New Yorker

Science

Nature

U.S. News (with a space) was formerly U.S.News & World Report (no space). Its website is www.usnews.com.

trademarks The following words are trademarks:

Ace Bandage

AstroTurf

Band-Aid

Scotch Tape

Seeing-Eye dog

Sheetrock

Spandex

Styrofoam

Velcro

Xerox (never used as a verb)

The following are generic:

aspirin

cellophane

escalator

nylon

pingpong (unless referring to the table tennis equipment made by Ping-Pong)

rayon

thermos (unless referring to the vacuum bottle made by Thermos)

yo-yo

(When in doubt, try typing the word into a search engine window. Trademarks often have websites, e.g., www.velcro.com.

who, whom Who refers to the subject of a sentence, clause or phrase.

The students who worked with tutors got high grades.

Whom refers to the object of a verb or preposition.

The students whom the tutors helped got high grades.