8.

STYLE GUIDELINES This chapter is intended as a guide for those who must produce final work from unedited or partially edited draft. These guidelines should be used as a supplement to generally recognized reference books or style manuals on business communication, such as The Gregg Reference Manual by William Sabin (published by McGraw !ill" or The Chicago Manual of Style, published by The #ni$ersity of %hicago &ress. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, 'r. and (. ). White, will also be helpful* it is a$ailable from Simon + Schuster &ublishing %o. )arents, reference dictionary is Webster,s Tenth Collegiate Dictionary. The material presented here does not replace the standard references e-cept for situations in which )arents, preference differs from the commonly accepted practice (for e-ample in the use of numbers in sentences".

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COMMON EDITING SYMBOLS

The list below illustrates and e-plains most of the markings commonly used in editing copy at )arents. These designations are standard proofreading symbols, or slight modifications of them.
Symbol Description M !e it " s# (with spaces before and after, as opposed to a closed up hyphen". M !e it dash". #yp#en (as opposed to a 0elaware &ennsyl$ania region Cre te ne$ p r %r p#. &ay careful attention to the points described below. The first point is... &'n on( or "o not p r %r p#. 1. ($aluate the programs in terms of community problems. /s the ne-t step, the agency should re$iew... Insert s#ort item. &rograms for entire application category are included. )l ce lon%er insert ex ctly. Such entries might include proposals for product impro$ement C pit li*e ( 'nc pit li*e. She should report 0irectly to the assistant .ice &resident. Close 'p t#e $or"s. Work load Sep r te t#e $or"s. 2mplementationcommittee Ex mple

.ice &resident /dministration

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Symbol

Description C# n%e loc tion o+ $or"s or p#r ses.

Ex mple To buy for the %ompany materials and supplies*

Close 'p lines ,-ertic lly.. 0e$elopment of State and 3ocal Go$ernment !ealth &lan %ost (stimates Sep r te t#e lines ,-ertic lly.. 456 %ompany Systems Seminar &ractice (-ercise7 8low %harting Tr nspose letters. Strutcural In"ent or line 'p. 9ursing !ome %are Medicare Medicaid :ther

Insert instr'ctions t# t re not p rt o+ text.

Delete. ;uantitities Let it st n" ,be s're to incl'"e "ots.. Measures of ;uality C# n%e t#e se/'ence. &rocess Measures :utcome Measures Spell o't. the .& should be responsible for this C pit li*e t#e +irst letter o+ e c# $or" only. &/T2(9T %/<(

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NOMENCL0TU&E

This section e-plains how the name of the 8irm should be used, a$ailability of the )arents logo, standards for its use, and how to use common registered symbols. Use o+ B rents Gro'p N me )arents Group 33% is the proper name of the company. introduced, you may refer to it in te-t in two ways7 )arents Group )arents. 0o not refer to it as The )arents Group (no one would use The General Motors". The possessi$e form of )arents Group is )arents Group,s or )arents,. When =&MG must be included in the name, use )arents Group of =&MG in the first call out. /fterwards, use either of the reference names gi$en abo$e. Use o+ t#e B rents Gro'p Lo%o Templates of the )arents logo ha$e been sent to all offices for your use. 2f you need additional templates, contact the !elp 0esk (2nformation Technology Ser$ices" in the Washington office. Standards for using the )arents logo are defined in appropriate chapters throughout -ormat an. Style Gui.elines. Copyri%#ts( Tr "em r!s n" Ser-ice M r!s The copyright symbol should be used only with material that has been registered. When referring to copyrighted material, place the copyright symbol (>" to the left of the title (2nsert?Symbol?>" the first time it is mentioned only. 2n the te-t that follows, use only the name of the copyrighted material without the symbol. 8or e-ample7 @=&MG is uniAue in offering state of the art proprietary software packages 8/M2S <BST/<S>, and )<(&> for go$ernment financial management, 8/M2S<BST/<S and )<(&....C The same rule applies to trademarks and ser$ice marks.
C0)IT0LI10TION

:nce it has been formally

)arents Group has some specific rules about capitalization. They are set out here, along with some general rules that particularly apply to the work we produce. %onsistency in capitalization will always be a problem. To minimize the difficulty, before a document is proofread or edited, make a style sheet that lists all of the words that are to be capitalized. 3ower case e$erything else.

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 2f in doubt, do not capitalize. %apitalizing special terms in$ites inconsistencies and inaccuracies, and this can be distracting to the reader. 8or e-ample, a$oid capitalizing the names of forms, programs, or plans unless there is a special reason to do so.

/ few special e-ceptions should be noted7 We use courtesy capitalization, that is, we initial cap @companyC or @go$ernmentC when referring to a specific entity. 8or e-ample7 The Go-ernment has put systems in place to check the. . . . The Comp ny has de$eloped a system to. . . . 2n an organization study, you may want to capitalize e$ery position that appears on the organization chart. 2n a systems study, you may want to capitalize the names of maDor systems, but not subsystems. Things can get out of hand if you also try to capitalize report titles, file names, forms, account classifications, etc. %apitalization is one of the situations where less is better. /$oid putting anything in all capital letters whene$er possible* it,s been scientifically pro$en that words written in all capital letters are difficult to read. 2n titles of articles, reports, books and other written material, capitalize nouns, pronouns, $erbs and all other words of four or more letters. #se lower case for articles and coordinating conDunctions, (such as the, a, and, or, for, to" e-cept when such a word is the first word in the title, or the first word in the second line of the title. /nother e-ception is if the word is critical to the title, it should be capitalized, for e-ample, @/ !ome to )e &roud :f.C

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 %apitalize personal titles when they7 &recede a name, for e-ample, 2ice )resi"ent /lice Smith Stand in the place of a name, for e-ample, Will the 2ice )resi"ent be the principal speakerE /re in a listing of personages or officers of a firm (as in a byline for an article, for e-ample, by (ugene White, M n %in% Director and Sheila Grant, Director, )arents Group 33%.

)UNCTU0TION

)arents follows most standard punctuation rules, but there are stylistic choices you need to be aware of (for e-ample, not separating month and year with a comma7 'une FGGH". This brief e-planation also co$ers punctation that is commonly misused. 0postrop#e #se an apostrophe to form possessi$es of singular nouns, for e-ample7 M ry3s $or"s( 4o#n3s report( t#e boss3s secret ry. To form the possessi$e of plural nouns ending in s, add the apostrophe 5 B rents3 te m clients3 responsibilities( t#e 4oneses3 #o'se( clo$ns3 # bits . 8or plural nouns that do not end in s, add ,s7 c#il"ren3s "ep rtment( men3s room. /lso use an apostrophe to mark omissions in contracted words or numbers7 weren,t, class of IGJ and to form the plurals of letters 7 p3s n" /3s. 0o not use an apostrophe with abbre$iations or acronyms, such as7 6MOs( ))Os( pcs. Colon #se a colon to introduce a clause or phrase that e-plains, illustrates or amplifies what has gone before7 T#e St t'e o+ Liberty e-o!es m ny +eelin%s5 $e( pri"e( stren%t#( n" 7oy. To introduce a series, also use a colon5 M r!et se%ment tion in-ol-es5 ser-ice le-els( pricin%( n" cre"it scorin%. %olons are also used to introduce long Auotations and to separate titles and subtitles. Comm %ommas are used to separate items in a series e$en short items. )e sure to include the comma before the conDunction. 2t can be $ery important, for e-ample7 F. When 0ad died, he left his money to 'ohn, )ill and Mary. 1. When 0ad died, he left his money to 'ohn,

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)ill, and Mary. 'ohn would be $ery happy with the first sentence. Mary and )ill would be happier with the second. 0o not use commas to separate month and year7 4'ne 899:. 2f there is a comma in front of @2nc.C or a state name within a sentence, there must be one afterwards. The only alternati$e is to use parenthesis7 F. 1. K. . . . the 0etroit, Mic#i% n, plant . . . the ; s#in%ton( D.C., office . . . Standard )rands, Inc., is also . . . the 0etroit ,Mic#i% n. plant The Washington ,D.C.. office . . . Standard )rands ,Inc.. is also . . .

Similarly, the year is set off by commas when the month, day and year are stated7 @2n your memo of M y 8( 899<, on the subDect of $acation policy, . . . C

#se commas to separate independent clauses in compound sentences introduced by coordinating conDunctions , n"( b't( or( nor( +or.. / simple sentence with a compound predicate need not take a comma unless @butC or @forC is the conDunction. (-ample7 @The company is highly di$ersified and plans to continue with its acAuisition program.C

&ut commas before and after nonrestricti$e and parenthetical matter. 2ntroductory transitional e-pressions ,=+or ex mple(> =in + ct(> =t#ere+ore>. are set off by commas* always use a comma if the introductory e-pression is more than three words long. When @such asC is used to gi$e e-amples, it should be preceded and followed by a comma. (-ample7 Many famous men, s'c# s E"ison( $ere. . . 2f the e-ample is a $ital part of the sentence, no commas should break its connection7 Men s'c# s E"ison( B'rb n!( n" Bell # -e. . . .

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 0o not put commas or any punctuation when writing city and state in an address. D s# The dash is formed by lea$ing a space on either side of an long dash ( L ". / dash is used before, and a comma placed after, a word that introduces a long enumeration or list in a sentence. 8or e-ample, a large number of e-ceptions L n mely( +'rs( #i"es( #emp( n" 7'te. 2f @namelyC had been omitted, howe$er, a colon would ha$e been used* if open diamonds had been used for listing, a comma would ha$e preceded @namelyC and a colon followed it7 , n mely5 +'rs( n" #i"es. The state abbre$iation and the country should be in all caps. 8or e-ample7 :! for :hio, 23 for 2llinois, &:3/90.

Words and abbre$iations usually set off with a dash are7 +or ex mple( +or inst nce( n mely( t# t is. / dash can also be used to set off an e-planatory phrase within a sentence7 The proDect schedule is depicted in the G ntt c# rt ? l yo't o+ pro7ecte" cti-ities $it#in t#e re/'ire" time +r me. Ellipsis #se an ellipsis (. . ." to indicate the omission of one or more words or sentences within a Auotation7 :ne book said, @The points of interest include7 . . . the )ay )ridge, and the )erkeley campus.C (llipses reAuire space between the periods, and when the material before the ellipsis is closed with a period, add a fourth point to indicate it ,. . . .. 6yp#en / hyphen is used with compound numbers between 1F and GG ,one #'n"re" n" +orty@ t$o " ys., and between the numerator and denominator in writing out fractions , t$o@ t#ir"s m 7ority.. /dDecti$e compounds before a noun reAuire a hyphen (an ill defined motion", but no hyphen is used when the adDecti$e compound follows the noun (the notion was ill defined". !yphens are also used to indicate suspension7
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 #se hyphens to carry o$er adDecti$es in a series7 s#ort@ n" lon%@term re/'irements. 2f a hyphenated word is to be initial capped, only capitalize the first letter of the first part of the word, for e-ample, well designed. ) rent#eses n" Br c!ets #se parentheses to set off supplementary or e-planatory material. When acronyms are first called out, use parentheses to enclose them7 )re+erre" )ro-i"er Or% ni* tion ,))O.. /nother use for parentheses is to indicate alternati$e forms7 &lease check the men',s. you prefer. )rackets are used as a parentheses within a parentheses7 / great deal of training ,cl ssroom n" on@t#e@7ob Asee Lessons on Initi l De-elopment )l nsB. will need to be accomplished. They are also used to cite certain court or federal agency rulings in te-t. 8or e-ample7 an 2<S citation may look like this M2<% N OF (a" (F"Por a Treasury <egulation would be M1O %8< &art KQFP. )erio"s &ut two spaces after periods at the end of sentences always. 2f a sentence ends with an abbre$iation, such as etc., only put one period at the end of the sentence. #se periods after abbre$iations, such as a.m., p.m., et al., etc., cont,d. C'ot tion M r!s With the accessibility of italics in Word, titles of books are set off in italics, but titles of articles, features in periodicals and newspapers, and chapter titles are set off in standard type and in Auotation marks. ;uotation marks are used for short Auotations in te-t* longer Auotations are usually blocked and indented from both margins and do not carry Auotation marks. &eriods and commas usually go inside Auotation marks* other punctuation (including Auestion marks" goes inside or outside according to whether the punctuation is part of the Auotation or belongs to the rest of the sentence. @0e$eloping preferred $endor relationships,C said 'ane, @has become a routine part of doing business.C

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@What is the meaning of @Dust in time processesCE

Semicolon #se a semicolon between two independent clauses not linked by a conDunction7 0-oi" 'sin% cronymsD t#ey con+'se people. Semicolons are also used between clauses (in a series" that are themsel$es punctuated by commas7 We ha$e offices in Lon"on( En%l n"D Mosco$( &'ssi D ; rs $( )ol n"D n" B'" pest( 6'n% ry. When main clauses are Doined by a conDuncti$e ad$erb (such as therefore, howe$er" use a semi colon between the clauses7 T#e problem is complic te" by m ny "i-erse iss'esD t#ere+ore( $e m'st loo! t it in n'mber o+ $ ys. )'nct' tion n" C pit li* tion in Lists 3ists are usually introduced by a sentence that ends with a colon. (ach item in a list contains whate$er punctuation is reAuired within the item* the end punctuation should be a comma, semi colon or period, and appropriate. 2f any item in the series has a comma in it, then all in the list end with a semi colon. 2f there are no commas within in it, then all items in the list end with a semi colon. The last item in a list is followed by a period. N'mbers )arents style for numbers differs in some ways from the rules set out in The Chicago Manual of Style. We spell out numbers from one through ten. 9umbers that begin a sentence are spelled out. :rdinal numbers are spelled out7 The t#ir" /' rter e rnin%s were strong. #se commas in all numbers of four or more digits7 8(EEE employees. 8or round numbers in the millions and abo$e, mi- figures and words to sa$e space and to ease readability7 "e+icit o+ FG million. Make the numbers in a series conform to one style (generally numerical"7 : ser-ice centers( 8H br nc#es( G re%ion l o++icesD < o't o+ 8E.

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 When using a number as an adDecti$e, add a hyphen to the number7 ten@mont# pl n. #se the R symbol in tabular matter, graphs, charts and the like.

8I@mont# pl n(

5ou can also use the R symbol in narrati$e copy when reAuired for economy and readability such as when the document contains many statistics e-pressed as percentages. :f those sur$eyed, FJR preferred blue cars, 1QR preferred tan cars, and SQR preferred green cars. 2f a sentence begins with a percentage, howe$er, spell it out7 Ten percent o+ t#e . . . .

Line Bre !s Try not to break a proper name ,4o#n E. Smit#., a short position title ,B n! M n %er., or a place name ,Ne$ Yor!. o$er the end of a line. With right Dustification, you may ha$e to correct situations such as these by re$ising the sentence. /lso try to a$oid breaking a company name o$er the end of a line, especially if it is short.

0o not break a word at the end of the last full line in a paragraph unless the word is $ery long (like @responsibilitiesC", and ne$er break the last word on a page. ) %e Bre !s 2f you must break a paragraph o$er the end of a page, do not put fewer than two lines on either page* Word should do this automatically. Try not to ha$e a maDor side heading followed by fewer than fi$e lines of te-t at the bottom of a page, or writing heading followed by fewer than three lines of te-t. 2n an outline report, try to break each page Dust before a solid diamond, or within a series of dash points. 8or special problems, ask for ad$ice.
MISCELL0NEOUS GUIDELINES

Gr mm tic l ) r llels %ertain terms call for parallel construction* these include7@both. . .and. . .,C @either. . .or. . .,C @neither. . .nor. . .,C @not only. . .but also. . .,C and the material before and after @rather than.C
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8or e-ample, you cannot say @to write rather than speakingC* it has to be @to write rather than to speak,C or @writing rather than speaking.C Similarly, you cannot say, @The director not only should re$iew but also e$aluateC* it has to be @The director not only should re$iew but also should e$aluate,C or @The director should not only re$iew but also e$aluate.C

2tems in a list should also be in parallel structure, that is, they should be all nouns, all phrases, or all sentences. Jootnotes 8ootnotes can be inserted automatically by using the 8ootnote feature under 2nsert in Microsoft Word. 8ootnotes are designated by superscript arabic numerals. 8ootnotes appear at the bottom of the same page, are single spaced, and always end with a period, whether they are complete sentences or not. The first footnote is preceded by a FJ stroke underscore, which is done automatically if you use the 8ootnote feature in Word. F 8ootnotes in te-t tables should be put in O.SF mm (F?S inch" immediately below the table (not at the bottom of the page". There should not be an underscore line, and the footnote may e-tend to the full width of the table (but not beyond". See 8ootnotes of this manual (pp. H F, H 1" for e-amples.

(-ample of a footnote. 1+ December 1 !

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)'blic tion

The following information should be included in full documentary notes and in bibliographical entries7 author* title* edition if not the first* $olumes (total number of $olumes if referred to as a whole"* $olume number of multi$olume work (if single $olume cited"* title of indi$idual $olume if applicable* series title, if applicable, and $olume number within series* facts of publication7 city, publisher, and date* and page number(s" or $olume number and page number(s", if applicable.

0 boo! citation, for e-ample, would look like this7 6insser, William. )n 3riting 3ell. Krd ed. 9ew 5ork7 !arper + <ow, FGTJ. 0n rticle or c# pter would be cited like this7 =rugman, &aul, @0utch Tulips and (merging Markets.C -oreign $ffairs HS7S ('uly?/ugust FGGJ"7 1T SS. 8or further information on citing sources, see The Chicago Style Manual. FSth ed. %hicago7 The %hicago #ni$ersity &ress, FGGK.

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