The Style Book of The Detroit News Part 5

Capitalize, but do not quote, the t.i.tles of newspapers and other periodicals, the New York World, the Outlook, the Sat.u.r.day Evening Post.

Do not capitalize _the_, except The Detroit News.

Capitalize and quote the t.i.tles of books, plays, poems, songs, speeches, etc., as "The Scarlet Letter," "Within the Law," "The Man With the Hoe."

_The_ beginning a t.i.tle must be capitalized and included in the quotation. All the princ.i.p.al words--that is, nouns, p.r.o.nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and interjections--are to be capitalized, no matter how short; thus: "The Man Who Would Be King." Other parts of speech--that is, prepositions, conjunctions and articles--are to be capitalized only when they contain four or more letters; thus: at, in, a, for, Between, Through, Into. The same rules apply to capitalization in headlines.

Capitalize adjectives derived from proper nouns, as English, Elizabethan, Germanic, Teutonic. But do not capitalize proper names and derivatives whose original significance has been obscured by long and common usage. Under this head fall such words as india rubber, oriental colors, street arab, pasteurize, macadam, axminster, gatling, paris green, plaster of paris, philippic, socratic, herculean, guillotine, utopia, bohemian, philistine, platonic. When, however, a name is comparatively recent, use capitals, as in Alice blue, Taft roses, Burbank cactus.

Capitalize the particles in French names, as _le_, _la_, _de_, _du_, when used without a Christian name or t.i.tle preceding, as Du Maurier.

But lower-case when preceded by a name or t.i.tle, as George du Maurier.

The same rule applies to the German _von_: Field Marshal von Mackensen, but, without Christian name or t.i.tle, Von Mackensen. Always capitalize _Van_ in Dutch names unless personal preference dictates an exception, as Henry van d.y.k.e.

Capitalize the names of French streets and places, as Rue de la Paix, Place de la Concorde.

Do not capitalize _street_, _avenue_, _boulevard_, _place_, _lane_, _terrace_, _way_, _road_, _highway_, etc., as Ninth street, Boston boulevard, Maryland place, Rosemary lane, Seven Mile road.

Do not capitalize _addition_, _depot_, _elevator_, _mine_, _station_, _stockyards_, etc., as Wabash freight depot, Yellow Dog mine, Union station, Chicago stockyards.

Do not capitalize _postoffice_, _courthouse_, _poorhouse_, _council chamber_, _armory_, _cadets_, _police court_, _women's parlors_.

White House, referring to President's residence, should be capitalized.

Capitalize only the distinguishing words if two or more names are connected, as the Wabash and Missouri Pacific railroad companies. (In singular form, Wabash Railroad Co.)

Do not capitalize the seasons of the year unless they are personified.

Do not capitalize _a. m._ and _p. m._ except in headlines.

Capitalize O. K., write it with periods, and form present tense, O. K.'s and past tense, O. K.'d.

Capitalize _Boy Scouts_ (referring to organization). Make _Campfire_ (referring to the girls' organization) one word, capitalized.

Capitalize _Const.i.tution_ referring to that of the United States. But state const.i.tution (lower-case).

NOTES

PUNCTUATION

A series of three or more words takes commas except before conjunctions, as: _There were boxes of guns, bayonets, cartridges and bandages_.

Separate members of the series with semicolons if there are commas within the phrase, as: __There were boxes of guns, bayonets and cartridges; casks of powder, high explosives and chemicals; and many other prohibited articles_._

Use asterisks to indicate that part of quoted matter has been omitted, as, _He said: "I favor all measures that * * * will help the people."_

Use leaders to indicate a pause in the thought.

_He said he would never return . . . . . ._

_When the news reached his mother, she fainted._

Commas set off an explanatory phrase but not a restrictive phrase of inclusive qualification. One writes: Poe, a poet of America, wrote "The Raven." But one writes: Poe the poet is a finer craftsman than Poe the fiction writer.

Use commas before conjunctions in a sentence made up of separate clauses, each with its own subject nominative, as, _The horse is old, but it is still willing_. If the same subject, write it: _The horse is old but willing_.

Use no period after letters used in place of numbers, as, =B Company=.

(Companies of soldiers are designated as _B Company_, not _Company B_.)

Use hyphen and no apostrophe when dates are joined, as, _1861-65_.

Write the _caliber_ of a revolver or rifle with a period, as _.22_.

Use no commas in years and street numbers, as, _1904_, not _1,904_; and _2452 High street_. But write: _2,156 persons_ and _$1,560_.

Follow this style in date lines:

CHICAGO, May 10.-- BROWNSVILLE, Mich., May 10.--

Avoid this form as hackneyed: _His wealth (?) has disappeared._

Place a comma or a colon after _said_, _remarked_ and similar words when quoted matter follows.

THREE RULES

Writes the Duke of Argyll: I have always held that clear thinking will find its own expression in clear writing. As to mere technical rules, there are very few that occur to me, except such as these--first, to aim at short sentences, without involution or parenthetical matter; second, to follow a logical order in construction of sentences, and in the sequence of them; third, to avoid absolutely such phrases as "the former" and "the latter," always preferring repet.i.tion to the use of such tiresome references. The last rule, and in some measure the other, I learned from Macaulay, and have found it of immense use. There is some mannerism in his style, but it is always clear as crystal, and this rule of repet.i.tion contributed much to this.

QUOTATIONS

Quotation marks are not needed when matter is indented, thus: _The speaker said in part_:

_I do not believe that, etc._

Sometimes marks of punctuation belong inside quotation marks and sometimes outside, as: "_Did you hear him say, 'I am here'?_" But in this case: "_I heard him say, 'Are you here?'_" Continental usage permits this form: "_Are you shot!?_" but it is not in good use on this side.

Use no quotation marks with slang of your own writing.

Use no quotes in writing testimony with question and answer. This is the style:

Q.--What is your name?

A.--John Jones.