Abbreviations and Punctuation

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Geography

All-cap abbreviations of geographical locations take periods. Example: P.E.I., U.S., U.K.

When used as adjectives, geographical locations may be abbreviated. But when used as nouns, write them out.

Example: the B.C. premier, the U.S. president. They moved from the United Kingdom to the southern United States.

Write out United Nations as a noun on first reference but use the abbreviation UN as an adjective.

Locations

When referencing Guelph or a major Canadian or U.S. city whose location is widely known, the province or state is not required. For other communities, add the province or state and abbreviate it.

Example: He lived in Vancouver for three years before moving to Chicago. She lived in Embro, Ont., for three years before moving to Hudson, Mich.

Use the traditional abbreviation, not the two-letter capped one without periods used by Canadian and U.S. postal services.

Example: Ont., not ON. And B.C., not BC. Nfld. is no longer used. The abbreviation is N.L. for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Addresses

Use abbreviations in addresses where the number is used. If there is no number, write out the street name. Example: 24 College Ave. E., Stone Road West

Dates and times

For dates, use only numerals. Example: Jan. 1, not Jan. 1st.

For months used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when a month is standing alone or with a year alone.

Example: Convocation was held Nov. 17, 2006. The course lasted through January 1991.

Times at the top of the hour are shortened. Say noon and midnight, rather than 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. Write a.m. and p.m. without spaces or caps. Example: The service will begin at 10:30 and end at 11 a.m. (not 11:00 a.m.).

Numbers

Write out numbers from one to nine and use numerical figures from 10 on. However, write out the number if it starts the sentence.

Example: There is only one person attending. There are 27 people attending. One person is attending. Twenty-seven people are at home.

Metric symbols such as km, m and mm aren’t abbreviations, so they don’t take periods except at the end of a sentence.

Money

Never use decimals (.00) with even dollar amounts: $1,500, not $1500.

Write a compound adjective with a hyphen, as in a $20-million project. But write a project worth $20 million (no hyphen). Spell out $20 million rather than $20M, unless used in a headline.

Figures and percentages

Use numerals for fractions. Example: 2 1/2 days, not two-and-a-half days

Use figures when age stands alone after a person’s name. Example: Timmy, 2, has two brothers, four and six.

Don’t forget the comma in numbers larger than 999. Example: 1,000, not 1000

Use figures in sequential designations, whether the noun is capped

Example: Grade 7, Article 3, Highway 6) or lower case (page 3, paragraph 9, size 8). If someone is the best at something, they are number 1 or No. 1, not number one. And it’s Day 1, not day one.

Use the percentage sign rather than write out percent or per cent. Example: 75%, not 75 per cent

Decades

Refer to decades as the 2010s, not the 2010’s. In short form it’s the ’30s, not the 30s or 30’s. When writing about something that happened in the middle of the 1930s, use mid-1930s or shorten to mid-’30s. But a person who is 35 is in their mid-30s.

Approximation

When approximating an amount of money, a number of people, etc., look to round up or down.

Example: Don’t write, the concert drew about 258 people. Here, 258 people is an exact number. Either delete about or round off. Write, the concert drew almost 260 people, or, about 250 people.

Write “about” rather than the longer “approximately.” And write “more than” or “less than,” not “over” or “under.”

Ampersands (&)

Use the word "and" instead of an ampersand in all formal writing and general body text.

Example: Sport and Event Management, not Sport & Event Management

The ampersand should only be used in the following cases:

• Official names: When it is part of a formal corporate name or brand (e.g., A&W, Tiffany & Co.).
• Space constraints: In headlines, charts, navigation menus or social media where character counts are limited.

To avoid "and" fatigue or confusion in long lists that contain internal conjunctions, use semicolons to separate the items. This ensures the reader can clearly distinguish where one list item ends and the next begins.

Example: The delegation included Sarah Jenkins, president and vice-chancellor; Mark Lee, minister of agriculture; and Ang Lu, MP for Guelph.

Comma

U of G style is to not use the Oxford comma.

Example: Our dogs love beef, chicken and salmon.

Places

Place commas between a city and its province or country, and after the province or country.

Example: She was born in Wiarton, Ont., and moved to London, England, at age five.

Numbers

Use a comma to separate thousands, hundred-thousands, millions, etc. Example: The event drew 1,200 people.

Exclamation Points

Avoid using exclamation points as much as possible. Avoid the use of exclamation points in quotes as this could be interpreted as editorializing.

Quotation Marks

Use double quotation marks around dialogue or quoted sentences, phrases and words. Single quotation marks enclose quotations within quotations.

Example: John said, “Tell me again about your ‘earth-shattering moment’ today.”

Place a period or comma inside a closing quotation mark, not outside. In dialogue, the quotation mark always goes outside the final punctuation. Example: “Bring the mace to the convocation ceremony,” he said.

Always use single, not double, quotation marks in headlines.