How do I write dates, times, numbers, and measurements using AP Style?
AP Style: Dates, Times, Numbers, and Measurements
AP Style Dates
- Always use Arabic figures, without st, nd, rd or th.
- Capitalize months.
- When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug.,
- Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. (e.g. Oct. 4 was the day of her birthday.)
- When a phrase lists only a month and year, do not separate the month and
- the year with commas. (e.g. February 1980 was his best month.)
- When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with
- commas. 20, 1964, was the day they had all been waiting for.)
- (e.g. Aug. 20, 1964, was the day they had all been waiting for.)
AP Style Times
- Use figures except for noon and midnight
- Use a colon to separate hours from minutes (e.g. 2:30 a.m.)
- 4 o’clock is acceptable, but time listings with a.m. or p.m. are preferred
AP Style Numbers
- Spell out the numbers one through nine; for 10 and up, use Arabic numerals.
- For ages and percentages, always use Arabic numerals, even for numbers less than 10
- Spell out numerals that start a sentence; if the result is awkward, recast the sentence:
Twenty-seven detainees were released yesterday. Yesterday, 993 freshmen entered the college.
- The one exception to this rule is in a sentence that begins with a calendar year: 1938 was a turbulent year for Leon.
- Use Roman numerals for wars, monarchs and Popes: World War II, King George VI, Pope John XXIII
- The figures 1, 2, 10, 101, and so on and the corresponding words — one, two, ten, one hundred one, and so on — are called cardinal numbers. The terms 1st, 2nd, 10th, 101st, first, second, tenth, one hundred first and so on are called ordinal numbers.
- For large numbers: use a hyphen to connect a word ending in y to another word: twenty-one, one hundred forty-three, seventy-six thousand five hundred eighty-seven
- Do not use commas between other separate words that are part of one number: one thousand one hundred fifty-five
- Spell out casual expressions: A thousand times no!
- Proper names: use words or numerals according to an organization’s practice: 3M, Twentieth Century Fund, Big Ten
AP Style Measurements
- Use Arabic numberals for weight and dimensions and spell out the unit of measurement.
The man was 6 feet tall and the dog weighed 17 pounds.
- Use hyphens when the measurement becomes a compound modifier.
The 6-foot-2-inch man weighed more than the dog.
- Distances are the same as AP Style Numbers
We traveled eight miles to the airport and flew 100 miles to our destination.
AP Style Currency
- Use the dollar symbol and a figure:
They spent $2 on gum and $10 on chocolates.
- Spell out “cents” when used alone:
She spent 95 cents on soda.
- Combining dollars and cents should be written like this: $5.78, $10.05
Sources: eHow.com & The COM Writing Center.
