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When I ask if you have style, I’m not talking about your shoes, your blazer or your fascinator (see photo). I’m talking about whether you write St. or Street. Whether you write theater or theatre. And whether you use numerals for 175 or write it out like this: one hundred and seventy-five.
Style — or grammar style — is an important but often-overlooked aspect of writing. And here’s the thing that drives me craziest about it. Many people think that certain kinds of style are “right” and others are “wrong.” Noooooo. Style is a choice. For example, the word theatre can be spelled two different ways. Both are correct. But if you spell theatre with -re at the end, then you’d also better spell colour with the extra -u.
Having grammar style means being consistent.
Your organization should have a style guide. If you don’t have the time and money to develop one of your own, I suggest you adopt an existing one. The most common one is Canada is the Canadian Press Stylebook. You can buy it from Canadian Press directly — and even get an online version for $4/month if you prefer. If there are any CP rules you don’t like, then just have a list of your own “exceptions.” (Yes, you’re allowed to do that!) For many years I worked at a newspaper that used the CP guide but also had its own list of rules that superseded CP’s.
If you’re an American, you’ll want to chose the Associate Press (AP) styleguide. Or you may select the Chicago Manual of Style. But make your choice carefully. Here’s a link to an amusing story in the Onion about the competition between the two styleguides.
Also be aware that the so-called “style rules” should never be carved in stone. For example, use of the Oxford comma or serial comma is mandated by your style guide. (AP is opposed; Chicago demands it.) But even if your style adheres to the AP line, most good copy editors will add the comma in those instances where it will resolve ambiguity.
Photo courtesy Jennifer Poole, Flickr Creative Commons
