Chicago Manual of Style | Brief Editing Guide

Topic Rule Correct example Incorrect example

1 Comma in a series Use the Oxford/serial comma; comma
before and/or/but etc.
We ate corn, beans, and
potatoes for dinner.
We ate corn, beans and
potatoes for dinner.
2 Possessives Always add an apostrophe s to a
singular possessive noun, even when
the noun ends in a s
The party is at Sally Joness
house.
The party is at Sally Jones
house.
3 Numbers MPA program prefers: Spell out whole
numbers up to and including nine, use
numerals for the rest; spell out
numbers that begin a sentence
One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine
10, 11, 12, 13

One hundred protesters
attended the event.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

ten, eleven, twelve

100 protesters attended the
event.
4 Dates Dates should be written without
suffixes
March 5 March 5
th

5 Names Spell out one word references to a
proper noun
UNC School of Government =
the School
the school
6 State abbreviations;
state names
Two letter state abbreviations are
closed without periods; use written
out names in running text
US, NC, TX

I live in North Carolina.
U.S., N.C., T.X.

I live in NC.
7 Titles Lower case professional titles that
follow a name (Capitalize if before
name)
Mike Smith, dean
Dean Mike Smith
Mike Smith, Dean
dean Mike Smith
8 Space after period Only use one space after a period at
the end of a sentence
Today is Sunday. Tomorrow
is Monday.
Today is Sunday.
Tomorrow is Monday.
9 Space with ellipses Use a single space before, after, and in
between the periods of an ellipse
I was wondering . . . where do
we want to eat?
I was wonderingwhere do
we want to eat?
10 Space with em dash Use no spaces before or after an em
dash
Can you pick up the cake
ingredientsflour, milk, and
eggsat the store?
Can you pick up the cake
ingredients flour, milk,
and eggs at the store?
11 Colons Lowercase the first word after a colon,
unless a proper noun or start of at
least two complete sentences
Heres what we should do:
complete our homework and
then go to the movies.
Heres what we should do:
Complete our homework
and then go to the movies.
12 Subject-verb
agreement
Singular subject = singular verbs
Plural subjects = plural verbs
One of the families in my
neighborhood is moving
tomorrow.
The families in my
neighborhood are moving
tomorrow.
One of the families in my
neighborhood are moving
tomorrow.
The families in my
neighborhood is moving
tomorrow.
13 Parallelism in a
sentences
Use the same tense throughout a
list/series; use the same
subject/object order
Hurricane Irene downed
power lines, flooded state
roads, and left many people
homeless.
Hurricane Irene downed
power lines, flooded state
roads, and many people are
now homeless.
13 Parallelism in a
bulleted list
Use the same tense throughout a
list/series; use the same
subject/object order
My experience includes:
Fundraising from
public, private, and
government sources
Hiring and supervising
staff
Writing policy reports
My experience includes:
Fundraising from
public, private, and
government sources
Hiring and
supervising staff
Policy reports

14 Who vs. whom Who
o Referring to the subject
of a clause
o If the answer to the
question is "he"
Whom
o Referring to the object
of a clause
o If the answer to the
question is "him"
Who drank the coffee?
He drank the coffee.

Whom do you work for?
I work for him.
Whom drank the coffee?
He drank the coffee.

Who do you work for?
I work for him.
15 Clarity Know your audience
Write to be understood
Use small words
Avoid ambiguity
Write in the positive (say what
is, not what isnt)
Dont chop up thoughts
Emphasize the end
Be concrete
16 Active vs. passive
voice
Write in the active voice; have the
subject do the action
Lisa analyzed the data. The data was analyzed by
Lisa.
17 Concise Avoid long sentences
Take out unnecessary words
and phrases
Use transitions to orient
reader
Use fewest words possible
Use bullets for listed items
Eliminate redundancy

18 Confident Dont hedge
Be confident
Separate facts from opinions
Avoid sexist language