Creative
Hyphenation
- Always use a hyphen between words joined together to modify other words
- Ages: Always use numerals.
- Example: He is a 5-year old boy.
- Example: He is 5 years old.
- Do not use a hyphen before the suffix unless the word ends in an L.
- Example: leak like, shell-like
- Do not hyphenate inter, re, bi, semi, anti, pre, sub, or non, except when necessary to avoid awkwardness.
Numbers
- Spell out numbers between zero and ten, unless they are in a table, describe a geographic location, or are units of measurement. Use numerals for numbers 11 or higher. When they occur in the same sentence, give numerals for both.
- Example: Jane has 12 apples. Bob only has two apples. John has 2 bushels of 12 apples.
- Example: 7.5m (25 ft.)
- Do not begin a sentence with a numeral. Always spell the number out at the beginning of the sentence.
Layout
- Do not allow widows (i.e. a single word at the end of a paragraph on a line by itself.)
- Justify only the left margin, not both. Do not center unless it’s a formal invite.
- Text font should be consistent.
Possessives
- Refrain from using City First Church as a possessive.
- Example: The City First Church Creative Department, not City First Church’s Creative Department.
- Its’ is not a word. Use the appropriate: it’s or its. It’s means it is.
Punctuation
- Apostrophes: Do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of numbers. (2000s). Use apostrophes when omitting numerals in a year(’99).
- Colons: Use a colon to introduce a list of supporting statements.
- Example: Go to the store for: milk, sugar, and butter.
- Also, use a semicolon between independent clauses when the second clause is an example or amplification of first. In this case, the sentence before the colon must be a complete sentence.
- Example: I can’t breathe; My throat is blocked.
Commas
- Use commas in numerals of 1,000 or greater. A comma falls after every three numerals from the right side.
- Use the Oxford comma after the second to last object in a sentence or short list.
- Example: Alpha is a series of interactive sessions to discuss the Christian faith in an informal, fun, and friendly environment.
- Use a comma between two separate but related thoughts.
- Example: She made a copy of the notes, and she distributed them.
Contractions
- A contraction is a shortened version of a word. When writing, always double-check your spelling by expanding the word(s) to their original length to make sure it makes sense. Don’t confuse your with you’re (i.e. you are).
Periods
- Periods follow all sentences, heads, numerals, letters, and standard (but not metric) abbreviations of measurement.
- Follow punctuations with a single space.
- Example: When did that rule change? With the invention of computers!
Quotation Marks
- Put quotation marks outside of periods and commas, but inside colons and semicolons.
- Example: “Sarah didn’t tell me about her appointment.”
- Quotation marks go inside of punctuation when the quote is not part of the passage.
- Example: Did you just say, “Dinner is ready”?
- Place quotation marks around works of art with punctuation outside the quotation marks.
- Example: Strunk and White wrote “The Elements of Style”.
Religion
- “Jesus,” “God,” “He,” “Him,” “His,” are all capitalized.
- Capitalize the title of the religion when applying it to a person.
- Example: The visiting speaker is Baptist.
- The word “Bible” is always capitalized unless not referring to the actual scriptures. Lowercase the word biblical.
- Example: The dictionary is my bible.
- Capitalize “church” as part of a formal name (City First Church), but not when referring to the church in an institutional sense.
- Example: The Pope said the church opposes abortion.
- Capitalize “sabbath” in religious references, but lowercase when meaning a period of rest.
- Capitalize “scripture” when referring to books of the Bible. Don’t capitalize when referring to something written.
Spelling
- Never rely solely on Microsoft Word spell check for accuracy. When in doubt, look it up.
- Always check the spelling of people’s names.
Symbols
- In general, you should always spell out “degrees” and “percent” in a formal document. If you are not spelling it out, do not leave a space between the numeral and the symbol. (99%)
