WRITING RULES (U.S.)

b. Dates

In general, we spell out dates to avoid any confusion among countries that order them differently. So: Use the appropriate date arrangement for the country you’re writing for. Even if you order a date improperly, spelling out the month provides clarity to the user so that it won’t be misinterpreted.

c. Temperature

Use the degree symbol and the capital F abbreviation for Fahrenheit or capital C for Celsius:

d. Telephone numbers

Use dashes without spaces between numbers. Always use a country code:

e. Decimals and fractions

Spell out amounts less than one, using hyphens between the words.

f. Percentage

When writing non-technical copy, use figures and spell out the word. As in: “Drone batteries can retain 80% of power capacity when they are changed, so they could be reused instead of recycled in other, less critical applications.”

If you’re beginning a sentence with a percentage, spell out the number as well as percent. As in: “Until now, conventional hotmelt adhesives for packaging have usually contained no more than 50 percent bio-based raw materials.”

Repeat percent with each individual figure. As in: “This corresponds to significant organic sales growth of 7.1 percent compared with the average market expectation of 4.3 percent.”

This is a general rule that doesn’t apply to technical documentation.

g. Money

For numeric amounts, use the symbol for currencies (e.g., €5, £2,000, $10,000). Indicate currency by using its three-letter abbreviation, such as USD for American dollars or CAD for Canadian dollars.

Use the currency symbol and decimal/comma system for larger amounts. For amounts exceeding $1 million, use the $ sign and numerals up to two decimal places. As in: “it is worth $4.45 million.”

h. Time

Use numerals and a.m. or p.m. with a space in between. Don’t use minutes for on-the-hour time.

b. Commas

When writing a list, use the serial comma.

c. Colons

Use a colon (rather than an ellipsis, em dash, or comma) to offset a list. As in:
“As already announced in 2021 Loctite has validated several materials on the ETEC Envision One printers, including: Loctite 3D 3955 HDT280 FST, Loctite 3D IND406 HDT100 High Elongation, and Loctite 3D IND402 A70 High Rebound.”

d. Periods

Titles, subtitles, headers and CTA buttons should end without a period. Only exception is ‘WE MAKE IT HAPPEN.’

That always ends with a periodPeriods go inside quotation marks. They go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside the parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.

e. Question marks

Question marks go inside quotation marks if they’re part of the quote. Like periods, they go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside the parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.

f. Quotation marks

Use quotation marks to refer to words and letters, titles of short works (like articles), and direct quotations.

Periods and commas go within quotation marks. Question marks within quotes follow logic—if the question mark is part of the quotation, it goes within. If you’re asking a question that ends with a quote, it goes outside the quote. Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.

g. Dashes & Hyphens

Use an em dash (—) without spaces on either side to offset an aside. Use a true em dash, not hyphens.

Use a hyphen (-) without spaces on each side to link words into a single phrase, or to indicate a span or range.

h. Exclamation marks

Use exclamation points sparingly, and never more than once at a time. They’re like high-fives: A well-timed one is great, but too many are annoying.

Exclamation points go inside quotation marks. Like periods and question marks, they go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.

Never use exclamation points in failure messages or alerts. When in doubt, avoid it.

i. Bullet points

Choose formatting based on the average length of the majority of bullet points in the list.
 
•  CASE A) If sentences, end each one with a period (full stop).

•  CASE B) If just one word, a few words or fragments, use no end punctuation.

b. Page title

c. Meta description

d. Image filename and alt text

e. Header tags

f. Internal links

g. Body copy

b. File extensions

When referring generally to a file extension type, use all uppercase without a period. Add a lowercase to make plural. As in: GIF, PDF, HTML, JPGs.

When referring to a specific file, the filename should be lowercase. As in: press_release_1.gif

c. Names and titles

The first time you mention a person in writing, refer to them by their first and last names. On all other mentions, refer to them by their first name.

Titles should be capitalized when they immediately precede one or more names.

d. States, Cities and Countries

Spell out city and state names. Don’t abbreviate city names.

In the United States, all cities should be accompanied by their state, with the exception of: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington.

On first mention of a country, write out the full name. On second mention, the commonly accepted abbreviation is fine (European Union, EU; United Kingdom, UK, etc.).

e. Schools

The first time you mention a school, college, or university in a piece of writing, refer to it by its full official name. On all other mentions, use its more common abbreviation.