a, an—“Before a pronounced h, a long u (or eu), or a word such as one, the indefinite article should be a.” Sound, not spelling, dictates: a hotel, a historical event, a euphonious word, a union, an honor, an NFL team, a one-man band. (1)
academic degrees—Use capital letters with periods: A.A.S., B.A., B.S., Ed.D., J.D., M.A., M.B.A., M.F.A., M.L.S., M.S., Ph.D., etc.; lowercase when spelled out: associate's degree, bachelor's degree, bachelor of arts degree, bachelor of science degree, master's degree, master of fine arts degree.
ache—Compounds with ache are closed: headache, toothache, stomachache.
acknowledgment (not acknowledgement)
addresses, college—The preferred style is building name and room number: Cleveland Hall 307, Caudell Hall 112, E. H. Butler Library 210.
addresses, street—Do not abbreviate in running text: 1300 Elmwood Avenue, 1313 Mockingbird Lane, 1250 Main Street. It is acceptable to use abbreviations in a return address, a list, the back of a brochure, etc.: 1300 Elmwood Ave.
Advanced Placement (AP)—Lowercase the words test, credit, etc.
adviser (not advisor)
African American (n., adj.) (no hyphen)
afterward (not afterwards)
ages—Use figures for ages of people and animals; hyphenate adjectival and noun forms: The woman, 37, had a 3-month-old puppy. The 6-year-old boy. Acting like a 2-year-old. Avoid aged in designating ages. (See numbers, figures or words?)
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
all—Adverbial phrases beginning with all are always open: going all out, painted all over. Adjectival phrases beginning with all are always hyphenated, either before or after a noun: all-out effort, all-American player, the book is all-encompassing.
Allegany County
Allegany—town in New York
Allegany State Park
Alleghany in Virginia
Allegheny in Pennsylvania
Allegheny Mountains
Allegheny River
all right (not alright)
alumnus (masculine singular), alumna (feminine singular), alumni (masculine plural), alumnae (feminine plural). Use the masculine plural (alumni) for groups composed of men and women.
a.m./p.m.—Lowercase with periods; use a single space between clock time and division of day: 10:00 a.m., 7:15 p.m. (See time.)
ampersand (&)—Generally not used, except when it is part of a company's formal name: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Do not use in place of and.
ante- (prefix)—Generally closed, no hyphen: anteroom, antenatal. (See prefixes and suffixes.)
anti- (prefix)—Generally closed, no hyphen: anticlerical, antihypertensive; but use the hyphen between repeated vowels or before a proper noun: anti-inflammatory, anti-intellectual, anti-Clinton. (See prefixes and suffixes.)
the Arctic, Arctic Circle, arctic climate
artmaking (n.)
artwork
audiovisual
awards—Names of awards and prizes are capitalized, but some terms used with the awards are not: Nobel Prize in physics, Pulitzer Prize in fiction, Nobel Prize laureate, Emmy Award–winning director.
(1) Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition (1993), 6.60
