1. G. HERBST 2012 Grammar Crammers 51-60

2. States Standing alone  spell out the names of all 50 U.S. states Abbreviating  Use abbreviations when states are listed with the name of a city, town, village or military base  Ex: Beverly Hills, Calif.; Albany, N.Y.; Detroit, Mich.  If unsure of abbreviations, reference AP Style Guide  NEVER ABBREVIATE in text:  Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, Utah Punctuation  Place one comma between the city and state, and another comma after the state name unless ending a sentence  Ex: He was traveling from Nashville, Tenn., to Austin, Texas. In headlines  Use abbreviations  No periods necessary for those abbreviated with two capital letters  Ex: NY, NJ, NC, SD, RI

3. Loose, Lose Loose  Adjective  Ex: Those pants are too loose on you. Lose  Verb  Ex: It would really be a shame for her to lose her job.

4. Choose, Chose Choose  Verb  Present tense  To select from a variety of options  Ex: You need to choose which idea you like best. Chose  Past tense of choose  Ex: Yesterday, you chose which idea you liked best.

5. Prefixes  Generally do not hyphenate when using a prefix with a word starting with a consonant  Three constant rules:  Except for cooperate and coordinate, use a hyphen if the prefix ends in a vowel and the word that follows begins with the same vowel  Use a hyphen if the word that follows is capitalized  Use a hyphen to join doubled prefixes: sub-subparagraph

6. Bi-, Semi- Bi-  In general, no hyphen  Examples: bifocal, bilateral, bimonthly, bipartisan, bilingual Semi-  In general, no hyphen  Examples: semifinal, semi-invalid, semiofficial, semitropical

7. Lightening, Lightning Lightening  Verb  Ex: I am lightening the load of your backpack. Lightning  Noun  Electrical discharge  Ex: There was lightning and thunder.

8. Seasons Lowercase spring, summer, fall, winter and derivatives such as springtime UNLESS part of a formal name:  EX: Dartmouth Winter Carnival, Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics

9. Envelop, Envelope Envelop  Verb  Other forms: enveloping, enveloped  Ex: She couldn’t wait to envelop her arms around her puppy. Envelope  Noun  Ex: Make sure to properly address your envelope before mailing it.

10. Media, Medium Media  In the sense of mass communication, such as magazines, newspapers, the news services, radio, television and on-line, the word is plural  Ex: The news media are resisting attempts to limit their freedom. Medium  In the sense of art, artists often specialize in a specific medium such as painting, drawing, photography.  Ex: Her chosen medium was charcoal.

11. Percents When writing a percentage, always use the number and spell out the word percent  Ex: A study found that 22 percent of kittens enjoy playing with string. HOWEVER, spell out the number when it begins a sentence  Fifty percent of kittens enjoy watching birds.