• Do not use the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma) in a list.
o Correct: He ate bacon, eggs and pancakes.
o Incorrect: He ate bacon, eggs, and pancakes.
o Correct: It is always windy, snowing or cloudy on College Hill.
o Incorrect: It is always windy, snowing, or cloudy on College Hill.
Time, numbers
• Use "e-mail," not "email.
• Use “a.m.” and “p.m.” If "a.m." or "p.m." ends the sentence, do not add an extra period.
o Example: "The race will begin at 9:30 a.m."
• When announcing an event, use this order: day, time, place
o Example: The lecture will take place on Thursday, Sept. 20, at 4 p.m. in KJ 121.
o When writing a date in a sentence, include a comma after the day (i.e., On Thursday, Oct. 22, the Dean of Faculty rode his Vespa to work.).
• Always use numbers in percentages. For amounts less than 1 percent, add a zero before the decimal (i.e., 0.3 percent).
• Write out the word percent. Do not use the symbol (%).
• Abbreviate months of the year when used with numerals (i.e., Oct. 14, 1953) – only for the months of August through February (i.e., Aug. 21, but March 13). Spell them out when they stand alone (i.e., October 1953).
• Spell out numbers below 10 except when referring to time, an amount of money, age or measurement. This rule also applies to ordinal numbers.
• Spell out a numeral at the beginning of a sentence. If the numeral is large, write around it by approximating. (i.e., “More than 100,000 attended…”)
Sports
• For sports teams, use lowercase unless the name is unique to Hamilton.
o Example: The football team lost to Trinity. The Bicycle Cooperative applied for more funding.
