Our style goals: consistency of presentation and clarity of information.
| Dates | |
| Tuesday, September 24, 2024 | Fully spelled out day and month; comma between day and month; comma between date and year; no ordinal ("th") on date. |
| Times | |
| 12:01 PM | 12-hour clock; AM or PM capitalized with no periods and a space before. Use "noon" or "midnight" following time rather than AM or PM for clarity. Alternatives: use 11:59 AM or 12:01 PM for noon; use 11:59 PM or 12:01 AM for midnight. |
| Durations | |
| 7-9 PM 11 AM-1 PM from 7 to 9 PM from 11 AM to 1 PM |
AM and PM in caps with no periods. Separate AM and PM from the time; if using "from" also use "to" rather than a hyphen. |
| Addresses | |
| 552 West End Avenue (at 87th Street) | No abbreviations. Cross-street (if available) in parentheses. |
| New York, NY | Spelled out city, two-letter state abbreviation (with no periods). Zip codes generally not needed for concert listings. If required for other purposes, zip code follows two-letter state abbeviation with just a space. |
| Phone numbers | |
| 212-555-2125 | Hyphens rather than periods. No parentheses around area code. No need for +1 before number. |
| Links | |
| www.van.org | Generally, no http:// or https:// in the displayed link text. |
| Possessives | |
| Brahms's Requiem | Use "'s" even after nouns or names ending in "s". |
| Compositions | |
| Bach: Jesu, meine Freude Bach: "Kyrie" from Mass in B Minor |
Composer (using upper and lower case) followed by a colon. Title in italics. Sections of a larger work in quotation marks followed by the complete work's title in italics. |
| Oxford comma | |
| Red, white and blue | Generally, no comma before the "and" of simple lists of three or more items. For lists of phrases, optional inclusion before the final "and" if warranted for additional clarity. |