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The Valley Catholic Style Sheet
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- One subject, one verb are basic elements; if there are three themes in story, highlight most important in headline
- Only the first word is capitalized (proper nouns capitalized anywhere)
- Grab reader's interest
- Specific: Local donors give $2 million for construction of new sports center NOT Donors give generously
- Diocesan audience
[School] scientists win awards based on work with animals
[School's] students celebrate sacred Triduum
[School's] students take to airwaves with message of solidarity, hope (note omission of “and”)
Student retreat extends [School's] tradition of [???]
- Basic rule: one to nine, write out; 10 and above, arabic (10, 11, 12…)
- Grades are written out: He is a second grader. He is in the third grade class. (note, no hyphen)
- Twenty-one to 99 are hyphenated and written out at the beginning of a sentence
- Percentages are represented with the word percent in The Valley Catholic : It was 10 percent complete NOT It was 10% complete
- May 1, May 2 and May 3 NOT May 1 st , May 2 nd and May 3 rd
- In the twenties (span of time) she was a young woman BUT He is in his 20s (age) and single
- Break up long paragraphs
- A paragraph must be able to stand on its own; could be cut in makeup
- Mass, Masses (always capitalize)
- Church and church: The teaching of the Church (global Church) AND We sat in the church (building)
- Religious and religious: Sister Jones entered Religious life in 1972 AND He is a religious person
- Sacraments: capitalize names: Every student attends Confirmation class twice weekly
- Father, Sister, Brother NOT Fr., Sr., Bro.
- Father NOT Rev.
- Msgr. is always abbreviated: We had a visit from Msgr. Smith on Tuesday
- Gospel (always capitalize)
- Eucharist, Eucharistic (always capitalize)
- Diocese of San José (always represented this way) BUT In the diocese, many people…
- We welcomed Bishop Patrick J. McGrath to campus (use his title and full name the first time he is mentioned) AND We welcomed the bishop to campus
- St. Francis School NOT Saint Francis School (always abbreviate Saint as St.)
- Things that, people who; The table that sat in the corner AND The people who sat at the table
- Santa Clara NOT Sta. Clara
- Eliminate most adjectives, adverbs and intensifiers: I don't know NOT I honestly don't know; The bishop was pleased NOT The bishop was enormously pleased; We urge you to donate NOT We emphatically urge you to donate
- Don't indicate current year: The event will be June 7 in the church hall, 7 p.m. (note lowercase church and hall)
- Indicate the year for last year's events or next year's events: In August of 2003 AND In August of 2005
- There were 150 families in attendance NOT There were about 150 families in attendance
- Time: 10 a.m., 7 p.m. NOT 10:00 a.m., 7:00 p.m. BUT 10:30 a.m., 7:30 p.m. There is always a space before a.m. and p.m.
- He received all As in math NOT He received all A's in math.
- Dates
Days : If days stand alone, write out; if part of a reference to a specific date, abbreviate as follows:
Monday = Mon.
Tuesday = Tues.
Wednesday = Wed.
Thursday = Thurs.
Friday = Fri.
Saturday = Sat.
Sunday = Sun.
Months : If months stand alone, write out; if part of a reference to a specific date, abbreviate as follows:
January = Jan.
February = Feb.
August = Aug.
September = Sept.
October = Oct.
November = Nov.
December = Dec.
He will come on Friday to speak to the third grade class
He will be on campus in February to address a school-wide assembly
He will attend a fundraiser on Fri., Feb. 5, 7:30 a.m. to deliver the keynote address
- Generally inside final quotes; periods and commas never outside final quotes
- No commas around names: The school's third grade teacher Bill Smith was awarded…
- Hyphenate only the last element in a compound modifier: Diocesan event-based collection NOT Diocesan-event-based collection
- Proper nouns
- Official titles: The [Specific, Official Name] Award BUT We gave the award on Tuesday
- [School's] band program NOT [School's] Band Program
- Do not capitalize names of departments unless the name is a proper noun: The history (math, social studies, science) department BUT The English (French, German) department
- MS Word
- No headers, footers, page numbers
- No embedded text, no embedded graphics
- No mastheads or logos
- No superfluous characters
- Straight text, left justified only, no automatic formatting, no tabs
- No tables, no charts, no graphs
