(1) e.g. for exempli gratia, i.e. for id est, q.v. for quod vide, viz. for videlicet or to wit, etc. for et cetera, are barely tolerated in good work and are discarded by many houses. If authors will use such symbols they should spell them out. Italic is not needed in these examples. See De Vinne’s Correct Composition, page 41.(2) Dep’t, treas., sec., gov’t, and similar abbreviations are not permissible.(3) Do not use Xmas and Xtns for Christmas and Christians.(4) MS. and MSS. MS. for manuscript and MSS. for manuscripts. There should be no period after the M.(5) New York. Do not use N.Y. when you refer to New York City.(6) Towns and Cities. Do not abbreviate the names of towns and cities, and avoid abbreviation of the names of states, except when they follow town and city names. See paragraph 29.(7) Titles. It is a proper and decorous system to spell out doctor, professor, general, colonel, captain, major, and like titles. Good book and magazine work oppose abbreviations of such titles. Mr., Mrs., Jr., Sr., are allowed as here written.(8) To wit should not be compounded.(9) Spell out fort, mount, point, port, saint, etc. in every use.(10) Parentheses. Inclose the names of states in parentheses when used in the following way: The Albany (N.Y.) Law School; the Milpitas (Cal.) Gazette. See paragraph 29.(11) Pet Names. Bill, Bob, Jim, Tom, Joe, etc., are not abbreviations, and therefore they need no period after the last letter.(12) Quarto, octavo, twelvemo, thirty-twomo, etc., are best, but 4to, 8vo, and 12mo may be used, if they do not begin a sentence.(13) Streets. The numerical names of streets should be spelled out, as Fifteenth Street, Twenty-second Street.(14) Time. See paragraph 18. Spell out the names of days of the week, as well as names of months.(15) Titles. If John Jones has many titles following his name, it is best to set them in small capitals, as: M.D., F.R.S., PH.D., K.C.B. To set all in capitals is to give the name too little prominence. One or two titles may be set in capitals, but when there are three or four, use small capitals.(16) Words. Words are preferred in legal documents, as: Jean must appear in court on the tenth of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and six.(17) PS. PS. (for postscript or postscriptum) without a period or space between the letters. See MS., number (4), paragraph 27.(18) Commas Essential. Commas are essential in certain cases where they are often omitted. Many printers seem to think it is treason to put a comma before and in a series of three words, and the Chicago Proofreaders’ Association omits commas in such instances. The system is slovenly, however. De Vinne properly expounds the rule. On page 253 of Correct Composition he says: “The comma is needed when the simplicity and directness of a sentence are broken by the addition or repetition of nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs that do not qualify the words that directly follow.” He cites this example: “Ulysses was wise, eloquent, cautious, and intrepid.” Note the comma after cautious. Use the comma without hesitation when the qualifying words are more than two in number; as, the bay was calm, beautiful, and clear as crystal. The comma is sometimes erroneously omitted before the conjunction in such cases as: Jean, Lucinda and Alice have departed. There is no person whose name is Lucinda and Alice. Again, the impression may be made, by the omission of the comma, that Lucinda and Alice went together, and not with Jean.

Another point to be remembered is that when the words are not in pairs, the comma must be used, even if or frequently intervenes. Correct Composition, page 254. When the words are in pairs, connected by the word and, or disconnected by the word or, the comma is needed only at the end of each pair. De Vinne.

28. Names. Never abbreviate Jas., Jos., Thos., Geo., Wm., Theo., Chas., and other Christian names. The decorous system is to spell the names in full, except when following exact signatures in legal documents and other formal matter.

29. Names of States. Names of states following names of towns, except the names of Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, and Utah, are abbreviated as follows:

30. Brackets. Teall says that an insertion not merely disconnected, but having no effect upon the meaning of the context, should be inclosed within brackets. Examples: I swear that I was naturalized [here state name] in Missouri. My son, I must tell you all. [Some private details are here blotted out. Editor.] You must keep these things secret. De Vinne says: “Parentheses always inclose remarks apparently made by the writer of the text. Brackets inclose remarks certainly made by the editor or reporter of that text.” See Correct Composition, page 279.

31. By-laws. De Vinne says: “By-laws are frequently printed with the side-headings Art. 1 for Article 1, Sec. 2 for Section 2, etc., but it is better practice to print the word in full in the paragraph where it first appears, and to omit the word in subsequent paragraphs, using the proper figure only, as is customary in verses of the Bible and in hymn-books.”

32. Can not. Can not is preferred to cannot, though there is authority for both forms. Can not and shall not, according to the usage of good writers, are treated as shown.