X. USAGE

For answers to other questions of style, consult Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary and the Chicago Manual of Style.

• Use a.m. and p.m. and do not include o’clock. Designate noon or midnight, rather than 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.

• Attorney is used only when referring to the representative of a client, otherwise lawyer.

• between when referring to two things, among when referring to more than two

• Omit S.C. in conjunction with Columbia (or other well-known S.C. cities) only when the piece is aimed at a local audience.

• disabled, not handicapped

• Doctorate is a noun, and doctoral is an adjective.

• Fax is not a proper noun nor an acronym and should be used upper and lowercase as appropriate.

• freshman (adj.): the freshman enrollment (never the freshmen enrollment)

• in regard to (never in regards to), but, he sends his regards

• international students, not foreign students

• lay (transitive): I lay the book on the bed; past tense: I laid the book on the bed.

• lie (intransitive): I lie in bed; past tense: I lay in bed.

• less when describing an amount that cannot be counted, fewer when describing a number:

He was less agreeable to the plan than she was.
Fewer than 12 students attended the seminar.

• more than, not over, when referring to a numerical amount:

We have more than 2 million volumes.

Avoid

• Passive voice: The dean appointed John Jones; not, John Jones was appointed.

• The longer of two similar words: use (not utilize), competence (not competency).

• Sexist language: Avoid using he or she where possible, and do not use he/she. Write, “The president and a representative ...” not “The president and his/her representative.…” Other avoidance techniques include pluralizing he and she to they, or substituting a common noun.

• The split infinitive.

He was told to quickly process the papers.
He was told to process the papers quickly. (preferred)

• The dangling participle.

Straddling the Arizona–New Mexico border, the archaeologist found a string of ancient pueblo ruins. (Was the archaeologist straddling the border?)

The archaeologist found a string of ancient pueblo ruins straddling the Arizona–New Mexico border. (better)

• Singular/plural disagreements with pronouns. For example, do not refer to a single person as "they" or with "their" (e.g., Gamecocks/their, but Carolina/its).