Use AP style in stories about people who identify as neither male nor female and who ask not to be referred to as he/she/him/her. Use the person's name in place of a pronoun or otherwise reword the sentence, whenever possible. If the use of they/them/their is essential, explain in the text that the person prefers a gender-neutral pronoun. Be sure that the phrasing does not imply more than one person.

When they is used as a singular, it takes a plural verb. Be sure it is clear from the context that only one person is involved.

ways lowercase, never abbreviate: U.S. government federal government the commonwealth of Kentucky the state of Texas

Always Two words

Modifying phrases are hyphenated when used before a noun, but not after — unless the hyphen is needed to prevent confusion: The well-known president wears green ties. The president is well known. He works at Kentucky State full time. He has a full-time position at Kentucky State Words formed with prefixes (befriend, prehistoric, pre-existing) are only hyphenated to avoid duplicate vowels and consonants. shell-like pre-empt Two or more hyphenated modifiers having a common base are treated in this way: on- and off-campus three-, six- and 10-minute intervals Do not use a hyphen after words ending in “ly” followed by a participle or adjective: highly qualified person historically black college Use an em dash (—) sparingly to indicate emphasis or explanation, to define a complementary element or to denote a break in thought. Put a space on each side of an em dash. The top three revenue sports — football, basketball and baseball — fund athletics.

An abbreviation for "that is to say." It is always followed by a comma. Walking on a frozen body of water isn't smart, i.e., it's a really bad idea.