The Barclay Press Style Guide is a list of the choices that have been made in order to achieve consistency and clarity in the publications of the company. It notes specific rules and usage to be followed by authors and editors of Barclay Press publications and documents. This guide supplements resources such as The Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition), the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, and an up-to-date dictionary.

 

abbreviations/acronyms

  

Academic degrees use periods; names of organizations do not.

Books of the Bible may be abbreviated in parenthetical references (not in Fruit of the Vine). Use v. for verse; vv. for verses; p. and pp. for page/pages.

Do not abbreviate United States as a noun, points of the compass, cities, towns, states (except with zip codes), months/days (except in lists).

a.m./p.m. lower case

Names of organizations may be abbreviated in second and following references (Alaska Yearly Meeting/AYM, Evangelical Friends Church/EFC, Evangelical Friends Mission/EFM, Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Region/EFC-ER, Evangelical Friends Church-Southwest/EFCSW, Mid-America Yearly Meeting/MAYM, Northwest Yearly Meeting/NWYM, Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting/RMYM, George Fox University/GFU, George Fox Evangelical Seminary/GFES).

acknowledgment

No e after the g

A.D.
Place before year; use periods—anno domini (years with no designation are considered to be A.D.)

ages
Generally spell out a person's age in running text.
 

B.C.
Place after year; use periods—before Christ

Bible
Capitalize names of translations, using Roman type style (exception: use italic type for The Message and The Living Bible). All-cap abbreviations (NIV, NKJV) may be used in parenthetical references.

When a parenthetical reference immediately follows a Scripture quotation in running text, place punctuation after closing parenthesis. If the quotation itself requires a question mark or exclamation point, it should be placed with the text.

Books of the Bible are spelled out when used in running text. They may be abbreviated in parenthetical references (not in Fruit of the Vine) except when in a complete sentence.

Use Arabic, not Roman, numerals in books of the Bible. (Write out the number if at the beginning of a sentence.)

biblical
Lowercase

board
Lowercase except when the name of a board is given. Generic titles, such as board of trustees, board of directors, need not be capitalized.
 

capital/capitol
Capitol refers to the building; capital refers to the city.

capitalization
Capitalize Scripture (when referring to the Bible; lowercase scriptural), Word of God, Gospel (when referring to the first four books of the New Testament; generally lowercase in other uses), titles preceding a name (when titles are used in apposition to a name they are lowercase; e.g. the apostle Paul).

catalog
Use catalog, not catalogue.

church
Lowercase except in proper names or when referring to a denomination.

coast
Capitalize when referring to a region (West Coast, Pacific Coast); lowercase when referring to the land near the ocean.

comma
Use the serial comma (comma inserted before the final conjunction in a series).

Use a comma before and after a state name when it follows a city name (…in Atlanta, Georgia, and travels to Washington, D.C., to…) and before and after the year in a date when a day is given (…on January 16, 2005, with…). No comma when only month and year are given (January 2005).

compass points
Lowercase north, south, east, west, etc., when used as directions. Large geographic regions (such as the South, the Midwest, Southern California, the Northwest) are uppercase.

composition titles
Capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and the first and last words of the title. Do not capitalize articles or conjunctions and prepositions of fewer than six letters.

Use italics for the titles of books, magazines, newspapers, large musical compositions, long poems, television series.

Roman type with quotation marks is used for articles, short stories, essays, short poems, television and radio individual episodes, unpublished works.

Roman type with no quotation marks denotes book series and editions.

computer terms
compact disc, e-mail, online, Web site, World Wide Web, the Web, Internet
 

dashes
Em dashes are used to set off ideas. To represent to between figures or words use an en dash. No spaces are used before or after either. An em dash may be used when a Scripture reference extends over more than one chapter. (We use a hyphen when listing multiple verses or pages: John 4:1-5.)

dates
Use numerals, separating day and year with a comma (November 12, 2004) but no comma if only month and year (November 2004). Follow year with a comma if in running text (see “comma”). Do not use st, nd, th, or rd after dates.

Decades and centuries: no apostrophe in 1990s; but '90s.

degrees
Lowercase bachelor's degree, master's degree. Use uppercase if degree name is given (Master of Teaching, Doctor of Ministry, D.Min., Ph.D.).

deity pronouns
Use lower case for personal pronouns referring to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. In Scripture quotations follow the style of the translation quoted.

deity titles
Capitalize deity titles: Jesus, Christ (Christlike), Savior (not Saviour), Lord, Holy Spirit, Son of God, God (but godly), Father.
 

ellipsis
If the ellipsis is terminal add period after. If quotation continues, generally no space follows the period.

e-mail
e-mail, not email or E-mail.

ensure/insure
Use ensure unless referring to insurance.
 

fractions
Spell out in most running text; generally hyphenate (two-thirds).

Friends
Capitalize when referring to the denomination and people in the denomination; also capitalize as part of a church name (Friends should bring their friends to Lively Fellowship Friends Church. It is a great Friends church.). No apostrophe in uses such as “Friends doctrines.”

full-time/full time
full-time when used as an adjective (he is a full-time writer); no hyphen when an adverb (he wrote full time). This applies to part-time/part time and half-time/half time.
 

God/godly
Capitalize God unless referring to pagan or secular gods, lowercase for godly.

Gospel/gospel
(See “capitalization”)
 

heaven, hell
Generally lowercase as common nouns; also heavenly Father.

hyphen
Hyphenate compound modifiers (no hyphen needed with adverbs ending in ly). Hyphenate numbers ending in y and fractions (connect numerator and denominator with hyphen unless either already contains one). Most prefixes do not require a hyphen (midyear, premedical, nonessentials). Do not hyphenate lifestyle, freelance, or worldview.
 

italics
When referring to a word as a word or a letter as a letter, use italics (word is a great word). Italics may be used occasionally for emphasis. See also “composition titles.” Fruit of the Vine sets parenthetical Scripture references in italics.
 

judgment/judgement
Omit the e after judg in all cases.
 

kingdom/king
Generally lowercase. Exceptions, king may be capitalized when referring to God and kingdom when referring to part of a geographical place name.
 

letters
Italicize letters when used as letters.
 

missionary/mission
Lowercase unless used in a proper name (…a missionary with Evangelical Friends Mission…).

months
Spell out generally. May be abbreviated in lists. Commas precede and follow the year except when just a month and year are given (…beginning on January 1, 2002, and continuing until March 2003…).
 

Northwest/northwest
Denoting a region, the word is capitalized; as a compass point it is lowercase.

Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church
Comprises churches in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. NWYM address is 200 N. Meridian Street, Newberg, OR 97132.

numerals
Spell out numerals, including ordinals (e.g., first, second) below 11. Spell out all numbers (except years) when they begin a sentence. Generally spell out a person's age; follow general rule with percent and weight. Numbers with four or more digits (except years) use a comma to separate each three-digit group.
 

percent
Spell out percent, without hyphen.

person/people
Use people when referring to more than one person—not persons.

phone numbers
See “telephone numbers.”
 

quotation marks
Commas and periods go inside closing quotation marks; colons and semicolons outside. Question marks and exclamation marks go either inside or outside depending on usage. If they are part of the quoted material they go inside. (See “Bible” for exceptions.)

Direct quotations are placed within double quotation marks unless the matter is set off by smaller type or indention; a quote within a quote is placed in single quotation marks.
 

Sabbath
Capitalize except when referring to a period of rest.

seasons
Lowercase all seasons (fall, winter, spring, summer, etc.).

Sunday school
Capitalize Sunday, but not school.
 

telephone numbers
Separate numbers with hyphens (or periods); no parenthesis around area code.

temple
Lowercase except when used in a proper name.

that/which
As a subordinating conjunction, omit that when possible.

Generally use that in restrictive (essential) clauses; which in nonrestrictive (nonessential). Use who or whom when referring to people.

titles
Capitalize and spell out titles only when they precede a name (John Doe is president; he followed President Susie Doe…). Do not capitalize a title when it is used in apposition to a name (…the apostle Paul…).
 

verse/verses
To abbreviate in parenthetical references use v. for verse, vv. for verses.

To designate verse references use the form Isaiah 55:1; Psalm 23:4, 7; Mark 4:1-3. Note there is no space after the colon, a semicolon separates references, a comma followed by a space separates verse numbers (or a hyphen if continuing verses).
 

Web
Web site, World Wide Web, the Web.

Word
Capitalize when referring to Jesus as the Word, or to Scripture as the Word of God.

words as words
Italicize when referring to the word or term itself (word is a complex term).

worship/worshiping
one p, not two, in worshiping.
 

(January 15, 2005)