Blogger: Mary Keeley
Location: Books & Such Midwest Office, IL
Ruth Goring, editor at the University of Chicago Press, led a workshop at the EPA Convention on changes in The Chicago Manual of Style: 16th Edition (CMS). Why is this topic so important that an entire workshop was dedicated to it? While just as a few grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors in the proposal section of your submission can render it dead in the water before an editor or agent ever reaches the manuscript, using the latest style guidelines communicates your professionalism as a writer and commitment to your craft.
The guiding force in making changes in this new edition was consistency. And several additions were made that revolve around electronic issues. With this in mind, I’m going to highlight some of the more notable changes in the 16th Edition in a simple list by their numerical address. Disclaimer: This is not a complete list; you’ll have to purchase the book or subscribe to the online version for that. But you can save the following quick list for easy reference.
CMS 16 Edition Changes
6.119 Commas following other punctuation marks are now allowed.
7.16, 17, or 18 Possessives. To maintain consistency, it was decided that possessives of all names, including names like Jesus and Moses, will end in ‘s (Jesus’s, Moses’s).
7.76 Website is now one word (website), and worldwide web is capitalized (Worldwide Web).
8.136 Rulings for styling websites. Roman for name of organization (www.booksandsuch.com); italic for title of book (www.365mostimportantbiblepassagesforwomen.com).
8.159 Ordinals and compound numbers. When the first word needs to be capitalized (as in the beginning of a sentence), both words are capitalized (First Century, One-Fourth).
8.55 When referring to a specific mountain, river, street, etc., both/all words are capitalized (Chicago River, Illinois River, Blue Ridge Mountains).
8.153 Brand names don’t need to follow standard capitalization style (ebay, iPod).
8.157 Principles of headline style capitalization. Lower-case prepositions regardless of length or importance (A River Runs through It).
Chapter 5: the grammar chapter:
5.9 (and 5.220) Mass nouns followed by a prepositional phrase. The definite or indefinite article preceding a mass noun + prepositional phrase indicates if the mass noun or the number of the noun in the prepositional phrase controls the verb form. If a definite article (the) precedes, the mass noun controls, and usually a singular verb is used (the quantity of coins saved this year has increased.) If an indefinite article (a or an) precedes, then the number of the noun in the prepositional phrase controls (a small percentage of coins are added each month.)
14.7 Access dates. Access dates are now allowed if no publication date is available.
5.220 There is a great list of word combinations to watch out for. Example: close proximity. This is noted as redundant.
2.133 Checklist for proofing electronic publications. Also includes how to communicate those proofing changes on an electronic file.
11.2 Extended introduction to unicoding (for international characters across electronic platforms.)
15.2 Uniform treatment in author date references and notes and bibliography. CMS now recommends a uniform treatment for the main elements of citation. Use authors’ full names rather than initials. Headline style capitalization for titles or works are now identical in the author-date system.
Here are three references you might find helpful to have in your library:
- The Editorium (www.editorium.com). A company that sells macros. You can purchase “File Cleaner,” which cleans up punctuation and simple grammar errors. Purchase a yearly subscription for $30.
- Guidelines for Fair Use. Go to www.press.uchicago.edu to download a PDF file.
- Go to www.press.uchicago.edu to get Manuscript Preparation Guidelines (also includes author permission guidelines).
The CMS editors aren’t fundamentalists about following their style. Each publishing house has its own adapted style, which the editors wouldn’t expect new authors to know. But that’s a reason to follow the CMS for proposals and manuscripts because it is a universal starting point.
Was this enough detail for one day, a Friday at that? Which of these items was most helpful? Most surprising? I wanted to give you a glimpse into why CMS is valuable, as are grammar, punctuation, and consistent style in your proposals and manuscripts.
Mary,
This was a timely post for me. I didn’t know about the new ruling on ‘ after names like Jesus or Moses. I plan to fix that in my manuscript since my mc’s name ends in s.
I printed a copy of this blog! Have a great holiday weekend.
Wow Mary….this was a lot of information for a Friday, let alone a Friday leading into a holiday weekend!
Most surprising to me is the change in the possessives of names like Jesus. Wouldn’t you know, my son’s name is Travis. This will take some mental reminding!
Most helpful are the resource sites.
Thank you for a valuable, edifying post.
Great post, and I will definitely be buying the new CMS!
Most surprising/disturbing change (besides noting that it’s a bit disturbing that I’m enough of a grammar Nazi to have noticed and cared): the change in verb agreement rules for mass nouns followed by a prepositional phrase. I understand why they did this. The new guidelines reflect how we say it when we speak, but as a Southern gal I’m sorta used to not writin’ thangs the way I say ’em. 😉 Seems like it will cause no end of confusion to suddenly base verb agreement in isolated cases on the object of a preposition rather than the subject of the sentence.
Thanks for the post, Mary. I’m big on details, so I love finding out about the latest style and grammar issues. Your post helped clarify a few items that had been puzzling me. I’m going to mark them in my pretty blue 16th edition of the CMS, which is the style guide my publisher uses.
Great information! Thanks for sharing. I definitely need to order the new manual…I’m not sure HOW old mine is, but it’s definitely outdated. 😀
My crit partner posted this link on my fb wall. Thinking I need to work on this a bit. Ugh! Grammar is so not my strong point, but if my teenage daughter can learn it, so can I, right? Thanks for the great info! And the why.
I don’t like the possessives ruling either, but that’s probably a function of years of doing it the other way.
Surprising? The website stylings. Do we really need to style urls?
Helpful? The mass nouns.
Thanks.
Loved it. (fragment)
Especially 7.16, about possessive forms of ancient names ending in s (Jesus’ is now Jesus’s). That’s a pretty big change, but I’ll bet most weren’t aware of the original standard.
And I’m fascinated by 5.9, about noun/verb agreement in prepositional phrases, relative to the definite or indefinite article. So… a group of people sit (not sits) in a room to decide these things. I’ll bet they drink strong coffee. Thank you, Mary, for the grammar update!
Change? I’d rather tangle with a garden snake. (Just kidding, Mary!)
Thanks for this. It’s definitely time I invested in a new edition. 5.9 definitely catches my eye too, but this one:
“8.157 Principles of headline style capitalization. Lower-case prepositions regardless of length or importance”
is something that I always thought was true.
See, learn something new every day.
Thanks for a week of insightful posts.
Good point, Cheryl. Wasn’t that always the rule?
Me, too. I need to buy a new CMS! Thank you, Mary.
These are great things to know.
I was taught that Moses and Jesus were the exception to the possessive rule — and my dissertation requires it. That will be a hard habit to break – it almost seems sacrilegious to write “Jesus’s”
Thank you for keeping us up-to-date.
This is an extremely helpful post. Thanks for sharing the information.
Wow, Mary. Some of those changes are bombshells for me, especially the rule about adding apostrophe s for possessive after any word ending with an s. I’ve fought with that one for quite a while, and this actually simplifies my work.
The other surprise was non-capitalization of prepositions in title case. That’s going to make a bunch of titles look peculiar to me.
Thanks for sharing this. I’d better print it out and study it. Will there be a quiz next week?
Ugh. I’m still choking on the idea of not capitalizing Through on “A River Runs through It.” Ugh. And does the apostrophe s now mean we pray in a three-syllable Jesus’s name, amen? Just when I thought I had commas figured out…
Oh, wait. I think that’s “figured out….”
Thanks, Mary, for pointing out the changes. It keeps us from getting too sure of ourselves when critiquing others’ work, too. Um, others’s work.
Wow. This post is incredibly helpful. I agree that the new rule about apostrophes after possessive names helps to simplify things. Watching out for redundant word combinations will also aid me.
This may be my late-night-and-tired brain talking, but what’s an example of when a comma would follow another punctuation mark?
Thank you for these truly insightful posts this week, Mary.
Thanks, Mary. I have the new version of CMS sitting on my shelf but confess I haven’t used it at all. Too overwhelming! Now I’m inspired to figure out how to make it work for me.
This is one of the most informative and helpful posts I’ve read lately! Thank you!
Hi, Mary, I don’t have the 16th edition of Chicago. When I read the change in the headline-style capitalization on their updates page, I understood it to mean just the opposite of what you stated. Here’s the pertinent line: “in general, Chicago no longer recommends making exceptions for short or unstressed words or to avoid the occasional awkward appearance. 8.157–59.” I thought the exception referred to those short, unstressed words being lower case. Consequently, doing away with the exception meant they would now be capitalized.
So now I’m confused. Would it be possible to clarify? I’ve spent the last six months trying to retrain myself when it comes to capitalizing titles. I’d like to make the correction sooner than later. Thanks.
Becky
So a friend who edits told me that the CMS now says:
Headline-style capitalization
For titles capitalized headline-style, Chicago now prefers capitalizing the second element in hyphenated spelled-out numbers (e.g., Twenty-Five). And, in general, Chicago no longer recommends making exceptions for short or unstressed words or to avoid the occasional awkward appearance. 8.157–59.
So am I understanding this correctly? Andrew Peterson’s first Wingfeather book would now be called: On The Edge of The Dark Sea of Darkness. And Alice’s story is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland And through The Looking Glass.
Is this what they mean? I must be misunderstanding. I’m terrible at understanding parts of speech.
I heard the CMS had recommended the apostrophe “s” one possessives ending in “s” a few yeas ago so that one didn’t throw me, though I’ve rejected their recommendations until now.
Guess I shouldn’t be relying on what I learned in college and what my children’s grammar textbooks say.
Rebecca and Sally, I don’t have the 16th Edition in front of me at this moment because it’s still on order. And Ruth Goring didn’t cover your specific question regarding short or unstressed words. Sally, the examples you used were articles (the), which might be different. As I said, the quick list above isn’t the complete list of changes and additions. You’ll have to get the book to learn all the answers.
Sally, the second word in a hyphenated word is now capitalized when it is appropriate to capitalize the first one (for example, at the beginning of a sentence).
Thanks, Mary.
And sorry for posting when Becky posted the same question. We must have been posting at the same time because I didn’t see hers when I wrote mine.
Thanks, Mary. I’ll keep my ears open on this one.
Becky
Thanks for all the tips! I’m putting them to good use! 🙂
The ‘s ruling makes my skin crawl. I actually gasped and shouted, “No!” when I read it. But I did buy the new edition of CMS, so I guess I’m stuck now. If they ever take away my serial comma, I might lie down and die.