Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/53

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Abbreviations of time and date
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rous to spell out all the words in the preceding list except Mr., Mrs., Messrs., Jr., and Sr. Doctor and Professor should always be spelled out. In newspapers Gen., Capt., Col., and Maj. are sometimes allowed, but in book-work these titles should be in full, as General, Captain, Colonel, and Major. When the title is double and is connected with a hyphen, as in Major-general or Lieutenant-colonel, the first word takes the capital letter. The same ruling should be applied to Ex-governor or Ex-senator.

ABBREVIATIONS OF TIME AND DATE

Ante meridiem and post meridiem are frequently presented in the small capitals a.m. and p.m. without a separating space, but it is now a commoner practice to make use of lower-case letters for a.m. and p.m., as is here shown.

The abbreviations inst., prox., and ult., which are usual in correspondence and commercial work, are entirely improper in the texts of books. The name of the month should be in full. The days of the week and the name of the month may be abbreviated in the narrow columns of a table, but never in any place where there is full space.

The names of months and days should always be in full in the text of a standard book. In the narrow measure of a side-note and elsewhere they may be abbreviated, as is shown on the next page.