Grammar Guide

Spring, summer, fall and winter semesters should not be capitalized.

• The new students will start in the fall.

• The fall semester saw many new students.

• Apply now for the upcoming spring semester.

• In spring 2025, many new students were welcomed to campus.

Do not capitalize academic subjects unless they form part of a formal department name, an official course name or are themselves proper nouns (e.g., Spanish, English). In informal uses, don’t capitalize department names.

• She published an article about criminal justice.

• There is a new course in social work. The new course is called Social Work Leadership.

• He is majoring in English literature. She is majoring in biology.

• Jones is the chair of the Department of Social Work.

• She is the chair of the chemistry department.

In general, avoid use of acronyms whenever possible, especially those that are not common. Particularly avoid alphabet soup, which means using too many acronyms.

When used, always spell out terms on first reference except when an acronym is universally well known (such as GPA). Don’t place an acronym in parentheses after the word.

• The College of Architecture, Visual Arts and Design will be hosting a gallery tomorrow night. This is the third time CAVAD has hosted.

Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd., and St. only with a numbered address. Spell them out and capitalize when part of a formal street name.

• 8432 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA

• CBU is located on Magnolia Avenue.

Follow an alum’s name with their graduation year in parentheses. The graduation year should be shortened with an apostrophe replacing the first two numerals.

• Abby Jones (’21)

Be careful using terms for alumni as they each mean something different.

• Alumni (plural, male and/or female)

• Alumnus (singular, male)

• Alumna (singular, female)

• Alum is acceptable as a gender-neutral singular form.

Never use the ampersand (&) in text. Use “and” instead.

Exceptions: Use an ampersand when it is part of a company’s formal name or a composition title. The ampersand can also be used creatively in graphic design.

Use the full name of the CBU building, including its dedication, on first reference. It can be shortened on the next references.

Some exceptions apply, such as the Events Center, which should be referred to as the Fowler Events Center on any second references.

• First reference: JoAnn Hawkins Music Building

  • Next reference: Music Building

• First reference: Dennis and Carol Troesh Engineering Building

  • Next reference: Engineering Building

• First reference: Eugene and Billie Yeager Center

  • Next reference: Yeager Center

• First reference: Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler Events Center

  • Next reference: Fowler Events Center

Pronouns for God can be capitalized, but users should be consistent within a piece of text.

Bible is capitalized, but biblical is not.

Use faith-based language as appropriate. Avoid Christian jargon unless it is clearly explained.

Use numerals to refer to the number of units.

Use freshmen rather than freshman students. Use upperclassmen rather than upperclassman students.

Be careful not to write upperclassmen students (double plural).

Use the full name of the CBU school or college, including its dedication, on first reference. It can be shortened on the next references. CBU’s college and school names are always capitalized.

• First reference: Dr. Bonnie G. Metcalf School of Education

  • Next reference: School of Education

• First reference: Dr. Robert K. Jabs School of Business

  • Next reference: School of Business

CBU does not use the Oxford comma (sometimes referred to as a serial comma). It can be used, however, in sentences that require it for clarity.

• We offer programs in science, business and music.

A nonessential clause must be set off by commas while an essential clause must not be. The difference between them is that the essential clause cannot be eliminated without changing the meaning of the sentence.

 A comma is used to separate an introductory clause or phrase from the main clause.

Consult the AP Stylebook for extensive guidance on the use of commas.

Watch out for dangling or misplaced modifiers. Become familiar with what they are and rewrite your sentences to avoid them. 

Use parallelism in all vertical lists and lists within sentences.

Avoid wordiness. Keep sentences concise. Cut out fluff.

Use apostrophes correctly. Apostrophes are used to denote possession or replace a missing letter or word.

• She went to school in the ’80s.

• He has two bachelor’s degrees.

• Please follow the dos and don’ts of grammar. 

• Email (no hyphen)

• Groundbreaking (no hyphen)

• Controlling

• Toward (not towards)

• Classroom

• Buses

• High school students (no hyphen)

• Homeschooled students

Do not use a “th,” “nd” or “rd” after the day.

When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone or with a year alone.

• The new semester begins in January 2025. 

• The next student orientation will be held on Jan. 24. 

• The semester will end on Friday, Dec. 3. 

Hyphen (-) Do not use a space between hyphens.

No hyphen is needed to link a two-word phrase that includes the adverb very and all adverbs ending in -ly.

When a compound modifier — two or more words that express a single concept — precedes a noun, you must decide: Hyphenate that modifier, or not? Do use a hyphen if it’s needed to make the meaning clear and avoid unintended meanings.

Many combinations that are hyphenated before a noun are not hyphenated when they occur after a noun.

Consult Merriam-Webster regarding whether specific words should include a hyphen. Consult the AP Stylebook for extensive guidance on the use of hyphens.

Here’s how to treat some commonly used hyphens:

• It is an on-campus program, so she will need to be on campus to study.

• She volunteers full time at the school, but she is not a full-time employee.

• CBU is a faith-based university.

• The new major is a groundbreaking program. It is just one of our many multidimensional programs.

• Our campus is state of the art. It truly has state-of-the-art facilities.

• CBU’s 162-acre campus is ranked among the best. Does your campus have 162 acres?

• We are in it for the long term. However, we are a short-term program.

• College-bound students should attend the event.

En dash (–) The en dash signifies up to and including (or through). There’s no space immediately before and after a long en dash.

• Her college years, 1998–2002, were the happiest in her life.

Em dash (—) The em dash is the long dash. It is the most commonly used dash and shows an abrupt change in thought. Insert a space on both sides of an em dash.

• Steve Jones — a freshman biology major — received a scholarship.

Keep numbers consistent. Do spell out numbers one through nine. Don’t spell out numbers 10 and over.

Some exceptions: Ages and units are always in numerals.

Maintain consistency with phone numbers. Use this format: (###) ###-####.

Use lowercase and periods in a.m. and p.m. Don’t use :00 when denoting a time. Use noon, not 12 p.m. Use midnight, not 12 a.m. Avoid such redundancies as 10 a.m. this morning or 10 p.m. tonight.

• Meet at 5:20 p.m.

• The event starts at 7 a.m.

• The deadline to register is Tuesday at noon.

Keep the tone friendly and professional. Don’t make the tone chatty, too casual or too stiff.

Capitalize the names of university departments in formal instances. Lowercase in informal instances.

• Please mail your application to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. An admissions counselor will gladly help you.

• Walk to the Financial Aid Office to learn more about receiving financial aid.

Use the full name of the university on first reference. Use the abbreviation on next references. Never follow the full name with the abbreviation in parentheses [e.g. don’t write California Baptist University (CBU)].

Don’t capitalize the word “university” when it appears alone.

• California Baptist University was founded in 1950. Since then, CBU has grown significantly.

• The university is hosting the next basketball game.

On first reference, use a person’s full name, then job title (if not preceding the individual’s name). On subsequent references, use last name only.

• Ronald L. Ellis, president of California Baptist University, spoke at the event. Ellis recognized the students’ hard work.

Don’t capitalize job positions. Capitalize a title if it precedes the name and functions as a title; if the title follows a person’s name, use lowercase.

• President Ronald L. Ellis began his role as president of California Baptist University in 1994.

• Ronald L. Ellis, president of California Baptist University, began his presidency in 1994. 

In titles, lowercase a job position but capitalize the official name of any campus office.

• He is the dean of Graduate Admissions.

• She is the director of Information and Technology Services.

• She is the vice president for Finance and Administration.

• She is the vice president for Marketing and Communication.

Put the most important information first. Don’t bury the lead.

Avoid walls of text. Break up paragraphs every 2-3 sentences.

For links, use clear labels and avoid generic terms like “click here.”

Avoid using too many FAQs, but, if it can’t be avoided, be sure to organize and separate by topic.

Use headers to help guide web readers through the content.

Be sure headers are used according to their hierarchy (H2-H6). This means:

• The most important heading has the rank 1 (H1). Only use H1 headers once, for the title of the page.

• The least important heading has rank 6 (H6).

• Headings with an equal or higher rank start a new section (two H2 headers are of equal rank).

• Headings with a lower rank start new subsections that are part of the higher ranked section (H3 is a subsection of H2).