AP style calls for spelling out the names of the 50 U.S. states in the body of a story, whether standing alone or in conjunction with a city, town, village or military base. This helps with clarity, as not every reader will readily know state abbreviations. Many writers and editors had to memorize AP's state abbreviations in school, but did your readers do the same?

When you hear someone refer to making ALS "livable," please ask for the definition of "livable."

Have you ever wished that the Microsoft Word spellchecker could proof for AP style? We have just the thing for you! AP StyleGuard Pro for Office is a plug-in you can install in Word, Outlook and PowerPoint to check your text for AP style. Subscribe now and get started creating cleaner, more consistent copy in 2025. buff.ly/3YZEsHm

A team losing a game is not a "disaster." Home runs are homers, not "dingers," "jacks" or "bombs." A player scored 10 straight points, not 10 "unanswered" points. If a football team scores two touchdowns and the opponent doesn't come back, say it "never trailed" rather than "never looked back." In short, avoid hackneyed words and phrases, redundancies and exaggerations.