The reference
Writing Style Guide
How Trinity writes: punctuation, numbers, capitalization, and usage.
Like many schools and colleges, Trinity follows a specific style for writing and usage in all of our communications, in print, in email, and on the web. A consistent style keeps our communications clear and high-quality. We ask that Trinity faculty and staff follow Trinity style in all school-related emails, newsletters, and other school communications.
Chicago and Merriam-Webster
The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.) is Trinity's official style guide: rules for punctuation, capitalization, and usage. Trinity follows Chicago style, with the exceptions on this page.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.) is our resource for spelling, hyphenation, and meaning. Free at merriam-webster.com.
For anything not covered below, follow Chicago's conventions and Merriam-Webster's spellings.
Punctuation
- Use the serial comma (the Oxford comma): a comma before "and" in lists of three or more. Truth, goodness, and beauty.
- Use hyphens, en dashes (–), and em dashes as in Chicago style. Don't hyphenate after most common prefixes, including pre-, post-, re-, non-, and sub-. Check the dictionary or Chicago's hyphenation table when unsure.
- Use only hyphens (not parentheses or periods) in phone and fax numbers.
- Use periods in a.m. and p.m., with a space between the numeral and a.m. or p.m. Remember that 12 p.m. is noon.
- Put only one space after punctuation marks.
Numbers
- Spell out zero through nine; use numerals for 10 and up. Exceptions: grades (grades 9–12), percentages, and contexts mixing larger and smaller numbers (There are 12 students in the chorus but only 7 in the ensemble.)
- Spell out first through ninth; use superscripted -st, -nd, -rd, or -th for 10th and up.
- Use commas for 1,000 and up.
Capitalization
Grades and divisions
- Lower School, Middle School, Upper School
- Lower Schoolers, Middle Schoolers, Upper Schoolers, but freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors
- transitional kindergarten, but TK
- kindergarten, first grade, seventh grade, ninth grade
- kindergartners, fourth graders, eighth graders (not 4th graders, 8th graders)
- grades 2–6 (not 2nd–6th grades)
Subjects and classes
- Class and course names are capitalized: Bible, Humanities, Algebra I, Theology II, Chemistry, Senior Capstone.
- In the Lower School, capitalize the content areas within classroom instruction: Language Arts, Math, Art, Music. For unit studies, capitalize the name but not the words "unit study": Colonial Trade unit study, Baby Chicks unit study.
- Generic references to subjects are lowercased, except "Bible" and language names: algebra teacher, language arts curriculum, Latin instruction, chemistry experiment. Proper names are capitalized: Singapore Math, Augustine Literacy Project.
Rooms, buildings, and spaces
- Lower School Building, South Building, Modular, Arts and Engineering Building, Blue Gym, Gold Gym, the HUB
- Upper School commons, South Building mezzanine, Lower School library
- Hundred Acre Woods (plural, unlike in Winnie-the-Pooh)
Titles
- Use the official Trinity titles and positions listed on our website.
- Capitalize official titles before or after a person's name; if the name comes first, follow it with a comma. Head of School Chip Denton; Head of Lower School Amy Chauncey; Jez McIntosh, Associate Head of School; Karman Kent, Director of College Counseling.
- Use lowercase for generic references to a position: Karman Kent is Trinity's college counselor and Dr. Denton is our head of school.
- Capitalize the names of school offices and departments, but lowercase "department" and "office": Enrollment Management office, Fine Arts department, but Business Office.
- Capitalize the names of school committees and the word "Committee": Education Committee, Admission Committee, Land and Building Committee, Finance and Investment Committee.
- Capitalize Board of Trustees and the Board when referring to Trinity's Board; lowercase general references to trustees.
School events
- All official school events are capitalized in headline style: Back-to-School Night, Lessons and Carols, Blue-Gold Games, Winter Formal, Spirit Week, Closing Chapel.
- There is no apostrophe in Grandparents Day.
Teams and sports
- Team names follow this pattern, using only the parts needed to distinguish the team and the sport: [MS/JV/Varsity] [Blue/Gold/Navy] [Boys/Girls] [Sport]
- Examples: MS Girls Soccer, MS Navy Boys Basketball, MS Cross-Country; Varsity Volleyball, JV Boys Basketball, JV Girls Soccer, Varsity Swimming
- Cross-Country always has a hyphen; Track & Field has an ampersand.
Special Cases
| We write | Not |
|---|---|
| internet, email, website, webpage | Internet, e-mail, web-site |
| home page | homepage |
| Head of School | Headmaster |
| Head of Lower School, Head of Middle School, Head of Upper School | Lower School Head, etc. |
| Board of Trustees | Board of Directors |
| Enrollment Management office | Admission office |
| Covid-19 | COVID-19 (do not use all caps) |
Questions about style or usage? Email the Advancement Office at communications@tsdch.org. For the everyday voice and vocabulary rules (what we say and what we avoid), see the Words chapter of the Brand Guide.