Q. A program for an academic event includes a page that thanks “organizations, programs, and funds” for supporting student research. The entries are presented in list form. We are tripped up by how to alphabetize individual fund or award names (such the Ellen Vannet Fund and the Wilma Hubbell Award). We found guidance from this CMOS Q&A, which says “Alphabetize an organization under the first significant word, and an individual donor by surname. The Merry Gregg Foundation goes under M; Merry Gregg goes under G.” We extrapolated that a fund or award would follow the organization/foundation treatment, and we alphabetized by first significant word (not by the person’s last name). But our Advancement Office disagrees on this interpretation. Thanks for any guidance! You are a treasured resource.
Q. The Naval War College Writing and Style Guide states: “Although a term may be plural or possessive, do not make the abbreviation plural or possessive on first usage: cluster bomb units (CBU).” Is that also The Chicago Manual of Style’s preferred convention for first appearance of an acronym in a document?
Q. What is the appropriate way to handle a compound formed with an abbreviation upon its first mention? For example, in “the first Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved delivery by unmanned aircraft,” where does the hyphen go to form the compound “FAA-approved delivery”—after (FAA) or after Administration? I would prefer to rewrite this sentence but am not able to in this instance.
Q. How do you handle the spacing with a name that is only initials? Do you put a space between the initials or not? For example: “My friend B.J. is an awesome skater.” Or “My friend B. J. is an awesome skater.”
Q. How do I punctuate the end of a specimen sentence, quoted from a style guide, contained within a sentence in which it is followed by an independent clause? For example:
Chicago illustrates the use of the period (6.12) with the sentence “Wait here.” but that doesn’t answer all my questions.
I feel I need to keep the period before the close quote to retain the integrity and purpose of the quoted sentence, but CMOS calls for a comma between independent clauses, and my ear calls for one as well. The period also violates the common practice of replacing a period by a comma to end a quote that doesn’t end a sentence. However, I can’t imagine where you would put a comma. How would you handle this?
Q. Grüezi. How do I handle cf. in combination with e.g. in a citation? Combining the usual rules yields (cf., e.g., XYZ 2014). However, that looks very clumsy to me. Therefore I have two distinct propositions which I’d be very grateful to be verified: (A) The CMoS seems to support eg., so: “(cf. eg. XYZ 2014)”? (B) From unofficial sources, I find cfeg., therefore “(cfeg. XYZ 2014)”?
Q. Is it OK to greet someone with “Morning!” or is it “’Morning!”? I’d think that it’s common understanding that you’re saying “Good morning” and not just shouting the time of day at someone.
Q. When you write about a GIF in a text, can you just refer to it as GIF on first reference or do you have to write “graphic interchange format (GIF)”? I don’t think the long version is actually helpful; more people know it as GIF. And I’d be using it as a noun.
Q. What is the proper way of writing in full the initialism OIC (which stands for Officer-In-Charge)?
Q. I’m copyediting some storyboards for kiosk displays in a state park and in the description of a historical site, there’s reference to “2,500 BP.” I know what that means (now that I’ve looked it up), but why not just say “ago”? Should I assume the audience for these displays will know “BP,” or may I suggest simply saying “ago”? (I thought, “British Petroleum,” for Pete’s sake.)