Use of Terms A-Z

Military Community and Family Policy writing guidance aligns with The Associated Press Stylebook with a few exceptions. Definitions of military-specific terms appear below, along with editorial guidance for certain commonly used words for MC&FP and our programs. See additional writing guidance in the Writing Best Practices section. Find program-specific guidance in the Program Content Guides section.

Y

years – Use figures, without commas: 2020. When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas: Oct. 8, 2025, is the target date. Use an s without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries: the 1980s, the 1900s. Years are the lone exception to the general rule of not starting sentences with numerals: 1971 was a very good year. If a date appears in body copy, it is not necessary to indicate the year if it is the same as the current year.

YouTube

yule, yuletide