What Is the Preferred Way to Write the Abbreviation for “United States”?
What Is the Preferred Way to Write the Abbreviation for “United States”?Answer: As it happens, there’s more than one preferred way to write the abbreviation for United States. In general, newspaper style guides (Associated Press Stylebook and The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage) recommend U.S. (periods, no space). However, scientific style guides say to omit periods in capitalized abbreviations, thus US (no periods, no space). The most widely used guide, The Chicago Manual of Style, can’t quite make up its mind: “U.S.” or “US.” Except in scientific style, U.S. traditionally appears with periods. Periods may nonetheless be omitted in most contexts. Writers and editors need to weigh tradition against consistency. In running text, the abbreviation (in either form) is permissible when used as an adjective, but United States as a noun
What Is the Preferred Way to Write the Abbreviation for “United States”?Answer: As it happens, there’s more than one preferred way to write the abbreviation for United States. In general, newspaper style guides (Associated Press Stylebook and The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage) recommend U.S. (periods, no space). However, scientific style guides say to omit periods in capitalized abbreviations, thus US (no periods, no space). The most widely used guide, The Chicago Manual of Style, can’t quite make up its mind: “U.S.” or “US.” Except in scientific style, U.S. traditionally appears with periods. Periods may nonetheless be omitted in most contexts. Writers and editors need to weigh tradition against consistency. In running text, the abbreviation (in either form) is permissible when used as an adjective, but United States as a noun
