AP Style Checker: Grammar & Punctuation Rules for Professional Writing

An AP Style Rule Checker is a tool that analyzes your writing for compliance with Associated Press style guidelines - the standard used by journalists, news organizations, and many professional communicators. Our tool helps identify potential style errors and suggests corrections based on official AP rules.

Using an AP Style Rule Checker ensures your writing maintains professional standards required by news organizations, PR agencies, and content creators. Consistent AP style usage improves credibility, readability, and helps your content appear more authoritative and polished.

Our checker currently supports key AP style rules across several categories including punctuation, numbers, dates, abbreviations, capitalization, names, titles, web terminology, and other miscellaneous rules. While we don't cover every AP guideline yet, we're regularly expanding our rule coverage.

Our checker is designed to catch common AP style errors, but like any automated tool, it may not catch every issue or might occasionally flag content that's actually correct in specific contexts. We recommend using it alongside your own knowledge of AP style or having an editor review important content.

This tool is specifically designed for AP style, which is primarily used in journalism and certain professional communications. Academic writing typically follows different style guides like APA, MLA, or Chicago. While some rules overlap, this tool is optimized for AP style specifically.

Our primary focus is on AP style guidelines rather than general grammar. While some AP rules involve grammar elements, comprehensive grammar checking would require additional tools or services specialized for that purpose.

Our punctuation rules include: no Oxford/serial comma, placing periods and commas inside quotation marks, using a single space after periods, applying hyphens in compound modifiers, and avoiding hyphens when modifiers include 'very' or end in 'ly'.

For numbers, we check for: spelling out numbers below 10 while using figures for 10 and above, spelling out numbers that start a sentence, using figures for ages/percentages/dimensions/temperatures/times/dates, using 'noon' and 'midnight' instead of '12 p.m.' and '12 a.m.', and using figures with time (e.g., 4 p.m., 10:30 a.m.).

Our date formatting rules check for: proper month abbreviations with specific dates (Jan. 15), spelling out months when used alone or with only a year (January 2025), omitting commas between month and year when no specific date is mentioned, and using figures for dates without ordinal indicators (not 1st, 2nd, etc.).

For abbreviations, we check for proper AP state abbreviations (different from postal codes), correct use of abbreviations for titles before names (Dr., Gov., Sen.), spelling out titles when they stand alone, and proper abbreviation of company designations (Co., Corp.) in company names.

Our capitalization checks include: capitalizing formal titles when they precede names, lowercasing job descriptions, properly capitalizing proper nouns while keeping common nouns lowercase, and only capitalizing the first word after a colon if it begins a complete sentence.

For names and titles, we check for: using last names on second reference, using courtesy titles only in direct quotes, and proper usage of 'the' before organization names (lowercase unless part of the formal name).

We enforce AP style for digital terminology, including: lowercase 'internet', 'website', and 'webpage', 'email' without a hyphen, and using 'website' rather than 'web site'.

Yes! We're continuously working to expand our rule coverage to make our AP Style Rule Checker more comprehensive. Future updates will include additional rules and refinements to existing checks.

Yes, this tool is designed to help professional journalists, though it should be used as an assistant rather than a replacement for editorial review. Experienced journalists may find it particularly helpful for catching occasional oversights in busy newsroom environments.