The plural of an abbreviation is formed by adding an s, even if the spelled-out form contains a plural term: prisoners of war (POWs) runs batted… Read More
MLA publications generally follow the American spelling preferences listed in Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged. When you are writing a paper for a… Read More
In general, lowercase generic forms of proper nouns: the United States Army, the army President Kennedy, the president the Brooklyn Bridge, the bridge Housatonic River,… Read More
The spelling of a title should almost never be corrected, especially by students, even when the title seems to include an error. Sometimes the “error”… Read More
No. In MLA style, brackets are generally only used to add material or show visible alterations, not to indicate omissions.1 So when attempting to fit… Read More
Authorities disagree about the name Presidents' Day . . . Read More
If the name of an academic press contains the words University Press, use the abbreviation UP in the publisher’s name, as indicated in the MLA Handbook (97):… Read More
Someone might write, for example, “There are too many sos in this sentence,” in response to: So many people were present, so he said so,… Read More
MLA style, which follows Merriam-Webster, does not use hyphens after most prefixes. We would write, for example, antiestablishment, coauthor, nonlinear, and prealgebra. A hyphen is needed, however, before a capital letter… Read More