The Block M Twitter Account Style Guide

Basic Conventions, Guidelines and Recommendations

• ● We refer to Michigan teams in just two ways: “Michigan” and “the Wolverines.”
• ● We use contractions, except in the past participle. See more under “Grammar.”

● The first score directly referenced in any post about a game should be the final score of the game. Any prior reference to the score should be done in terms of margin.

○ Ex: Villanova led by nine at the half, but pulled away to win 79-62.

• ● We do NOT use the Oxford Comma

• ○ It turns out we give a fuck. Lists of three things are punctuated as such: A, B and C.
• ○ Ex: Our Oxford Comma convention is annoying, misleading and frustrating.

But: The comma is used to separate two complete clauses (which could stand alone as sentences)

○ Ex: Our Oxford Comma convention is annoying, misleading, and nobody likes it.

• Remember we are Michigan fans, but don’t get carried away
• Go beyond the score, location, and opponent

• Every sports game-story has something more to it
• Who had a good night? Was there a game defining play?

• Remember to tag relevant teams

Tone

● While we use contractions, Daily sports writing should still maintain a formal style and avoid vernacular, slang and casual tone.

○ Ex. of things to avoid, in your own words: guys/girls, amazing, awesome, cool, dumb, stupid, destroyed, etc.

Punctuation/Capitalization

● Punctuation goes inside quotes, and there is always some type of punctuation at the end of a quote.

○ Ex: “We didn’t play well,” Howard said. “It was disappointing.”

● Positions and years (i.e. sophomore, forward) are not capitalized.

○ Ex: The ball fell into the hands of senior forward Kayla Robbins.

● Specific event titles are capitalized, but general references to non-specific events or titles aren’t.

• ○ Ex: The Wolverines will host Indiana for the Michigan Invitational Tournament
• ○ Ex: Michigan’s 24 tournament appearances ... (tournament is not capitalized)
• ○ Ex: Michigan will play in the Big Ten Championship Game on Wednesday.
• ○ Ex: Michigan swimming won its third straight Big Ten championship.

● Ellipses: Only use them when you need to. Use three dots with spaces before and after when skipping portions of a quote. Depending on the quote, a period can end the first portion if it comes at the end of a sentence.

• ○ Ex: “It was fun. ... I can’t imagine we’ll be doing that again anytime soon, though.”
• ○ Ex: “I love Ethan, but sometimes he can be a little bit cranky, whiny ... even flat-out annoying.”

Referring to People, Teams and Organizations

• ● Note: positions of any type and class standings
• ● Introduce Michigan athletes using the following format: year position first last
• ○ Ex: Junior guard Eli Brooks is cool.

• ○ The year and position are not capitalized unless they begin the sentence
• ○ Injury status goes at the beginning. We use “redshirt” except for seniors, who are “fifth-year”

• Ex: Redshirt sophomore first baseman Rian Ratnavale
• Ex: Fifth-year senior defensive tackle Carlo Kemp

○ Tricky side note: sometimes players spend a full year injured, but don’t officially use their redshirt year until later in their career, or it’s unclear whether coaches intend to give them a fifth year. In that case, refer to them by their actual class standing. I.e., a “sophomore” can have never played due to injury.

○ Once they’ve been introduced, refer to players and coaches only by their last name

• ○ Head coaches are referred to only as “coach.” Lowercase, always.
• ○ Ex: Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico

● Non-head coaches are referred to by their specific position

• ○ Ex: Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown

• ● Introduce opposing teams players in the following format: (team, if it’s not obvious) position first last
• Ex: Illinois forward Kipper Nichols
• ● Height: Our convention is as follows: feet-foot-inches, with feet and inches numerated even though the numbers are below 10

○ Ex: Mike Persak is 7-foot-4.

Referencing Teams:

• ● Switch back and forth between using “school name” and “mascot” ○ Ex: The Wolverines’ defense kept them in the game until late in the second half, but in the end, Michigan couldn’t finish the job.

• ○ The same convention applies for opposing teams, but if you’re writing a single article about multiple events, make sure it’s clear which mascot belongs to which team.

● Michigan is singular, and therefore referred to as “it”. When referencing either “the team” or a school’s name, use “it”. Whenever referencing a mascot, use they.

• ○ Ex: While Michigan’s passing game was impressive, its ground game was nonexistent.

• ○ Ex: The Wolverines were able to control the line of scrimmage. They rushed for 250 yards.

Numbers

● Numbers below ten are spelled out

• ● Numbers at the beginning of a sentence are spelled out, if it takes less than three words
• ○ Ex: Three hundred forty high schoolers received scholarship offers from Harbaugh.

● Two-word numbers below 100 use a dash

○ Ex: Eighty-three times, now, Michigan lost to Kennesaw State in jousting.

● A shot worth three points in basketball is a 3-pointer, not a three-pointer

• ● A ball hit over the fence in baseball or softball is a home run. If more than one run scored on the play, reference it as a x-run home run, with the number spelled out.
• ○ Ex: Uden hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning.

● Innings: Spell them out, assuming the game doesn’t go more than nine innings.

○ Ex: The bottom of the fifth inning was important, but not as important as the top of the 22nd.

Grammar

● When two words modify a third, a dash goes between them (exception: adverbs and “first/second half”, or “top two”)

• ○ Ex: Bajema converted the easy fast-break layup.

○ Ex: Michigan’s quickly fading hopes took another hit (note no dash between “quickly” and “fading” because quickly is an adverb)

○ Michigan’s top two wrestlers are named Joe and Josephine (note no dash between “top” and two”)

● “Either” always goes with “or”, “neither” always goes with “nor”

● When referencing two players and their statistical performances, always include “respectively” after the sentence .

○ Ex: Hillmon and Dilk scored 12 and 14 points, respectively.

● Possessives and the letter s: In the singular, use ’s to indicate possession

○ Ex: Simpson’s 19 points paced the Wolverines

● In the plural, use only an apostrophe

○ Ex: The Wolverines’ luck had officially run out.

● Remember they’re/their/there

• ● Remember its/it’s (its is possessive, it’s is short for “it is”)
• ● People are who, objects are that/which
• ○ Ex: Michigan, which has won its last 11 games, blah blah

• ○ Ex: Marcovitch — a player who exemplifies hot-headedness and poor attitude — has a 1.3 GPA. (many people would write “Marcovitch, a player that...”)

● Schools are not people. Michigan is “it”, not “they”

• ● Long dashes: use them when what lies between them can be cut out without affecting the integrity of the sentence. Use spaces on both ends of long dashes. See above example about Marcovitch’s GPA.
• ● Only goes with one. Just goes with a number greater than one.
• ○ Ex: Prior to Thursday, Michigan had just two wins.

• ○ Ex: Prior to Tuesday, Michigan had only one win.

● Who’s can only be a contraction for “who is,” NOT “who has”

• ○ Ex: Ethan Wolfe, who’s an excellent skier, loves Troy.

• ○ Ex: Laney Byler, who has been a wonderful MSE, is a genuinely wonderful human being.

Dates

● Months are spelled out unless they’re listed with a specific date. Use only numbers for dates — “15” or “22”, not “15th” or “22nd”

• ○ Ex: Paige Voeffray’s favorite day is Feb. 12.

• ○ Ex: Theo was born in January 2006.

● Datelines — If you were at an event that wasn’t in Ann Arbor, start your story with the city in ALL CAPS, a comma and the AP-style abbreviation for the state. Big Ten cities stand alone, as do AP standalone cities and cities within Michigan.

• ○ Ex: SIOUX FALLS, Ind. — This is the beginning of this story

• ○ Ex: PISCATAWAY — This is the beginning of this story
• ○ Ex: DETROIT — This is the beginning of this story