I’ve noticed that some organizations adhere to the AP Style Manual and others the Chicago Manual (or GPO Manual).
Generally speaking, what are the key differences? And do certain types of organizations prefer one to another? Are some people conversant in more than one–and is that analogous to speaking two or more languages?
One that I always remember is that Chicago advocates the use of a comma for the last item of a series, while AP eschews it.
Chicago: I had milk, orange juice, and toast for breakfast.
AP: I had milk, orange juice and toast for breakfast.
AP uses no space between an initialized name, while Chicago uses a space.
Chicago: T. S. Eliot
AP: T.S. Eliot
In AP style, state names are abbreviated whien used in conjunction with cities.
Chicago: I grew up in Chicago, Illinois.
AP: I grew up in Chicago, Ill.
In AP, you spell out numbers from one to nine and use figures for everything else (unless the number begins a sentence.) In Chicago Style, you spell out numbers up to a hundred.
I’d have to look it up, but I remember AP and Chicago have slightly different views on the use of the possessive apostrophe-“s”.
Also, for reasons unbeknownst to me, AP insists on hypenating teen-ager. Almost all newspaper stylebooks I’ve seen make exception to that particular rule.
AP is mostly suited towards newspapers, where brevity and clarity are valued above everything. Chicago Style is pretty much used for everything else.
I can’t think of any examples, but I think there is also a slight difference in the typesetter’s marks used in each when copyediting. The different styles often have slight variations in their “standard” markings.
I haven’t used Chicago Manual in years, though I am asked to use AP for virtually everything - press releases, Web copy, marketing collateral, etc.