• The singular form of “data” is “datum,” a word that has become almost totally obsolete in American English. Although it sounds strange when we read or hear that “the data are all in support,” it’s very correct to use “are” with a plural verb. But pundits who get carried away changing “data is” to “data are” every time they see it should think twice. The Oxford Dictionary and other authoritative sources note that because “datum” is no longer used in American English, “data” is also used “as an equivalent to the uncountable noun information” and in those instances it’s correct to say “data is.”
• The abbreviation “etc.” is short for et cetera. The abbreviation translates to English as “and other things.” That means it’s redundant to precede “etc.” with “and.” And because the literal translation of “etc.” is “and other things,” the abbreviation shouldn’t be used to refer to people (NOT “John, Paul, Ringo, etc.”).
• The Latin expression meaning “Ante meridian” is usually abbreviated in English as “a.m.” and the Latin for "after noon," post meridian is usually abbreviated p.m. Some style manuals go along with “AM” and “PM.” But the “AM” and “PM” should be small capitals, and small capitals are special characters, not just capitals a couple point sizes smaller than the font size used elsewhere as body text. That makes “a.m.” and “p.m.” the best choice (unless you’re going to go to the trouble to make “AM” and “PM” as small capitals). Regardless which abbreviation you use, there is always a space between the Arabic number indicating the time and the abbreviation that follows (never “8a.m. or “8PM”).
• The Latin expression “et alii” translates to English as “and others,” and is abbreviated “et al.” Because “et” is not abbreviated, there is no period after the word, but there is a period after the abbreviation for alii, “al.”
• The abbreviations for the Latin expressions “id est” (“i.e.”) and “exempli gratia” (“e.g.”) are often confused. “Id est” (and the abbreviated translation, “i.e.”) means “in other words.” “Exempli gratia” (and the abbreviated expression “e.g.”) means “for example.” The abbreviation “i.e.” should be used when a statement clarifies or restates one that has preceded it: “Faculty members all have copies of the SAES Strategic Plan, i.e., the booklet that was distributed.....” The abbreviation “e.g.” should be used when introducing a list that is not intended to be comprehensive, just some examples: “Faculty and staff must pay attention to the Internal Control Guidelines when they take possession of any electronic device, e.g., cell phones or laptop computers....” When using “i.e.” and “e.g.,” set the abbreviations off with commas both before the clause they append and the clause they introduce.
• Do not italicize “et al.,” “i.e.” or “e.g.” One Latin word that appears frequently that is usually italicized is “sic.” “Sic,” which translates literally as “thus so,” is used when there is an error (grammatical or otherwise) in a quoted passage and writers borrowing material want to indicate that they are aware of the mistake. In a direct quotation, “sic” should be inserted immediately following the faux pas in brackets (not parenthesis) and italicized. For example: John Doe is another newspaper reporter who writes “The North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service [sic] has specialists at A&T and N.C. State.”
• When writing genus and species — the Latin names — of plants and animals, capitalize the genus name but not the species name, i.e., Escherichia coli, Galax urceolata and Canis lupus familiaris. After using the full name once, most style manuals approve of abbreviating genus down to one letter, i.e, E. Coli (but retain italics).
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