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The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage

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The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage
The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, 2015 edition
Editor
  • The New York Times Editors (1851–1949)
  • Robert E. Garst (1950-1956)
  • Lewis Jordan (1962-1972)
  • Allan Siegal & William Connolly (1999-2002)
  • Philip B. Corbett, Jill Taylor, Patrick LaForge, and Susan Wessling (2015)
AuthorThe New York Times Editors
Cover artistMimi Park
LanguageEnglish
SubjectStyle guide
GenreJournalism reference
PublisherThree Rivers Press
Publication date
1950 (first edition); revised 1974, 1999, 2002, 2015
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (paperback), Digital
ISBN978-1101905449

The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage is a style and usage guide to American English grammar and journalistic writing, developed by editors and journalists of The New York Times. It provides detailed guidelines for writing and editing across the newspaper’s publications.

First compiled in 1895, the manual has been regularly updated, with the most recent public edition released in 2015.[1]

History

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The New York Times was established as the New-York Daily Times in 1851.[2] To ensure consistency among reporters, a style guide was created in 1895.[3]

In 1928, the guide was distributed as a 70-page pamphlet, and by 1937 it had expanded to a 99-page booklet.[4]

The first hardcover edition appeared in 1950 under the title Style Book of The New York Times, edited and revised by editor Robert E. Garst.[5] This edition was reprinted in 1956.

In 1962, Lewis Jordan, then news editor of The New York Times, reorganized the guide into The New York Times Style Book for Writers and Editors, presenting it as an alphabetical reference.[6] This format has since influenced much of the wider journalism industry. Jordan’s 1972 revision gave the guide its modern name.

Further revisions were made in 1999 by Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly, expanding the guide to 365 pages. This edition disavowed racial slurs and encouraged the use of respectful language for all groups. Placeholder names in examples, previously standardized as “John Manley,” were updated to reflect diverse surnames.[7] Siegal and Connolly also contributed to the 2002 edition.

The online version of the style guide, the New York Times Stylebook, became available in 1999 for use by Times writers and editors.[8]

The 2015 edition of The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage was revised and updated by Philip B. Corbett, senior editor and overseer of the stylebook,[9] with assistance from Jill Taylor, Patrick LaForge, and Susan Wessling.

Style

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Style guides

The New York Times Manual has various differences from the more influential Associated Press Stylebook. As some examples, the NYT Manual:

  • Uses "'s" for possessives, regardless of whether the word or name ends in s.
  • Gives rationales for many practices for which AP simply states a rule.
  • Is strictly alphabetical and thus self-indexed, while AP has separate sections for sports and weather entries, and combines many entries under such terms as "weapons."
  • Has some whimsical entries – such as one for how to spell shh – in contrast to AP's drier, more utilitarian format (though the NYT book is not alone in its tone among journalistic style guides).[clarification needed]
  • Requires that the surnames of subjects be prefixed with a courtesy title (such as Dr., Mr., Ms., or Mrs.). Since about 2015, courtesy titles have not been used in sports pages, pop culture, or fine arts. After the first use of honorifics denoting posts (such as President or Professor, but not Dr.) in an article, the person is subsequently referred to by an egalitarian courtesy title[clarify] (e.g. 'President Biden' then 'Mr. Biden').
  • Uses its own style for abbreviations rather than deferring to common usage; for example, the National Football League is abbreviated NFL in most sources but N.F.L. in The New York Times.

References

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  1. ^ "The Elements of the Stylebook (Published 2018)". March 22, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  2. ^ Berger, Meyer (1851–1951). The Story of the New York Times. New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1299858686. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  3. ^ The NYT Open Team (July 25, 2017). "Objectively Stylish". Medium. Archived from the original on June 19, 2025. Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  4. ^ "The history of The New York Times stylebook". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  5. ^ Garst, Robert E. (1956). Style Book of The New York Times. New York City: The New York Times.
  6. ^ "LEWIS JORDAN, RETIRED NEWS EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, IS DEAD (Published 1983)". November 18, 1983. Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  7. ^ "William G. Connolly, Editor Who Updated The Times, Dies at 86 (Published 2023)". December 14, 2023. Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  8. ^ Kallaur, Andrei (August 26, 2016). "Putting {Style} into the Online New York Times Stylebook". The New York Times Company.
  9. ^ "Philip B. Corbett". The New York Times Company. August 31, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2025.

Further reading

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