P
p.m.; a.m.; noon; midnight
You don’t need to put 12:00 with these; it’s redundant.
Pardoe Drama Theatre
parentheses and brackets (re: italicizing)
If enclosing all italic material—or italic material next to the brackets or parentheses—the brackets or parentheses should also be italic. If only one end of the enclosed material is italic, the brackets or parentheses should be regular type, i.e., roman.
Parents Guide
part
Part A, Part 1, when designating so-labeled sections of applications (but lowercased when referring to part of a book; see 15th Chicago 8.189)
part-time; full-time (adj. and adv.)
PDF; portable document format
PE (not P.E.)
Pell Grant, federal
Pep Band (plays for basketball games; different from Cougar Marching Band)
percentages
In scientific and statistical copy use the symbol % for a percentage; in humanistic copy, the word percent. Whether the word or the symbol is used, the quantity is expressed by a numeral (even 1 percent).
phone numbers
801-422-6767; 801.422.6767; toll-free numbers: 1-800-235-6767; no parentheses around area codes.
Ping-Pong (trademarked name for table tennis); ping-pong (v)
Planetarium, Derrick; and more commonly, BYU Planetarium, Royden G. Derrick Planetarium
plurals
“So far as it can be done without confusion, single or multiple letters, hyphenated coinages, and numbers used as nouns (whether spelled out or in numerals) form the plural by adding s alone” (14th Chicago 6:16). Examples: the three Rs; the early 1920s; thank-you-ma’ams. “To avoid confusion, lowercase letters and abbreviations with two or more interior periods or with both capital and lowercase letters form the plural with an apostrophe and an s” (15th Chicago 7:16). Examples: MA’s and PhD’s; x’s and o’s; SOS’s. Also: dos and don’ts (see also 15th Chicago 7.14).
PO Box (not P.O. Box)
podcast
Point of the Mountain
possessives
- With proper nouns ending in s, add the apostrophe only: Elder Oaks’ talk; with common nouns, add both the apostrophe and the s: the witness’s story. Founders Day, BYU (day for founders); doctor’s orders (orders of the doctor); teachers guide (guide for teachers) 6 hours’ work
Practice Facility, Indoor
Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST)
predental; premedical; prelaw; pre-engineered (Webster’s); pre-engineering
preinternship conditioning
prepositions in titles
Cap when five or more letters (If you follow AP style, cap when four or more letters.)
president
president of BYU, president of the university, president of the Church (when speaking generally), president of the United States, then president (meaning the president at the time; don’t hyphenate), vice president (AP, p. 196, and Webster’s)
President Monson, President-Elect Jones; general president of the Relief Society
President’s Club
President’s Leadership Council
President’s Leadership Council (PLC) for BYU’s Provo campus; however, Presidents’ Leadership Council–Hawaii (PLC–Hawaii) for BYU–Hawaii because the council includes both the president of BYU–Hawaii (BYU–Hawaii) and the president of the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC; no the preceding PCC in copy)
Presidential Citation; Presidential Medallion; President’s Annual Appreciation Award
Press, University
The entity once housed in the University Press Building (UPB) was dissolved in 1984. Today the Print and Mail Production Center offers printing, copying, and mail services. For information regarding use of the BYU Press imprint, contact the academic vice president’s office.
Princeton Review, the (don’t italicize; it is an organization, not a publication)
Print and Mail Production Center (PMPC)
Formerly Print Services, University Press, or “the Press.” For information regarding use of the BYU Press imprint, contact the academic vice president’s office.
printout (n); print out (verb + adv)
problem solving (noun); problem-solving attitude (adj)
Proclamation to the World,” “The Family: A; the proclamation on the family; family proclamation
Professional Certificate (for teachers)
program
Check the BYU Undergraduate Catalog for treatment of specific programs.
Prospective Law Student Evaluation