Why do some contributors persistently write on two sides of a sheet, instead of one? Why do they use the short and (&) instead of spelling the word out properly? Why do they contract yours into yrs, and month into mo and Jesus Christ into J Xt? These abbreviations are all very well in private correspondence, where cd, wd, shd, wh, weh, can be understood as standing for could, would, should, with, which, and your friend can jump at your meaning; but when you write for the press, your manuscript should indicate precisely what you wish to appear in print.
Spell your words correctly. You have no right to assume that the typesetter will know how to spell better than yourself. If he does, lucky for you; but do not presume upon his knowledge.
Never put a dash (—) where you want only a comma (,) or a period (.) or semi-colon (;) or a colon (:). Never write parentheses (—) where you want brackets [ — ], for their significance is quite different. Never underscore a word (thus) unless you wish it put in Italics (thus) . Remember, if you put two lines under a word (thus), it means, to the printer, that you want the word printed in small capitals (thus). Three lines beneath a word or letter mean ordinary capitals, the large ones (THUS).
