AP Style - KLM

KGB

Acceptable on first reference, but the story should contain a phrase identifying it as the former Russian secret police and intelligence agency.

The initials stand for the Russian words meaning Committee for State Security.

kindegarten, kindergarteners

But pre-K, K-12.

king, queen

Capitalize only when used before the name of royalty: King Felipe VI, the late Queen Elizabeth II. In subsequent references, use only the given name: Felipe, Elizabeth.

Lowercase king and queen when they stand alone; The queen’s birthday is Monday.

Kitty Litter

A brand of absorbent material used in cat litter boxes. Use a generic term such as cat litter.

Kleenex

A trademark for a brand of facial tissue.

K-9

references dogs, especially police dogs

Koran

Use Quran in all references except when preferred by an organization or in a specific title or name

Korea

The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war, divided by the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea. On follow-ups, the North and the South are acceptable.

Korean War

But lowercase Korean conflict.

K-pop

Music performed by music stars and bands originating from South Korea.

kudos

It means credit or praise for an achievement. The word is singular and takes singular verbs.

Ku Klux Klan

But each may be referred to as the Ku Klux Klan. The klan or the KKK may be used on second reference.

Labor Day

The first Monday in September.

lady

Do not use as a synonym for woman. Lady may be used when it is a title for members of the nobility

lake

Capitalize as part of a proper name: Lake Erie, Canandaigua Lake, the Finger Lakes. Lowercase in plural uses: lakes

last

Avoid the use of last as a synonym for latest if it might imply finality. The last time it rained

lawsuit

Civil lawsuit is redundant

lay, lie

The action word is lay. It takes a direct object. Laid is the form for its past tense and its past participle. Its present participle is laying.

When lie means to make an untrue statement, the verb forms are lie, lied, lying.

lecturn, podium, pulpit, rostrum

A speaker stands behind a lectern, on a podium or rostrum, or in the pulpit.

LEED

Acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the rating system used by the U.S. Green Building Council to measure a building’s sustainability and resource-efficiency

left wing, left-winger, left-wing

(n.) left-winger (n.) left-wing (adj.) Generally try to avoid in describing political leanings.

legislative bodies

In general, capitalize the proper name of a specific legislative body abroad: the Knesset, the Diet. Congress, National Assembly

legislative titles

Use Rep., Reps., Sen. and Sens. as formal titles before one or more names. Spell out and lowercase representative and senator in other uses.

Spell out other legislative titles in all uses. Capitalize formal titles such as chair, city councilor, delegate, etc., when they are used before a name. Lowercase in other uses.

Add U.S. or state before a title only if necessary to avoid confusion

legislature

Capitalize when preceded by the name of a state: the Kansas Legislature.

Retain capitalization when the state name is dropped but the reference is specifically to that state's legislature:

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Both houses of the Legislature adjourned Wednesday.

lieutanant governor

Capitalize and abbreviate as Lt. Gov. or Lt. Govs. when used as a formal title before one or more names both insides quotations

lightning

The electrical discharge.

light-year

The distance that light travels in one year at the rate of 186,282 miles per second. It works out to about 5.88 trillion miles (5,878,612,800,000 miles).

like, as

Use like as a preposition to compare nouns and pronouns. It requires an object: Jim blocks like a pro.

The conjunction as is the correct word to introduce clauses: Jim blocks the linebacker as he should.

local

Avoid the irrelevant use of the word.

Irrelevant: The injured people were taken to a local hospital.

Better: The injured people were taken to a hospital.

login, logon, logoff

(n.) But use as two words in verb form: I log in to my computer.

-ly

Do not use a hyphen between adverbs ending in -ly and adjectives they modify: an easily remembered rule, a badly damaged island, a fully informed voter.

Lyme disease

An inflammatory disease caused by a tick bite

mad cow disease

Acceptable for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, a progressive neurological disease that afflicts cattle. The disorder caused in humans by eating meat from diseased cattle is called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Mafia

Secret criminal organization operating mainly in the U.S. and Italy and engaged in illegal activities such as gambling, drug-dealing and prostitution. Lowercase as a synonym for organized crime.

magazine names

Capitalize the initial letters of the name but do not place it in quotes. Lowercase magazine unless it is part of the publication's formal title: Harper's Magazine, Newsweek magazine, Time magazine

magistrate

Capitalize when used as a formal title before a name. Use magistrate judge when referring to the fixed-term judge who presides in U.S. District Court and handles cases referred by U.S. district judges.

majority leader

Capitalize when used as a formal title before a name: Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Lowercase elsewhere.

majority, plurality

Majority means more than half of an amount.

Plurality means more than the next highest number

manager

Capitalize when used as a formal title before a name: City Manager Dick O'Connell

mantel, mantle

A mantel is a shelf. A mantle is a cloak

marijuana, cannabis

The terms marijuana and cannabis may be used interchangeably. The term pot is acceptable in headlines and generally in stories, though it may not be appropriate in some stories.

Marines

Capitalize when referring to U.S. forces: the U.S. Marines, the Marines, the Marine Corps, Marine regulations. Do not use the abbreviation USMC.

Capitalize Marine when referring to an individual in the Marine Corps unit: He is a Marine.

Use former Marine not ex-Marine for dishonorable discharge

marshal, marshaled, marshalling, Marshall

Marshal is the spelling for both the verb and the noun: Marilyn will marshal her forces. Erwin Rommel was a field marshal.

Marshall is used in proper names: George C. Marshall, John Marshall, the Marshall Islands.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Federal holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was born Jan. 15, 1929, is on the third Monday in January.

Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration

Abbreviated M.A., M.S., but MBA. A master's degree or a master's is acceptable in any reference.

Medal of Honor

The nation's highest military honor, awarded by Congress for risk of life in combat beyond the call of duty. Use Medal of Honor recipient or a synonym, but not winner.

There is no Congressional Medal of Honor.

media

Generally takes a plural verb, as a reference to more than one individual organization. Try to avoid writing in a way that implies media are monolithic.

Medicaid

The federal-state health care insurance program that helps pay for health care for low-income people of any age.

Medicare

The federal health care insurance program for people aged 65 and over, and for the disabled.

mental illness

Do not describe an individual as having a mental illness unless it is clearly pertinent to a story and the diagnosis is properly sourced.

Memorial Day

The federal legal holiday is the last Monday in May.

Middle Ages

A.D. 476 to approximately A.D. 1450.

Middle East

The term generally applies to southwest Asia west of Pakistan and Afghanistan (Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the eastern part of Turkey known also as Asia Minor, United Arab Emirates and Yemen), and northeastern Africa (Egypt and Sudan).

middle initials

Include middle initials in stories where they help identify a specific individual. Examples include casualty lists and stories naming someone accused in a crime

middle names

Use them only with people who are publicly known that way (James Earl Jones), or to prevent confusion with people of the same name.

midnight

Avoid using the term if it would create ambiguity about what day something is taking place, since some users’ understandings may vary. Instead: 11:59 p.m. Thursday or 12:01 a.m. Friday.

Midwest

Use Midwest, not Middle West, for the 12-state region as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Capitalize adjective Midwestern. Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio

miles per gallon

The abbreviation mpg is acceptable in all references when paired with a figure: The car got 40 mpg. But write out in general uses: “My car gets a lot of miles per gallon,”

miles per hour

The abbreviation mph is acceptable in all references. No hyphen when used with a figure: 60 mph

military titles

On first reference, use the appropriate title before the full name of a member of the military.

In subsequent references, do not continue using the title before a name. Use only the last name.

millions, billions, trillions

uses: I'd like to make a billion dollars. But: The nation has 1 million citizens. I need $7 billion. The government ran a deficit of more than $1 trillion.

Do not go beyond two decimal places. 7.51 million people, $256 billion, 7,542,500 people, $2,565,750,000. Decimals are preferred where practical: 1.5 million. Not: 1 1/2 million.

minister

Where it is a formal title, it should be capitalized before the name: Minister John Jones.

minority leader

Capitalize when used as a formal title before a name: Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Lowercase elsewhere.

mishap

A minor misfortune. People are not killed in mishaps.

misinformation, fact checks, fake news

The term misinformation refers to false information shared about a particular topic that could be mistaken as truth.

Avoid the term fake news other than when directly quoting someone using the term. Alternative wording includes false reports, erroneous reports.

missile names

Use Arabic figures and capitalize the proper name but not the word missile: Pershing 2 missile.

months

Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.

January 2016 was a cold month. Jan. 2 was the coldest day of the month. His birthday is May 8. Feb. 14, 2013, was the target date. She testified that it was Friday, Dec. 3, when the crash occurred.

monuments

Capitalize the popular names of monuments and similar public attractions: Lincoln Memorial

Mother’s Day

the second Sunday in May

mother-in-law, mothers-in-law,

mother-in-law, mothers-in-law,

Mother Nature

Mother Nature

mount

Spell out in all uses, including the names of communities and of mountains: Mount Clemens, Michigan; Mount Everest.

mountains

Capitalize as part of a proper name: Appalachian Mountains, Ozark Mountains, Rocky Mountains.

Or simply: the Appalachians, the Ozarks, the Rockies.

MRI

Acceptable in all references for magnetic resonance imaging, a noninvasive diagnostic procedure used to render images of the inside of an object.

Muhammad

The chief prophet and central figure of the Islamic religion, the Prophet Muhammad. On first reference, the Prophet Muhammad is preferred. On later references, the prophet and Muhammad are acceptable if the context is clea

mujahedeen

Lowercase when using the Arabic for holy warriors; uppercase if it is part of the name of a group. The Iranian opposition group is Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. The singular for holy warrior is mujahed.

mullah

An Islamic leader or teacher, often a general title of respect for a learned man.

Murphy’s law

The law is: If something can go wrong, it will.

music

Capitalize, but do not use quotation marks, on descriptive titles for orchestral works: Bach's Suite No. 1 for Orchestra;

Use quotation marks for nonmusical terms in a title: Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony. If the work has a special full title, all of it is quoted: "Symphonie Fantastique," "Rhapsody in Blue."

In subsequent references, lowercase symphony, concerto, etc.