Test your basic knowledge |

AP Style Vocab

Instructions:

Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.

1. weapons
To introduce clauses Jim blocks the linebacker as he should
A fully automatic gun that fires as long as the trigger is depressed. The form: a .50 caliber Browning machine gun.
These and similar combinations of a letter and figure(s) designate rifles used by the military. The forms: an M-1 rifle - an M-16 rifle
Gun is an acceptable term for any firearm

2. like
No apostrophe
Proper tenses for impel
Preposition to compare nouns and pronouns Jim blocks like a pro
Two Words.

3. titles
Capitalize formal titles directly before a name; lowercase and spell out when they are not used with a person name or after a title
IED is acceptable on second reference. Roadside bomb is preferable
Sanitarium - sanitariums
Take-home pay

4. mortar
Device used to launch a mortar shell; it is the shell - not the mortar - that is fired
Untrue statement - lie -lied -lying
Add s NO APOSTROPHES:1930s - ifs - buts - ands - low 20s - ABCs - Four VIPs
Tattletale

5. teaspoon
Equal to one-sixth of a fluid ounce - or one-third of a tablespoon. The metric equivalent is approximately 5 milliliters
Means in a hopeful manner; never use
It's NOT an apostrophe in the Yemen capital's name. It is a reverse apostrophe - or a single opening quotation mark
Most ending in z or es or s add es: Joneses - Gonzalezes - Charleses

6. Tass

7. capital
Acronym for improvised explosive device. IED is acceptable on second reference. Roadside bomb is preferable
Acceptable on first reference for The Russian government's news agency that is officially ITAR-Tass. ITAR is an acronym for Information Telegraph Agency of Russia. Copy from other parts of the former Soviet Union should carry the logo of the local ag
Describes money - do not capitalize - city where a seat of government is located
Take off - takeoff

8. San Marino
The city in Texas stands alone in datelines
Means to guarantee
A cannon shorter than a gun of the same caliber employed to fire projectiles at relatively high angles at a target - such as opposing forces being a ridge. The form: a 105 mm howitzer
Use alone in datelines on stories from the Republic of San Marino

9. Katmandu
Preferred spelling for the capital of Nepal
A heavy - large-caliber shoulder firearm fired by means of a matchlock - a wheel lock - a flintlock or a percussion lock. Its ammunition is a musket ball
Use singular verb and pronoun 'it' when referring to the team as a collective unit. However - the team name takes a plural verb: The Orlando Magic are close to setting a franchise record
Contain - include all - or embrace

10. salable
Writers or speakers imply in the words they use. A listener or reader infers something from the words
Salable
Tablecloth
Headquarters is in Seoul - South Korea

11. American Petroleum Institute
Trademark for an electronic control device or stun gun. (Acronym for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle)
Try to avoid abbreviations; use apostrophe in master's degree but not in Master of Science; only use B.A. - M.A. - LL.D. and Ph.D. when needed to identify individual on first reference if after a name set off with commas
Preposition to compare nouns and pronouns Jim blocks like a pro
APT is acceptable on second reference. Headquarters is in Reston - Va.

12. century
Indicate position or rank ex No.1 man; don't use in names of schools
Salvo - salvos
It means without preparation of advance thought
Lowercase spell out numbers less than 10

13. K
Preferred to persons as the plural
Use K in references to modern transmission speeds - in keeping with standard usage: a 56K modem (no space after numeral). The abbreviation should not be used to mean 1000 or $1000
No e
Do no abbreviate in datelines or stories. Postal code: ID

14. pore
A firearm that fires only once for each pull of the trigger. It reloads after each shot. The form: a semi-automatic rifle - a semi-automatic weapon - a semi-automatic pistol
Most ending in z or es or s add es: Joneses - Gonzalezes - Charleses
Verb to gaze intently or steadily
DON'T USE IN PRINT

15. refute

16. compose
To stand still
A carriage-mounted cannon
A cannon or other weapon designed for defense against air attack. The form: a 105 mm anti-aircraft gun.
Create or put together

17. buckshot
See shot
Always spell out and use figures and decimals NOT fractions
Contraction for Who is NOT POSSESSIVE
Noun and verb denoting completeness or supplementing something

18. San Diego
A fundamental truth - law - doctrine or motivating force
Introduces two items; between him and her - between you and me
The city in California stands alone in datelines
Acceptable in all forms

19. savings and loan association
Weak-kneed
Use figures. The form: 212-621-1500. For international numbers use 011 (From the United States) - the country code - the city code and the telephone number: 011-44-20-7535-1515. Use hyphens - not periods. The forms for toll free numbers: 800-111-1000
Once limited to accepting deposits and making home mortgage loans - they are not banks. Since enactment of the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery Act in 1989
Use singular verb and pronoun 'it' when referring to the team as a collective unit. However - the team name takes a plural verb: The Orlando Magic are close to setting a franchise record

20. teen - teenager (n.) teenage (adj.)
Twice a year
Do NOT use teenaged
A rifle that is capable of being fired in fully automatic and semi-automatic modes - at the user's option. Designed for - and used by - military forces. Also used by some law enforcement agencies. The form: an M16 assault rifle.
Use Taiwan - not Formosa - in reverences to the government in Taiwan and the island itself

21. more than
The constitutional process accusing an elected official of a crime in an attempt to remove the official from office. Do not use as a synonym for convicted or removed from office
Preferred with numerals
Two words unless used as adjective before a noun in a nautical sense
An Israeli collective settlement. The plural is kibbutzim

22. Accommodate

23. Teflon
A trademark for a type of nonstick coating
Capitalize them
The city in California stands alone in datelines
Take-home pay

24. amnesty
IED is acceptable on second reference. Roadside bomb is preferable
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)
Singular criteria is the plural
See pardon - parole - probation

25. Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Preferred spelling for the capital of Nepal
2 c's and m's
Legal term for slaying or killing

26. in

27. dollars
A firearm that fires only once for each pull of the trigger. It reloads after each shot. The form: a semi-automatic rifle - a semi-automatic weapon - a semi-automatic pistol
Means to guarantee
The standard British gallon - equal to 277.42 cubic inches or about 1.2 US gallons. The metric equivalent is approximately 4.5 liters
Lowercase use figures and $ sign

28. occur - occurred - occurring - occurrence
Contain - include all - or embrace
Anemia - anemic
LEARN SPELLING
Use it to mean one or the other - not both

29. bullet
The spelling for the city in New Brunswick. To distinguish it from St. John's - Newfoundland
Means in a hopeful manner; never use
Contraction for Who is NOT POSSESSIVE
The projectile fired by a rifle - pistol or machine gun. Together with metal casing - primer and propellant - it forms a cartridge

30. Sabbath
To argue to the contrary
Abbreviate St. in the names of saints - cities - and other places: St. Jude - St. Paul - Minn.; St. John's - Newfoundland; St. Lawrence Seaway
Capitalize in religious references; lowercase to mean a period of rest
Plural alumni man who attended a school

31. Academic Degrees

32. Adviser
No O
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)
Equal to three teaspoons or one-half a fluid ounce. The metric equivalent is approximately 15 milliliters
To flow in a continuous stream

33. courtesy titles

34. weak-kneed
Weak-kneed
To receive
Takes singluar verb two people look at each other
The city in Texas stands alone in datelines

35. Talmud
The collection of writings that constitute the Jewish civil and religious law
A unit used to measure the power of nuclear explosions. One kiloton has the explosive force of 1000 tons of TNT. The atomic bomb dropped Aug. 6 - 1945 - on Hiroshima - Japan - in the first use of the bomb as a weapon had an explosive force of 20 kilo
Use figures except for noon and midnight
Headquarters is in Mississauga - Ontario

36. imam
Lowercase when describing the leader of a prayer in a Muslim mosque. Capitalize before a name when used as the formal title for a Muslim leader or ruler
AMA is acceptable on second reference. Also: the medical association - the association. Headquarters is in Chicago
After a girl reach the age 18 use woman or young woman
Firefighter preferred over fireman or firewoman

37. further
IED is acceptable on second reference. Roadside bomb is preferable
Extension of time or degree
Never alright; sometimes all-right as a compound modifier
To argue to the contrary

38. Kansas City
A measurement of the diameter of a gun barrel except for most shotguns. Measurement is in either millimeters or decimal fractions of an inch. The word caliber is not used when giving the metric measurement. The forms: a 9 mm pistol - a .22-caliber ri
Use KANSAS CITY - Kan. - or KANSAS CITY - Mo. - in datelines to avoid confusion between the two
Sacagawea
Device used to launch a mortar shell; it is the shell - not the mortar - that is fired

39. farther
The maxim that between introduces two items and among introduces more than two covers most questions about how to use these words: The funds were divided among Ford - Carter and McCarthy. However - between is the correct word when expressing the rela
The '90s - 1920s
Physical distance
Used to describe those who have entered the country illegally - it is the preferred term - rather than illegal alien or undocumented worker. Do not use the shortened term illegals

40. their - there - they're

41. Imax Corp.
Headquarters is in Mississauga - Ontario
See shot
Tail wind
A firearm typically used to fire small spherical pellets called shot. Shotguns usually have a smooth bore barrel - but some contain a rifled barrel - Which is used to fire a single projectile. Size is measured according to gauge - except for the .410

42. kilocycles
The city in California stands alone in datelines
Abbreviate Ky. in datelines or stories. Postal code: KY
The new term is kilohertz
A fully automatic gun that fires as long as the trigger is depressed. The form: a .50 caliber Browning machine gun.

43. kilobyte
Means to guarantee
A unit of measurement for digital data storage. In the metric system - a kilobyte is 1000 bytes; in computer binary terms - it is 1 -024 bytes. Thus - 64KB means 64 times 1 -024 bytes - or 65 -536 bytes (not 64000). Abbrev.: KB. (similarly - MB for m
In indicates location: He was in the room. Into indicates motion: She walked into the room
This acronym - drawn from the words American travel by track - may be used in all references to the National Railroad Passenger Corp. Do not use AMTRAK. The corporation was established by Congress in 1970 to take over intercity passenger operations f

44. American Stock Exchange
In second reference: the America Exchange - Amex - or the exchange
A carriage-mounted cannon
Salable
To argue to the contrary

45. impeachment
Equal to three teaspoons or one-half a fluid ounce. The metric equivalent is approximately 15 milliliters
The constitutional process accusing an elected official of a crime in an attempt to remove the official from office. Do not use as a synonym for convicted or removed from office
Trademark for an electronic control device or stun gun. (Acronym for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle)
Most ending in z or es or s add es: Joneses - Gonzalezes - Charleses

46. implausible
APT is acceptable on second reference. Headquarters is in Reston - Va.
No O
Implausible
Always use figures. Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or substitute as a noun

47. KGB
LEARN SPELLING
A handgun that can be a single shot or a semi-automatic. It is measured in calibers. The form: a .45-caliber revolver
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
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)

48. as
Equals 1000 hertz (1000 cycles Per second) - replacing kilocycles as the correct term in applications such as broadcast frequencies. Abbrev.: kHz.
To introduce clauses Jim blocks the linebacker as he should
The projectile fired by a rifle - pistol or machine gun. Together with metal casing - primer and propellant - it forms a cartridge
A fully automatic gun that fires as long as the trigger is depressed. The form: a .50 caliber Browning machine gun.

49. shotgun
See Newspaper Association of America
Acceptable on first reference for intercontinental ballistic missile(s) - but the term should be defines in the body of a story. Avoid the redundant ICBM missiles
Proper tenses for impel
A firearm typically used to fire small spherical pellets called shot. Shotguns usually have a smooth bore barrel - but some contain a rifled barrel - Which is used to fire a single projectile. Size is measured according to gauge - except for the .410

50. American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
To exclude
A scale of temperature based on - but different from - the Celsius scale. It is used primarily in science to record very high and very low temperatures. The Kelvin scale starts at zero and indicates the total absence of heat (absolute zero). Zero on
See AT&T Inc.
Use illegal only to mean a violation of the law. Be especially careful in labor management disputes - where one side often calls an action by the other side illegal. Usually it is a charge that a contract or rule - not a law - has been violated