My 5 Favorite Rules to Reference in CMOS

Welcome to The Modern Editor Podcast, where we talk about all things editing and what it’s like to run an editorial business in today’s world. I’m your host, Tara Whitaker. Let’s get to it.

Hello there. Welcome back to the podcast. So I’ve been very deep in the editing cave lately and will be for the foreseeable future. And every time I get in my little editing cave, I have my trusty resources out, right? All editors do.

And the one I always have out is The Chicago Manual of Style, or CMOS. I use the online version. I do have a hard copy, but I have just gotten used to the online version, because I know that I’m going to need to check eleventy billion rules for the eleventy billionth time.

And it got me thinking about how it’s so cool that we all check different things when editing, right? Because we’re all different. We all use different resources. Some of us use CMOS, some AP, or another style guide. Some use Merriam-Webster, some use the Oxford Dictionary, or tons of others. We all work on different genres and types of content, and we all have those things that we have to check because, for whatever reason, we either can’t remember them, or can’t grasp them, or just need extra help.

And I certainly have a lot of these. But for funsies, I thought I would share five of them. So five of the rules in CMOS that I have to check all the time because I just cannot remember them or need a refresher. Or there’s just, it’s just too big of a rule to learn and remember all of it.

So I’ll remind you at the end too, but I want to hear the rules and the words and things that you look up to. Cause I’m nosy. What can I say? And I love behind-the-scenes type things. And I think it’s just fun to talk about.

And remember, there’s no judgment here in the community. So you might hear me mention a rule and be like, How do you know that? Because I’m human. And there’s just some things that my brain refuses to acknowledge or remember. And I have a sneaky suspicion that you’re going to have some of those too. We’re all friends here. No judgment.

All right, let’s dive in. First, I’ll give you a little heads-up about what I edit. At this point in my career, I copyedit, proofread, and cold read, and I mostly do romance and thriller, suspense, and crime.

So I’m in CMOS 99 percent of the time. But I have crossed over, and I have referenced an AP rule a time or two when I needed some backup. But for the most part, I’m a CMOS girl. And in CMOS, there are three parts, or sections, and I live in Part 2, particularly, I guess we’re going to call them Chapters 5–10 and 12.

The rest are more geared toward nonfiction, like citations, and things that don’t apply to the majority of my projects, so I don’t have to use them. But like I said before, because we’re all different, you might reference other sections that I don’t. And that’s totally fine.

But we’ll kick off with the number one referenced rule for me is the hyphenation guide. For those of you who don’t know, CMOS just released their 18th edition. At the time of this episode recording, I think, gosh, I think it happened toward the end of 2024. So I’ve been in CMOS 17, as you all have, for a very long time. And in that edition, the hyphenation guide was 7.89. Now it is 7.96. So we have to relearn all these rule numbers, but that’s okay.

Back in the day, during CMOS 17, there was actually a PDF version that they had available and I can’t seem to find it now. I don’t know if they moved it or if it’s just not there, but I had that PDF printed out and I had it bookmarked on my computer because I use it all the time.

And speaking of bookmarks, real quick side note, did you know that you can bookmark within CMOS in the online version? I didn’t realize this until, it’s been a few years now, but I had used the online version for years and never knew this. So if you were not aware of it, like I was, at the bottom of every rule page, there’s this little red flag with a plus sign on it. And you can click it, and that makes it bookmarked in your account.

And then, you can also click the little pencil that’s next to that flag icon, and you can add your own notes and comments and stuff that save within your own CMOS account. Which is pretty nifty. So if you need, like a specific reminder, or if you’ve looked up a word before, or a hyphenation, or whatever, and it’s not necessarily in CMOS, but you want to keep it in there for future reference, that is a perfect place to put it.

So anyways, back to the hyphenation guide. The thing is huge. It’s huge. You’re like scrolling so long it’s impossible to remember every single guideline. But I know that I will have to check this page every single edit. Every single time. And if you really want to get nitty-gritty, I always have to check half. Like, when to use a hyphen with half. And heights. So he was six-foot-two or whatever. I always have to look those up.

And there’s always some variation of a height that the author uses that’s not in CMOS. And I’m like, ugh, I don’t know what to do. It’s one of those things, right? If I could download any rule into my brain and have it accessible with a snap of my fingers, it would be hyphens and one other one that I’m going to mention later. Oof, hyphens is my big one.

My second one is, now it’s called, or maybe it was called this before, but in particular CMOS 18, it’s the Glossary of Problematic Words and Phrases, which is 5.254. So back in CMOS 17, this used to be 5.250. And it was called good usage versus common usage. I think I have that right.

Maybe I couldn’t find, like a good usage versus common usage anywhere in the new version, but if I missed it, let me know cause it’s a big one. [Note here: I did miss it! It’s the section that rule 5.254 is under. Whoops!] Or I should say common, excuse me. Good usage versus common usage is like the overarching chapter. And then 5.254, which is the problematic words, is underneath that.

If that didn’t make any sense, grab your hard copy or your online copy and check it out. And it’ll make sense when you see it. But this section, if you think the hyphenation guide is huge, this one is a beast. If you are unsure of where to look for something in CMOS, especially if it’s the difference between two or three words, start here. Start here in this section.

It goes over so many different things. Affect versus effect, if you should use onto as one word, on to as two words or on. And then my personal nemesis, lay versus lie. I have come to terms with the fact that I will never use the right version of those stinking words.

Like I could have a whole episode on my hate for lay versus lie, but I’ll reserve that for later, but I’m in this section all the time. And special props to Bryan Garner, the author of all of section five or chapter five, because it is a thorough section and it had to have taken so much time and energy and effort. So thank you, Mr. Garner, for this lovely section in CMOS.

All right. Now, number three, this one is a little bit specific to me because of what I edit. So it is the titles and offices section, which starts at 8.20. Because I edit a lot of crime fiction, there’s a lot of titles and ranks for the police and the military and things like that.

And I always need to double-check when something needs to be capitalized or not. For the most part I have it now because I’ve been editing crime fiction for so long, but there are still a few that get thrown in that I’m like, wait a minute, should that be capitalized or does it need to be lowercased?

It’s really for me to just double-check and make sure I’m doing it right because there are so many different titles out there. Not even just in the US, but I edit a lot of British crime fiction and I’m like, I’m not as super familiar with those other than editing the books and watching multiple TV shows. But yeah, I just use 8.20, that section, starting there for a lot of titles and ranks. 

Number four, commas. Flippin’ commas. Need I say more? I could probably just end there and you would totally get what I mean. But this is the other rule I mentioned that if I could have it permanently seared into my brain, I would.

But then when I thought about that, I was like, actually, no, because there are so many rules around commas, and I don’t want to reserve precious brain space for those. So can we just use commas when it feels right, or remove one when it feels right? You know how when people are cooking on the internet or whatever, and they’re like, measure with your heart when they just say throw something in, like vanilla, or some spice or whatever? Can we just do commas with our hearts? If we feel like it needs to have one, just throw it in there. More often than not, though, I think we should remove them, because I think people get a little comma happy, and then it’s too much.

But anyways, the one thing I will say for commas, though, I am serial comma for life, period. I will accept no other arguments, AP people, zip it. Just kidding. But I am a serial comma user. That’s the only comma that I will like, really get into, otherwise, use them with your heart.

And last but not least, for me it’s possessives. In particular, plural possessives, which is 7.17. I do not know why, but the stinking Ss and ESs always trip me up.

Like one of the examples in CMOS is the Williamses’ house. My brain wants to be like, the Williamsesesese and just add like 14 Ss on the end, and then I’m like, Is it S? Is it ES? Is it SES? Apostrophe? Don’t ask me why my brain says it like that. But anytime I see something like that, it just adds a million S‘s, or zzzz sounds.

But the one thing I know that is never possessive is the last name of a family. On a holiday card, or a yard sign, or a piece of artwork. That one I know. That one is seared in my brain. I actually have an Instagram post I did, I think four or five years ago, that still gets views every holiday season, which is wild to me. But yeah, that’s basically the only possessive I know not to use, is when it’s used for something like that.

So that’s it. Those are my five favorite and frequently looked-up rules or sections in CMOS. I hope you liked a little behind-the-scenes of my editing routine and learn a little bit about, you know, how an editor brain worksm or in my case sometimes doesn’t work. And like I mentioned before, I’d love to hear your favorite rules or the things that you’re like, Oh, my gosh, why can’t I remember this lay and lie for me?

I think it’s funny. I think it’s interesting. I’m not here to judge or be like, oh my gosh, how can you not remember that? I promise you none of that will come out of my mouth. I will laugh and commiserate with you because we all have those things. Even if you’ve been in business for years, lay versus lie, still. I’m never going to get it. It’s okay. I excel at other things. Lay versus lie, not one of them. And you’re going to have those too, and that’s totally fine. Doesn’t make you any less of an editor or business owner. It just makes you a human being.

Mentioning, or going back to when I mentioned the editing cave earlier, I love my editing cave. I get into a physical, put up my hoodie, put my headphones on, blanket kind of thing. It inspired me to actually work with a graphic designer to create an editing cave sticker. Which I think is so fun and I love them so much. And so we created that one and then I had three other fun editing-related stickers created as well.

So if you are an editing cave aficionado like me and want to check out the stickers, you can go to TaraWhitaker.com/Stickers. I can ship anywhere in the world for free. It might take a while, especially depending on whose postal service is on strike or not doing a good job at the time, but I can ship anywhere.

I’ve shipped to the US. I’ve shipped to Canada. I’ve shipped to the UK. Anything. If you have questions, let me know. But yeah, go to the website and check them out.

So until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and don’t forget to keep using those valuable editing resources.

Thank you so much for tuning into today’s episode. If you enjoy The Modern Editor Podcast, I would be so grateful if you left us a review over on iTunes. And as always, you can head to TaraWhitaker.com to connect with me and stay in touch. We’ll chat again soon.