34 NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Pparentheses See the Guide to Punctuation and Usage on page 53. part-time, full-time (adj.) See full-time. passive voice Avoid it whenever you can. • The professor gave her a passing grade. • NOT She was given a passing grade by the professor. • His friend asked him for his notes. • NOT He was asked for his notes by his friend. people, person, persons MW uses people as the plural of person, not persons. Generally, persons is only used in legal writing. See also individual. percent One word. Write it out rather than use the percent (%) sign—unless you’re writing copy for a table or chart, or you’re trying to fit copy in a tight space. Use numerals followed by the word percent unless starting a sentence. Percent takes a singular verb when it stands alone or when it is followed by an of construction containing a singular word. • The teacher said that 60 percent failed. • Sixty percent of our effort was lost. When the of construction contains a plural word, use a plural verb. • She said that 50 percent of the students were there. See also numbers and percentage. percentage Use percent when you’re reporting an actual figure, as in 50 percent. Use percentage when you’re describing a collective proportion. • A high percentage of NSU students are distance learners. • The greater your income, the higher percentage you’re likely to save. See also numbers and percent. period See the Guide to Punctuation and Usage on page 54. person See individual and people. personally Wordy padding; avoid. • I admire this beautiful campus. • NOT Personally, I admire this beautiful campus. Ph.D. See academic degrees. phone numbers At NSU, we distinguish between area codes (e.g., 954, 305), which are enclosed in parentheses, and billing codes (e.g., 800, 888), which are separated from the main number by a hyphen rather than by parentheses. Drop the 1 preceding all billing and area codes.
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