“Announcing The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition”

The latest edition of my favorite style guide introduced some changes that I have mostly adopted in my own writing before now, and agree with wholeheartedly. A selection of favorites:

“An initial The in the title of a newspaper or other periodical that includes one (as on a masthead or cover) will now be retained in running text (The New York Times and The American Naturalist but the Chicago Tribune and the American Journal of Sociology).

This one has always bothered me. If it’s in the masthead, it should be in the citation!

"The first word of a grammatically complete sentence following a colon will now get an initial capital.

Finally!

"The terms ebook and esports will join email as exceptions to the rule for hyphenating e-terms.

I wonder when "ebike” will follow. I still use “e-bike”, but can see the argument for eliminating the hyphen.

“We’ll clarify our rules relative to compound modifiers that follow a noun to allow for certain hyphenated exceptions. For example, though a well-read student is well read (no change to our current rules), a first-rate editor will remain first-rate after the noun. We’ll also clarify our rules for compound modifiers that may remain open before a noun, as the term guest room in guest room access.

I generally find this better fits real-world usage.

"The generic singular they will now be considered acceptable even in formal writing—for example, when the antecedent is an indefinite pronoun (someone forgot their coat) or when referring to a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant (will the driver of the yellow sedan please move their car) or whose identity must be concealed (the author wants their privacy protected). These generic uses complement the referential singular they, which we covered for the first time in the last edition relative to people who identify with they/them pronouns.”

Good. Catching up with the times.