Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition: New Rules for ‘Email,’ ‘They’


For writers, editors and devotees of style and grammar, the Chicago Manual of Style is one of the gold standards.

And any changes to the long-running resource are sure to get the attention of its users – both sighs of relief at long-awaited changes and outbursts of anger over changes to rules held sacred.

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The 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style was published earlier this month, coming in at 3.5 pounds and a breezy 1,100 or so pages. Among the changes getting attention: “e-mail” becomes “email,” “internet” no longer begins with a capital I, and the singular, gender-neutral form of “they” is no longer strictly forbidden.

Joining Chicago Tonight for a conversation about the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of style is Carol Fisher Saller, a manuscript editor at the University of Chicago press and editor of the Manual of Style’s online Q and A.


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