I have a question -- not covered in the AP Stylebook -- regarding the use of "No." for the word "number." Would it be: Phone No. 888-614-1123 or Would you spell out "number" in this instance? Phone number 888-614-1123 Colon, hyphen or nothing following "number" if this is correct? Aside from the online subscription to the AP Stylebook, does anybody know of a free link to an AP discussion forum where AP style-related questions can be answered by experts. Thanks for any help with my questions, and have a nice holiday.
Hi! I was super excited to see this thread because I'm a journalist and I use the AP Stylebook all the time. "Phone number" - "No." is for if there's a bunch of things that have numbers to identify them (racing car No. 32) or if you're talking about someone's place in a contest..."He came in No. 2" etc. Use hyphens. For example, "The phone number for Don Smith is 321-555-5555." etc Not sure about the AP forum thing, sorry!
he meant a hyphen after the word 'number' and not to separate the parts of the phone number... and there's no hard and fast rule for any of that in non-fiction... it would be a matter of writer preference or house style, though the colon is most commonly used... could be any of the following: Phone #: 000-000-0000 Tel. #: Phone number: Phone No.: or even no 'no./#/number' at all: Call/Contact Joe Schmoe @: 000-000-0000 [or 000/000-0000; (000) 000-0000]
