MT Training >Transcription rules

Basic Rules of Transcription

I. Spacing With Punctuation Marks

 Do Not Type a Space ...

• following a period with an abbreviation 
• following a period used as a decimal point 
• between quotation marks and the quoted material 
• before or after a hyphen 
• before or after a slash 
• before or after a dash 
• between a number and percent sign 
• between parentheses and the enclosed material 
• between any word and the punctuation following it. 
• between the number and the colon used to indicate a dilute solution or ratio. 
• on either side of the colon when expressing the time of day 
• before an apostrophe 
• before or after a comma used within numbers 
• before or after an ampersand in abbreviations, e.g., C&S 
• on either side of the colon when expressing ratios e.g. 1:1 
• after the closing parenthesis if another mark of punctuation follows 

Type One Space... 

• between words 
• after a comma 
• after a semicolon 
• after a period following an initial 
• after the closing parenthesis 
• on each side of the x in an expression of dimension, e.g. 4 x 4 

Type Two Spaces...

• after punctuation at the end of a sentence 
• after a colon except when expressing time or a dilution ratio 

II. Numbers

• Spell out WHOLE numbers zero through nine, use numerals for 10 and above (this may change in the near future as the AAMT is trying to standardize using numerals only. When the next edition of the AAMT Book of Style is published (Spring 2002), you can probably expect new guidelines). 
• Use numerals when numbers are directly used with symbols. 
• Use numerals when expressing ages. 

Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6