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Jessica is a graduate student studying Mass Communications at the University of South Florida (she also went to school with A). She’s written a post for us regarding PR and grammar that all PR girls can learn from. You can follow her on Twitter @JessBrightman.

As an established NYC PR girl, or hopeful soon-to-be, everyone wants to be on top of her game. You’ve already brushed up on your homework, mastered your résumé and perfected an outfit (or all of next week’s outfits) for work. However, sometimes you might contradict yourselves without even realizing it.

How many of you have at some point in your career, whether it was during internships or life post-grad, included the statement “excellent written and verbal communication skills” on your résumé? Everyone raise your hand (including me). Yes, we all like to pride ourselves as being strong writers, but sometimes while we’re rocking the content we might be tripping up on the small details. Meet your new best friend:

The AP Stylebook is every PR girl’s bible. “Produced by the world’s leading news agency, [it] is an essential handbook for all writers, editors, students and public relations specialists. The 2011 edition provides fundamental guidelines on spelling, grammar, punctuation and usage, with special sections on food, social media, business, sports and media law.” Source: Associated Press

If you’re technologically savvy and need to search for tips on the go, they also offer digital versions for your iPhone, iPad and Blackberry. You can also follow them on Twitter @APStylebook. To get you started, here’s a list of a few of the most common grammar and punctuation slip-ups.

Punctuation

1. Commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks.
2. The serial comma: if you have a simple list of three items (PR girls are smart, fabulous and classy.) then you do not need a comma before the conjunction (and). However, if you are listing more than four items or the items are wordy and need clarification, you would then use a comma before the conjunction.
3. Time. It is always lowercase a.m. and p.m., not AM or PM. Also, avoid the redundant 10 a.m. this morning.
4. Always spell out percent instead of saying 50%.
5. Spell out numbers one through nine. Also, try to avoid starting a sentence with a number.

Commonly Confused Words

1. Which/That. That introduces essential clauses while which introduces nonessential clauses.
2. Over/More Than. Over relates to location. More than is preferred with numerals. Example: I have more than 100 pairs of shoes, and I keep them all over there in my closet.
3. Who/Whom. Use the he/him method to determine which word is correct. If you can substitute “he” in the sentence, then use who; and if you can use “him,” then use whom instead.
4. Toward/Towards. It’s always toward without the s.
5. Like/Such As. Like is a preposition and used to make comparisons. Such as means for example.

Social Media and More

As PR girls, we tend to spend a lot of time on social media each day and it’s important to refer to certain words correctly.

1. The Internet is always capitalized.
2. In 2010, the AP changed Web site to website.
3. They also decided that email no longer needs the hyphen.
4. Fan, friend and follow can be used as both nouns and verbs.
5. Cellphone and smartphone are now single words without spaces.

With much of our lives revolving around Twitter and limited to 140 characters or less, it’s completely understandable that at times we have to sacrifice grammar. However, for every other press release, fact sheet or publication you write, make sure to separate yourself from the crowd and actually show your excellent written and verbal communication skills.