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ISA Writing, Punctuation, and Grammar Style Guide

This document is a collection of the correct formatting and writing rules for
communications from ISA.

Purpose:
This guide was created to establish a unified, consistent, well-written communications
image for ISA across every department, team, employee, etc. “One ISA!”

Contents:

Section 1: ISA Style and Formatting (2-6)

• ISA Name (2)
• ISA Terms (2)
• ISA Standards (3)
• Contact Information (3)
• Date and Time (4)
• Pricing (5)
• “Tech Terms” (5)
Section 2: ISA’s Basic Punctuation and Grammar Guide (6-13)
• ALWAYS REMEMBER THESE RULES! (6)
o Subject, Verb, and Object Agreement (7)
• Hyphens (7)
• Dashes (8)
• Ampersands [&] (8)
• Ellipses (8)
• Numbers (9)
• Acronyms (10)
• Titles (10)
• Web Addresses (10)
• Registered Trademarks and Trademarks (11)
• Copyrights (11)
• Bulleted Lists (12)
• Punctuation for Parentheses and Quotation Marks (12)
Section 3: ISA Proof-marking Symbols (under development)

This is a living document that can and will be updated by the Marketing Team.
• Please do not make any changes to this document.
• Please send any questions, comments, suggested sections, etc. to a member of
the Marketing Team.

Thank you,

ISA Marketing

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SECTION 1: ISA Style and Formatting

This section explains and demonstrates rules for how to portray items such as the ISA
name, pricing, contact information, ISA standards, and more.

ISA Name
Our official name is the International Society of Automation. Use it this way on the first
mention: International Society of Automation (ISA). Thereafter, just use ISA.
• Even if every recipient of the message knows what ISA stands for, assume there
is someone who does not and make sure to follow the official rule.

ISA Terms
• Do not capitalize member, section, district, or division in general usage. See
guidelines in chart below. Always capitalize Society when referring to “S” in ISA
o Do not capitalize the words above if referring to them for another
association, unless that is the association’s format/style
• Nonmember is always one word
• InTech is a magazine and should always be italicized. In addition, the “I” and “T”
should always be the only letters capitalized

USE: DO NOT USE:

ISA member the ISA society

ISA gained 10,000 new members cyberu, Cyberu
Your ISA Membership is about to expire.
ISA has sections all over the world Non-Member
The section contact is Non-member
non-member
ISA has many technical divisions InTech
Two divisions are included INTECH
Intech
ISA has several districts
The district leaders

Capitalize proper names:

ISA Tarheel Section
ISA Safety Division
ISA District 12
POWID Division members

Society, the Society, The ISA Society, etc.

CyberU, ISA CyberU, the CyberU courses,
etc.

Nonmember or nonmember

InTech

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ISA Standards
ISA Standards must have ISA in front of the standard number, do not use SP##
• General ISA standard mentions: If you are referring to the general standard or
committee, it does not need a hyphen (ISA99)
• Specific ISA standards and documents: If you are referring to an actual
standard document, the hyphen is required (ISA-100.11a)
• The standard designation (ANSI/ISA-99.02.01-2009) should not be italicized
o Not a mandatory rule, but this is the correct and preferred format
• The document title must always be italicized (Security for Industrial Automation
and Control Systems: Establishing an Industrial Automation and Control Systems
Security Program
o Whenever possible, spell out the entire standard document title the first
time the standard is mentioned; thereafter, use the short designation
o Use a comma to separate the standard designation and the standard title

Example: ANSI/ISA-TR99.00.01-2007, Security Technologies for Manufacturing and Control

Systems is a very important standard. To learn more about ANSI/ISA-TR99.00.01-2007, visit
the ISA website. Everyone should think about implementing the ISA99 standards.

USE: DO NOT USE:

ISA99 S88
ISA99 committee ISA 99
ISA99 standards SP99
ISA100 standard committee ISA SP 99
ISA SP99
The ISA-100.11a standard is the first in the ISA S99
ISA100 Family of Standards… S-99
SP-99
ANSI/ISA-99.02.01-2009, Security for iSA-99
Industrial Automation and Control Etc.
Systems: Establishing an Industrial ISA100.11a
Automation and Control Systems Security ISA-100.11a
Program
ANSI/ISA-99.02.01-2009 - Security for
ANSI/ISA-TR99.00.01-2007, Security Industrial Automation and Control
Technologies for Manufacturing and Systems: Establishing an Industrial
Control Systems Automation and Control Systems Security
Program

Contact Information
• Do not include periods in country Initials (US) (UK)
• Use “USA” in complete addresses
• ISA refers to its phone/fax numbers using only the words listed in “USE” section
below
• In a sentence, spell out the state name (ISA is headquartered in North Carolina)
• In an address, use the two-letter state designation only (FL, NC, TX)

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• The US format for phone/fax numbers should be formatted with just numbers and
dashes, no spaces. See “USE” section below
• The international format for phone/fax numbers should be formatted like the US
format but with “+1” and a space added to the front. See “USE” section below
• Do not use slashes, spaces, periods, or other punctuation when writing out
phone/fax numbers

USE: DO NOT USE:

In sentences: US, UK U.S.A.

In addresses: USA D.C.*
67 Alexander Drive, Research Triangle U.S.*
Park, NC 27709 USA
67 Alexander Drive, Research Triangle
In sentences: North Carolina Park, NC 27709 US
In addresses: NC
67 Alexander Drive, Research Triangle
Phone or phone Park, NC 27709 United States
Fax or fax ISA is located in NC

US format: 9l9-549-8411 Telephone, telephone, Tel., tel., PHONE

International format: +1 919-549-8411 (unless everything is in Caps)
slashes, spaces, periods, or other
punctuation
9195498411
919 549 8411
919.549.8411
919/549/8411
919/549.8411
19195498411
+19195498411
1-919-549-8411
+1-919-549-8411
1 919 549 8411
+1 919 549 8411
1/919/549/8411
+1/919/549/8411
* Automation Federation uses this formatting.
Dates and Time
• Date format: Day Month Year or Day Month
o When showing a range of dates, the format is Day Month – Day Month
(note this format uses and en dash, explained below, and spaces)
• Time format: XX:XX y.m.
o When showing a range of time, the format is XX:XX y.m.– XX:XX y.m.
(note this format uses and en dash, explained below, and no spaces)
• On pieces used internationally, indicate the time zone in first mention
• Do not use “noon” for 12:00 p.m.

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USE: DO NOT USE:

12 September 2010 September 12, 2010

12–14 November 2010
12 October – 15 November 2010
12 October 2010 – 2 January 2011
10:00 a.m. EST (or EDT)
10:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. GMT
12:00 p.m.
11 June - 13 June 2010 (uses a hyphen)
9-12-2010 (uses hyphens/dashes)
9/12/2010 (used slashes)
Noon

Pricing
• When listing prices, use the formats in the chart below
• “Registration Price” can be used in place of “Price” in these same instances

USE: DO NOT USE:

ON PRINT & EMAIL PIECES Regular price:

ISA Members:
Price: Member rate
$xxx ISA Member Group rate
$xxx List List rate
$xxx Group Non-Member

or

Price: $xxx ISA Member; $xxx List; $xxx

Group

ON THE WEBSITE (do not need "ISA")

Member Price: $xxx

List Price: $xxx
Group Price: $xxx

FOR COLUMNS ON THE WEBSITE

Member Price List Price

$xxx $xxx

“Tech Terms”
• Though there are various correct ways to write these terms, ISA’s format for
“Tech Terms” are listed below. These formats should be used at all times when
writing about or for ISA to ensure consistency across messages.

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USE: DO NOT USE:

Email, email E-mail, e-mail, EMAIL

Website, website Web site, WEB site
Webpage, webpage Web page, web page
The Web, the Web Web, web, WEB
Online, online On line, on line, On-line, on-line
Logon, logon Log on, log-on
Login, login Log in, log-in
E-newsletter, e-newsletter Enewsletter, E-Newsletter, e-Newsletter
Smart Grid SmartGrid, smartgrid
Cybersecurity, cybersecurity cyber security, Cyber Security,
Internet CyberSecurity
internet

SECTION 2: ISA’s Basic Punctuation and Grammar Guide

Not sure where to put that comma? When should I use an em dash? What is an
ellipsis? This section will provide basic punctuation rules to help you write better and
more grammatically correct messages.

NOTE: Though there may be more than one acceptable way to write something, use
punctuation, and so forth, the rules below are to be followed when writing about and on
behalf of ISA. The rules will be adjusted as needed to reflect changes to the business
grammar and writing rules as they occur. Do not use a format if not listed as “correct” or
“ISA format.”

Remember, the reason for this guide is to help create a unified communications
image for ISA. If you have a question or concern about a “correct” format below, please
direct it to a member of the marketing team.

Always remember:
• Be consistent in you punctuation usage
• Only one space after punctuation that ends a sentence
• Correct: The dog is brown. The cat is orange.
• Incorrect: The dog is brown. The cat is orange.
• Also incorrect: The dog is brown. The cat is orange.
• Do not add spaces between the last letter of a sentence and the closing
punctuation for the sentence
• Correct: Happy Birthday!
• Incorrect: Happy Birthday !
• Also incorrect: Happy Birthday !
• Do not use excessive punctuation marks (e.g. one exclamation point, not
two or more) when writing as ISA to an existing or potential customer or
member.
• Correct: Welcome to ISA!

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•Incorrect: Welcome to ISA!!!!

• Also incorrect: !!Welcome to ISA!!
• Put the commas/semicolon before the and/or in lists of three or more
• Though it is not incorrect to leave the comma off, ISA messages should
ALWAYS include a comma before the “and” and the “or” in a list of three
or more
ƒ Correct:
• I want a bagel, cream cheese, and coffee.
• I want a bagel, a pastry, or a sausage biscuit.
• I want to serve coffee and tea, toast, and ham and eggs.
ƒ Do not use this format for ISA messaging:
• I want a bagel, cream cheese and coffee.
• I want a bagel, a pastry or a sausage biscuit.
• I want coffee and tea, toast and ham and eggs.
• Make sure your subject and verb agree
• Correct:
ƒ The boy gives his mother a hug every day.
ƒ The children sing for their grandparents every Monday night.
ƒ The group meets weekly at the local pub.
ƒ My teammates work through lunch when necessary.
• Do not use “their” when talking about an individual
ƒ Correct: Each person gave his or her report to the committee.
ƒ Incorrect: Each person gave their report to the committee.
• Make your subject-verb-object agree
• Correct: Joe gave the book to Chelsea and me.
• Incorrect: Joe gave the book to Chelsea and I.
• Also Incorrect: He told it to Chelsea and I.
Just because you’ve politely added Chelsea’s name before yours, there is no excuse to
use poor grammar. You would never say, “Joe gave the book to I.”

Hyphens
ISA’s writing style requires that you use compound modifiers when appropriate and
used correctly.
• Use a hyphen to join words or to form a compound modifier. A compound
modifier is formed when two words join together to modify a third word
o A blue-green dress
o A fiber-optic network relies on the science of fiber optics
o A low-level source provided information he had heard from a high level
executive
o A high-quality, well-trained horse

• Don’t use a hyphen when the first word of a compound modifier ends in “ly”
o A highly placed source
o An overbearingly arrogant individual

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• The compound modifier must come before the third word for a hyphen to be
permissible. Do not create a compound modifier (use the hyphen) when the word
being described comes before the description:
o Correct: The puppy was well trained and well behaved.
o Incorrect: The puppy was well-trained and well-behaved.

Dash
• “En” (–) dash: use it to show a range of time
o Do not put spaces around time ranges or number ranges
ƒ 10:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
ƒ 21–24 July
o Use spaced around the en dash for time ranges that include words in both
or the second portion of the range
ƒ October – December
ƒ 21 October – 23 December
ƒ 5:00 p.m. – close
o Keyboard shortcut: alt + 0150
• “Em” (—) dash: use it to set-off a nonessential element or thought that requires
special emphasis. Consider using a comma or parenthesis for merely
parenthetical information—information that can be removed from the sentence
without changing its meaning
o Examples:
ƒ The cat liked to sleep in the yard on sunny days (which rarely occur
in the rainy season).
ƒ The cat was purring with delight at finally being able to sleep in the
yard—she rarely gets to sleep there because sunny days occur
infrequently in our town.
ƒ The cat sleeps in the yard on the sunny days, of which we have
very few.
o Do not put spaces around em dashes
o Keyboard shortcut: alt + 0151

Ampersands (&)
• Do not use ampersands unless they are part of a proper name, such as a
company name, an event title, a book title, etc.
• Examples
o P&G
th
o 5 Annual Marketing & Sales Symposium
• When creating new ISA event, book, training, etc. titles, avoid using the
ampersand, even to save space. Existing titles may retain their “&”

Ellipses (…)
• Ellipsis marks are used within quoted material to indicate an omission of words,
sentences, or paragraphs. Always use three periods with no additional spaces

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before, between, or after them. If the ellipsis comes at the end of a complete
sentence, use the end punctuation period followed by three additional periods
• Examples:
o “Labor costs...caused an operating loss for the year.”
o “The guests greeted the bride and groom with cheers and applause….”
o “Where else can you get expert-led, hands-on training?...That is what I like
most about ISA’s courses.”

Numbers
1) Spell out one through ten; for 11 and up, use Arabic numerals
o I have nine dogs.
o The zoo has three baboons, two lemmings, and eight gorillas to feed.
o You have 13 cats.
o The pet store sold 34 cans of cat food, 15 bags of dog food, and 23 fish
today.
• Exceptions: Don’t mix styles within a sentence. Choose the most prominent style
and remain with it to be consistent
o Preferred:
ƒ We opened a petting zoo with 4 elephants, 12 goats, 20 flamingos,
and 30 zebras.
o Avoid:
ƒ We opened a petting zoo with four elephants, 12 goats, 20
flamingos, and 30 zebras.
• Rework a sentence if it starts with a large number and/or that number is awkward
looking if spelled out
o “Five hundred fifty-eight people will attend…” vs. “558 people will
attend…” Æ Change to “We expect 558 people to attend…”

2) Spell out ordinals “first” through “ninth.”

• Follow the same exception rules as above
• Superscript the “st,” “rd,” etc. where possible in headlines and body copy
o I showed my ninth dog at Westminster and won Best of Show.
o Your 13th cat is black.

3) Always include a comma in 1,000+ numbers

• ISA Format:
o $1,200
o $210,000
o 2,000
o 2,456,000
• Do not use:
o 2300
o $43000
o $3890987

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Acronyms
• The first time an acronym occurs, no matter how well it is known, it should be
spelled out and followed by the acronym in parentheses. After this initial mention,
you may use the acronym alone
o Example: The International Society of Automation (ISA) met with the US
Department of Labor (DOL) to discuss their workforce development
efforts. The DOL was so impressed, that they invited ISA to another
meeting.
Using articles (a, an, the) with abbreviations and acronyms
• An often challenging grammar dilemma occurs when choosing the correct
article— a, an, the—to precede an abbreviation or acronym.
o Do we say “an FBI agent” or “a FBI agent’? Although "F" is obviously a
consonant and we would precede any word that begins with "F" with "a,"
we precede FBI with "an" because the first sound we make when we say
FBI is not an "f-sound," it is an "eff-sound"
o We say “we saw a UFO” because, although the abbreviation begins with a
'U," we pronounce the "U" as if it were spelled "yoo"
o Example: We're going to a PTO meeting where an NCO will address us.
o Whether we say an URL or a URL depends on whether we pronounce it
as "earl" or as "u*r*l" (The latter is the preferred pronunciation)

Titles
• If a person’s title comes before his/her name it is capitalized. If the title comes
after his/her name it is lowercased

• Correct:
o Mike Marlowe, the Automation Federation director of
government relations, visited the Capitol today.
o The Automation Federation Director of Government Relations,
Mike Marlowe, visited the Capitol today.
• Incorrect:
o Mike Marlowe, the Automation Federation Director of
Government Relations, visited the Capitol today
o The Automation Federation director of government relations,
Mike Marlowe, visited the Capitol today

Web Addresses
• Never hyphenate a web address or place it in brackets
• Do not put the protocol “http://” in printed materials unless the URL is for a secure
page, or “https”
• In printed pieces, always show web addresses in bold and not underlined
o www.isa.org
• In letters and items printed on letterhead, always show web addresses as bold
Use underlining only if there are other bolded words in the document

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o Microsoft Word will automatically underline web addresses in a document:

www.isa.org. Remove the underline by right clicking the hyperlinked word
and selecting “Remove Hyperlink” from the menu
• Most software programs underline hyperlinked text, so do not underline non-
hyperlinked text in emails, as it leads the viewer to expect a hyperlink
• In digital documents, be sure your URL actually links. You may have to do this
manually

Registered Trademarks and Trademarks

• On the first mention of a name or initials that are registered trademarks, use the
registered trademark symbol ® superscripted (alt + 0174). Do the same for the
trademark notation ™ (alt + 0153). Thereafter, you do not need to use these
symbols for the trademarked/registered trademarked word(s)

• The following items are ISA’s registered trademarks:

®
o Certified Control Systems Technician
®
o CCST
®
o Certified Automation Professional
®
o CAP
®
o InTech
• The following items are ISA’s trademarks:
™
o Setting the Standard for Automation
o The ISA logo
• At the end of a document (printed, digital, email, etc.), include the phrase:

ƒ “X is a registered trademark of ISA.”

ƒ “X is a registered trademark of ISA. All other trademarks are the

property of their respective owners.

-Because we are using “registered trademark,” we do not use the ® symbol. The
same rule applies to the ™.

Copyrights
• At the end of a document (printed, digital, email, etc.), include copyright
acknowledgement and origin of manufacture as follows:

© Copyright 2010 ISA. Printed in USA.

• It is typical and preferred to run copyright and trademark phrases together:

© Copyright 2010 ISA. Printed in USA. InTech is a registered trademark of ISA.

• Shortcut: alt + 0169

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Bulleted Lists
• If your bulleted list is a vertical version of a horizontal list that uses commas or
semicolons:
o Do not use commas or semicolons at the end of each bullet or a closing
punctuation mark after the last bullet
o Do not include the “and” or the “or”
o Capitalize the first word of each bullet
o Correct:
ƒ Swim the English Channel
ƒ Climb Mount Everest
ƒ Kiss the Blarney Stone
o Incorrect:
ƒ Swim the English Channel,
ƒ Climb Mount Everest, and
ƒ Kiss the Blarney Stone.
• If you have two sentences or more in a single bullet, include punctuation for all
the sentences except the last sentence

Punctuation for Quotation Marks

• These punctuation marks always go inside the quotation marks at the end of
the quotation:
ƒ Period (.)
• Correct: The doctor said, “Everything is fine.”
• Incorrect: The doctor said, “Everything is fine”.
ƒ Comma (,)
• Correct: “You need to exercise more,” said the doctor.
• Incorrect: “You need to exercise more”, said the doctor.

• These punctuation marks never go inside the quotation marks at the end of the
quotation:
ƒ Colon (:)
ƒ Semicolon (;)

• These punctuation marks only go inside the quotation marks at the end of the
quotation if they are a part of what is being quoted:
ƒ Question mark (?)
• Correct:
o The girl asked, “Where are you going?” (Direct quote)
o What do you mean, “I’m not going”? (Quote within a
question)
ƒ Exclamation point (!)
• Correct
o She yelled excitedly, “I won!”
o Joan yelled excitedly, “He said, ‘We have big news’!”

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Punctuation for Parentheses

• The closing punctuation mark always goes outside a statement in parentheses
• If the statement inside the parentheses is a complete sentence with the first letter
of the first word capitalized, then there you may use closing punctuation for that
sentence inside the parentheses
• If you have a combination of the above, use the proper closing punctuation for
the main sentence outside the parentheses in addition to that used inside the
parentheses
ƒ Correct
• Betty works for the company (in a satellite office in Spain).
• Betty works for the company. (She travels to Europe a lot.)
• Betty works for the company’s office in Spain (If you visit that office,
you will meet her.).
ƒ Incorrect:
• Betty works for the company (in a satellite office in Spain.)
• Betty works for the company (She travels to Europe a lot.)
• Betty works for the company’s office in Spain (If you visit that office,
you will meet her).

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