M
magazine names
- Capitalize the initial letters of the name. Do not place the name in quotation marks or italicize. Lowercase magazine unless it is part of the publication's formal title: Egypt Today magazine, AUCToday magazine.
mailing
- See addresses.
mainstage
major, minor
- May be used as nouns or verbs: His major is computer science, but he minored in economics. She majored in mechanical engineering and minored in psychology.
- Lowercase names of majors and minors except for proper nouns: political science, art but Middle East studies.
majority
- Means more than half of an amount.
make up (v.), makeup (n., adj.)
man, mankind
- Either may be used to refer to both men and women. Lowercase.
- Preferable to use humanity, humans, people or individuals instead.
man-made
manageable
mathematics
- Not math.
masks, face masks
- Generic masks are simply face masks or masks. Mask may be used as a verb, and often is used with the word up: They are required to mask while in the building. We masked up and went for a walk. And: Mask-wearing and handwashing are encouraged while social distancing.
measurements
- Spell out all measurements in running text: inches, miles, millimeters, centimeters, kilometers, percent: She got a ticket because she was traveling at 140 kilometers per hour. She scored 99 percent on her exam.
- Where space is limited, use the following abbreviations with a space between the numeral and abbreviation: g (gram), kg (kilogram), t (metric ton), m (meter), cm (centimeter), km (kilometer), mm (millimeter), ml (milliliter).
- Do not abbreviate liter.
media
- Takes plural verbs: The news media are widespread.
medieval, Medieval
- Capitalize when referring to the Middle Ages; otherwise, lowercase: the Medieval Knight, their medieval methods.
medium, media
- Medium is singular; media is plural: The internet is rapidly taking over television as a medium of information and entertainment. Media outlets across the country bloated the issue.
MENA
- Middle East and North Africa region. Use MENA on second reference.
mentally disabled
metro
- Capitalize when referring to the formal name of the transit system: The Greater Cairo Underground Metro solved one of the city’s chronic problems.
- Lowercase when usage is generic: I ride the metro to school.
mic
- Use microphone instead.
Microsoft
- Always capitalize. May use MS on second reference: MS Office, MS Word.
mid-
- Generally, no hyphen in words with mid- as prefix: midterm, midsemester, midyear.
- Capitalize only when a pronoun follows: mid-America, mid-Pacific.
- Use a hyphen when it precedes a figure: mid-1970s.
Middle East
- Capitalize in all references. Do not abbreviate as ME.
- Do not be repetitive by using the word region after Middle East.
- Could use 'the region' on second reference.
midnight
- Not 12 am or 12 midnight.
millennium
- Lowercase.
million, billion
- Use figures with the words million, billion: There are more than 2 million people living in the city.
- Use figures up to two decimal places: 7.55 billion.
- Do not mix million and billion in the same figure.
- Incorrect: 2 billion, 700 million.
- Correct: 2.7 billion.
- Do not drop the word million or billion from the first figure in a range.
- Incorrect: $2 - $6 million (unless you mean two dollars to six million dollars).
- Correct: $2 million to $6 million.
- No hyphen is used when million or billion are used as adjectives:
- Incorrect: The University is launching a $300-million campaign.
- Correct: The University is launching a $300 million campaign.
ministry
- Capitalize the official name of a ministry: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but lowercase ministry on second reference or in generic use.
mix up (v.), mix-up (n. and adj.)
mobile numbers
- Follow this format: +2.012.2123.4567, +2.011.1123.4567, +2.010.0123.4567.
mock-up (n.)
El Mogamma
- The large government building on Tahrir Square, across from AUC's historic palace building.
money
- See currency.
monthlong
months
- Spell out and capitalize months in running text.
- When writing a month and a year, do not separate the year with a comma: February 2005.
- When writing a month, day and year, set off the year with a comma: January 15, 1997.
- In tabular format, where space is limited, abbreviate the months in three-letter forms without periods: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.
more than, over
- When referring to something that can be counted, use more than: More than 100 people attended the event.
- Use over in other contexts, such as: She is over 50; John is over 2 meters tall.
movies
- See composition titles.
Mr., Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr.
- Do not use courtesy titles. See titles, courtesy titles.
multi-
- Generally, no hyphen: multicultural, multilateral.
Muslim
- Always capitalize.
- Do not spell as Moslem.
