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Guidelines
for Writing Announcement Texts
If
you have decided to compose your own text, we
have some guidelines that may help you.
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Suggested
number of lines and characters: 10 to
13 lines fit nicely on all announcement
designs. The announcement you choose will
tell the number of lines and spaces available
on that design. If you've written a text
that is too long for the card you've chosen,
see this
page for condensing suggestions.
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A common
problem: If you want to have your text
followed by a space and then the parent's
names, avoid following the names with more
text . The reason for this is visual...
a space before and after the parent's names
make them appear to "float" on
the page, drawing undue attention to them.
See the example below for a suggestion on
how to solve this problem.
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First person
vs. third person: If your verse begins
with "Mr and Mrs...." (in other
words, written in the third person), then
it would be correct to say "they
invite you..." instead of "we
invite you."
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We
get a lot of questions about the punctuation and
grammar of announcements.
Here are answers to some of
the most common ones.
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It is general
practice on social announcements to write
out the time, date and year rather than
using numerals. ("At four o'clock in
the afternoon on the twenty-seventh of May")
Where space is a problem, or where a distinctly
informal approach is desired, the numerals
may be used ("at 4:00 p.m. on
the 27th of May"). The main thing is
to be consistent - use either numerals
or words, but not both.
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If you are
spelling out the date, time, and year, do
not capitalize the time or the date, but
DO capitalize the year, month, and day.
For example, "on Saturday, the
tenth of May, Two thousand and ten."
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Punctuation
that falls at the end of a line is usually
omitted unless it is essential for a correct
understanding of the text.
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Prepositions
should stay on the same line as their object.
For example, instead of
"Please join us for a celebration on/Saturday,
the seventh of June", use this:
"Please join us for a celebration/on
Saturday, the seventh of June." This
rule is broken when we want the name of
the student or the name of the event on
a line by itself.
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Capitalize
the first word of each line only
if it is the first word in a new sentence
or section. The words "Graduation,"
Commencement," "Commencement Ceremony,"
and "High School Graduation"
are also normally capitalized.
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Is "Homeschool
/ Home School" one word or two? That
is your decision! We see "home
school" used more often as a noun,
and "homeschool" more commonly
used as a verb.
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Avoid
a space before and after the parents'
names, since it draws undue attention
to that line.
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Solution:
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We
are pleased to announce
the graduation of our daughter
Hannah Joy Williams
Class of 2005
Christian Liberty Academy
Mr.
and Mrs. Frederick Williams
"But
seek first his kingdom, and his
righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well."
Matthew 6:33
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We
are pleased to announce
the graduation of our daughter
Hannah Joy Williams
Class of 2005
Christian Liberty Academy
"But seek first his kingdom,
and his
righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well."
Matthew 6:33
Mr.
and Mrs. Frederick Williams
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These suggestions
may help you with the wording, but you are
also free to ignore them!
Remember,
we proofread all announcements before submitting
them to the printer and we will contact you if
we have suggestions about how the announcement
verse may be improved.
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