Style guide

(1866-1937) first Labour prime minister, known as Ramsay MacDonald

(parliament)

riot control spray

after Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

noun; machine-gun verb; submachine gun

Peruvian "lost city of the Incas"

refers both to a person from Sunderland, and their accent

(1894-1986) Tory prime minister

(1929-92) Choreographer

(1907-63) Belfast-born poet

geographical; Malagasy Republic political; Malagasy inhabitant or inhabitants of Madagascar and the name of their language; the adjective for the country is Madagascan

no apostrophe, even though there was a Mme (Marie) Tussaud

wine and cake

home of Reading FC

(not Gardens) in New York City

now known as Chennai

normally used to mean Islamic school, although in both Arabic and Urdu the word is used to refer to any kind of school

now spelt thus, though it was Mafeking when it was relieved

no apostrophe

high-speed trains (it is short for magnetic levitation)

a .44 Magnum is a cartridge, not a gun (although Dirty Harry used a .44 Magnum revolver)

prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003; Mahathir on second mention (except in leading articles, where he is Mr, not Dr, Mahathir)

do not use to refer to Great Britain in reports about Northern Ireland

a major case of overuse; avoid except in military context: big, main and leading are among the alternatives

in leading articles, abbreviate on second mention to Gen: Major General Ben Summers, subsequently Gen Summers; otherwise just Summers

no hyphens

generally the given name comes first, and Muslim Malays tend not to use surnames, so Mahathir Mohamad (Mahathir the son of Mohamad) becomes Mr Mahathir on second reference. Chinese Malaysian names, like Singaporean names, are in three parts: eg Ling Liong Sik (Ling after first mention)

in London

not Majorca

musical show featuring Abba songs

plural manifestos

use humankind or humanity

plural mantids

singular and plural

Mao on second mention

Royal Marines, but US marines

at first mention, then M&S

not marquess, except where it is the correct formal title, eg Marquess of Blandford

not Marseilles

(military rank) not marshall, a very frequent error; a reader sent in this mnemonic: "Air Chief Marshal Marshall presided at the court martial of the martial arts instructor"

(1853-95) writer and leader of Cuba's war of independence against Spain

not Marie Celeste

St Petersburg home of the Kirov Ballet

lc; mass is celebrated or said, not read

the savage killing of large numbers of people, not Stockport County beating Mansfield Town 4-0

massively overused

imperious

skilful

as in "I did my master's at UCL"

former model and ex-wife of Noel Gallagher; they have a daughter, Anais

no accent

matt finish, etc

The subtle distinctions between these (and between other so-called modal verbs) are gradually disappearing, but they still matter to many of our readers and can be useful.

may implies that the possibility remains open: "The Mies van der Rohe tower may have changed the face of British architecture forever" (it has been built); might suggests that the possibility remains open no longer: "The Mies tower might have changed the face of architecture forever" (if only they had built it). Similarly, "they may have played tennis, or they may have gone boating" suggests I don't know what they did; "they might have played tennis if the weather had been dry" means they didn't, because it wasn't.

may also has the meaning of "having permission", so be careful: does "Megawatt Corp may bid for TransElectric Inc" mean that it is considering a bid, or that the competition authorities have allowed it to bid?

distress signal (from the French "m'aidez!")

May 1

or anywhere else: lc

megabytes (storage capacity)

megabits per second (communication speed); take care to get such terms right: we referred to a "2mbps internet connection" which, at two millibits a second, is about the speed of smoke signals

note the "Sir" in the building and civil engineering company Sir Robert McAlpine (named after the baronet who founded it); not to be confused with Alfred McAlpine construction and support services

not "MCC"

retirement homes

hamburgers; the possessive is the same word, eg "McDonald's new vegan-friendly image"

defined by the OED as "an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp one created by the expansion of the service sector"

(1911-80) Canadian author who coined the phrase "the medium is the message"

usually means "here's a slight change of subject"

sings

doesn't sing

as in "Ashton-under-Lyne is a mecca for tripe-eaters"

holy city in Saudi Arabia

international medical aid charity (don't describe it as French)

are both US federal health insurance programmes, but Medicare primarily covers people over 65 and has no financial requirements for eligibility; Medicaid is targeted at those on low incomes

not mediaeval

not meet with, met with someone

horrible; do not use

plural mementoes

plural memorandums

no accent

not Minorca

but the magazine is Women's Wear Daily

do not use: say person with learning difficulties

Take care using language about mental health issues. In addition to such clearly offensive and unacceptable expressions as loony, maniac, nutter, psycho and schizo, terms to avoid - because they stereotype and stigmatise - include victim of, suffering from, and afflicted by; "a person with" is clear, accurate and preferable to "a person suffering from". Never use schizophrenic to mean "in two minds". And avoid writing "the mentally ill" - say mentally ill people, mental health patients or people with mental health problems

ITV region

hotels

(1908-92) French composer

traditionally defined as the application to one thing of a name belonging to another, eg bowling blitz, economic meltdown, "every language is a temple in which the soul of those who speak it is enshrined" (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

lc

write metres out in full, to avoid confusion with million (an obvious exception would be in an article about athletics, eg she won the 400m)

We use the metric system for weights and measures; exceptions are the mile and the pint. As understanding of the two systems is a matter of generations, conversions (in brackets) to imperial units should be provided wherever this seems useful, though usually one conversion – the first – will suffice. Imperial units in quoted matter should be retained, and converted to metric [in square brackets] if it doesn't ruin the flow of the quote.

It is not necessary to convert moderate distances between metres and yards, which are close enough for rough and ready purposes (though it is preferable to use metres), or small domestic quantities: two litres of wine, a kilogram of sugar, a couple of pounds of apples, a few inches of string. Small units should be converted when precision is required: 44mm (1.7in) of rain fell in two hours. But be sensible: don't convert a metric estimate into a precise imperial figure (round the conversion up or down). Tons and tonnes are close enough for most purposes to do without conversion; use tonnes (except in shipping tonnage).

Body weights and heights should always be converted in brackets: metres to feet and inches, kilograms to stones/pounds. Geographical heights and depths, of people, buildings, monuments, etc, should be converted, metres to feet. In square measurement, land is given in sq metres, hectares and sq km, with sq yards, acres or sq miles in brackets where there is space to provide a conversion. The floor areas of buildings are conventionally expressed in sq metres (or sq ft). Take great care in conversions of square and cubic measures: 2 metres is about 6.5 feet, but 2 sq metres is about 10.5 feet

the Met at second mention; commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Met commissioner is acceptable; but note Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA)

not mezze (which is how it has appeared on the front page)

US city

abbreviation for microphone

(Tolkien) not Middle Earth

never Mid, even in headlines

not Middlesborough, Teeside

(but East Midlands airport, West Midlands)

June 24

no hyphen

(US)

Soviet Union-built fighter plane, still in use in some countries

see may or might?

Islamic festival celebrating the birth of the prophet; many Muslims disapprove of celebrating this event

to militate against something is to influence it (his record militated against his early release); to mitigate means to lessen an offence (in mitigation, her counsel argued that she came from a broken home)

at first mention, then just the dome; reopened in 2007 as the O2

its official name is London Eye

in copy use m for sums of money, units or inanimate objects: £10m, 45m tonnes of coal, 30m doses of vaccine; but million for people or animals: 1 million people, 23 million rabbits, etc; use m in headlines

contraction of minute/minutes

plural minima

note that it's "Liza with a Zee, not Lisa with an Ess"

(adjective) rather than ethnic minority

not miniscule

but misspell, misspent

member of the Northern Ireland assembly (it stands for member of the legislative assembly)

master of letters, not master of literature

Herman Melville's classic is, believe it or not, hyphenated

in the sense of Modern British, to distinguish it from "modern art"

one of the peoples of Mongolia

(not mongeese) plural of mongoose

(1917-82) American jazz pianist and composer, generally but erroneously referred to in the Guardian and elsewhere as "Thelonius"

inhabited by Montenegrins

lc for the Earth's moon