Style guide

not air hostess, stewardess

golf

tea

place

person

no apostrophe

Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

no accent

now Kolkata

a person; the adjective is California, or Brian Wilson would have written about "Californian Girls"; the same rule applies to other US states, so a "Texan drilling for Texas tea" is an oilman

old-fashioned term best left to the Sunday tabloids

TM

TM

French TV channel, formerly Canal Plus

the whole development, not the main tower, which is 1 Canada Square

city in Mexico

people smoke cannabis rather than "experiment" with it, despite what politicians and young members of the royal family might claim

cleric, decree, principle, body of writings, type of music; a cannon is something you fire

(c994-1035) Danish king of England, Denmark and Norway who commanded the tide to turn back, so the legend says – not in a vain attempt to exercise power over nature, but to prove to his toadying courtiers that he was not all-powerful (lots of people get this wrong)

tent, painting

solicit votes

common agricultural policy

Times have changed since the days of medieval manuscripts with elaborate hand-illuminated capital letters, or Victorian documents in which not just proper names, but virtually all nouns, were given initial caps (a Tradition valiantly maintained to this day by Estate Agents).

A look through newspaper archives would show greater use of capitals the further back you went. The tendency towards lower case, which in part reflects a less formal, less deferential society, has been accelerated by the explosion of the internet: some net companies, and many email users, have dispensed with capitals altogether. Our style reflects these developments. We aim for coherence and consistency, but not at the expense of clarity. As with any aspect of style, it is impossible to be wholly consistent – there are almost always exceptions, so if you are unsure check for an individual entry in this guide. But here are the main principles:

jobs all lc, eg prime minister, US secretary of state, editor of the Guardian, readers' editor.

titles cap up titles, but not job description, eg the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Rev Rowan Williams, at first mention, thereafter Williams or the archbishop; President George Bush (but the US president, George Bush, and Bush on subsequent mention); the Duke of Westminster (the duke at second mention); the Queen, but the pope.

British government departments of state initial caps, eg Home Office, Foreign Office, Ministry of Justice
see departments of state for a full list

other countries' departments of state lc, eg US state department, Russian foreign ministry.

government agencies, public bodies, quangos initial caps, eg Commission for Equality and Human Rights, Crown Prosecution Service, Heritage Lottery Fund, Revenue & Customs.

acts of parliament initial caps (but bills lc), eg Official Secrets Act, Criminal Justice Act 1992.

parliamentary committees, reports and inquiries all lc, eg trade and industry select committee, Lawrence report, royal commission on electoral reform.

artistic and cultural names of institutions, etc, get initial caps, eg British Museum, National Gallery, Royal Albert Hall, Tate Modern. Books, films, music, works of art, etc have initial caps except a, an, and, at, for, from, in, of, the, to (except in initial positions or after a colon).

churches, hospitals and schools cap up the proper or placename and the institution, eg St Peter's Church, Pembury; Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital; Ripon Grammar School; Vernon County Infants School.

but carmaker

plural carcasses

scratchcard, smartcard, swipecard but credit card, debit card, sim card

to sway or keel over to one side; often confused with career, to rush along

these labels are banned

an unpaid family member, partner or friend who helps a disabled or frail person with the activities of daily living; not someone who works in a caring job or profession. The term is important because carers are entitled to a range of benefits and services that depend on them recognising themselves as carers

avoid calling a group of companies a cartel unless it is one

noun; cash-for-honours adjective

fabric

sugar, wheels on a sofa

oil

one word (noun, adjective); cast off two words (verb)

(workers) freelance is often preferable

includes dead and injured, so not a synonym for deaths

lc, as in she's been taken to casualty (though normally called A&E)

adjective Catalan

lc unless specifically referring to Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22

cap up, eg Canterbury Cathedral

not caviare

a CD is a disc, not a disk

: some people prefer this expression (and BCE, for "before common era", etc) to AD and BC, which, however, remain our style

former president of Romania, deposed and executed in 1989

strictly refer to being unmarried (especially for religious reasons), but it is now acceptable to use them to mean abstaining from sexual intercourse

prefer mobile phone

without degree symbol and with fahrenheit equivalent in brackets: 23C (73F), -3C (27F), etc; to convert celsius to fahrenheit, multiply by 9, divide by 5, then add 32; to convert fahrenheit to celsius, subtract 32, divide the answer by 9, then multiply by 5 (or use one of the many online calculators)

not Glasgow Celtic

not interchangeable terms: cement is an ingredient of concrete, which is a mix of aggregates (sand and gravel or crushed stone) and paste (water and portland cement); so a "cement mixer" should always be referred to as a concrete mixer

prevent publication

criticise severely

not Census

the swath across Scotland, containing Glasgow and Edinburgh, where population density is highest. It is in the south, not the centre of the country

or centre in; revolve around

Wimbledon

not singular, and not the American spelling

sixth century, 21st century, etc; but sixth-century remains, 21st-century boy, etc

eschew the variations

the Geneva-based European laboratory for particle physics

(1839-1906) French artist

chlorofluorocarbon

wines are lc, whether named after a place (as in this case) or a grape variety

the dance, not cha-cha

acceptable in place of chairman or chairwoman, being nowadays widely used in the public sector and by organisations such as the Labour party and trade unions (though not the Conservative party, which had a "chairman" in kitten heels); if it seems inappropriate for a particular body, use a different construction ("the meeting was chaired by Alan" or "Georgina was in the chair")

but Five at second mention

not Chunnel

theory not a synonym for chaos. It describes the behaviour of dynamic systems that are sensitively dependent on their initial conditions. An example is the weather: under the "butterfly effect", the flap of a butterfly's wing in Brazil can in principle result in a tornado in Texas

lc, like other wines, whether named after a grape (as in this case) or a region

Cipfa or the institute after first mention

singular and plural

no accent

often mistakenly called "rules". There is just one, namely: "When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed." Chatham House is more formally known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, based at Chatham House in London

avoid

inhabited by Chechens

noun, adjective; check out verb

normally lc, even if named after a place: brie, camembert, cheddar, cheshire, double gloucester, lancashire, parmesan, stilton, wensleydale, etc

Hong Kong international airport, designed by Sir Norman Foster, opened in 1998

formerly Madras

plural of cherub

but cheshire cheese

one word

Britain's favourite dish; note that there is also an Italian dish called chicken marsala

("planning chiefs", etc): try to use proper titles; officers or officials may be preferable

a job, not a title – John Smith, chief constable of Greater Manchester; Smith at second mention

colloquially known as baby bonds

Mainland China: in two parts, eg Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Jiang Zemin. Hong Kong, Taiwan: in two parts with hyphen, eg Tung Chee-hwa, Chiang Kai-shek (exception: when a building, park or the like is named after a person it becomes three parts, eg Chiang Kai Shek Cultural Centre); note also that Korean names are written the same way, eg Kim Il-sung. Singapore, Malaysia: in three parts, eg Lee Kuan Yew.

For people with Chinese names elsewhere in the world, follow their preference – but make sure you know which is the surname

(fashion) not Chloe

not chocaholic

US linguist

use only when referring to a Christian baptism: don't talk about a boat being christened or a football club christening a new stadium; named is fine

but unchristian

use first name, forename or given name (in many cultures, it comes after the family name)

an evangelical Christian organisation

the auction house; Christies the holding company has no apostrophe

means lasting for a long time or constantly recurring, too often misused when acute (short but severe) is meant

not Chumbawumba

lc for the established church, eg "the church is no longer relevant today"; Catholic church, Anglican church, etc, but Church of England

someone who enjoys films; but note that, in France, a cinéaste is someone who makes them

convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora

what the organisation likes to be called, although it still runs bureaux

in Britain a town that has been granted a charter by the crown; it usually has a cathedral

capped when used as shorthand for the City of London

rather than gay marriage, but gay wedding is fine and does not need quotation marks

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, not normally necessary to spell it out; it is acceptable to refer to variant CJD as the human form of BSE, but not "the human form of mad cow disease"

Mozart's 41st Symphony (or Symphony No 41) in C, K551; Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2; Schubert's Sonata in A minor for Piano, D845

Overused words and phrases to be avoided, some of which merit their own ignominious entry in this book, include: back burner, boost (massive or otherwise), bouquets and brickbats, but hey ..., count 'em, debt mountain, drop- dead gorgeous, elephant in the room, fit for purpose, insisted, key, major, massive, meanwhile, politically correct, raft of measures, special, to die for, upsurge; verbs overused in headlines include: bid, boost, fuel, hike, signal, spiral, target, set to.

A survey by the Plain English Campaign found that the most irritating phrase in the language was "at the end of the day", followed by (in order of annoyance): at this moment in time, like (as in, like, this), with all due respect, to be perfectly honest with you, touch base, I hear what you're saying, going forward, absolutely, and blue sky thinking; other words and phrases that upset people included 24/7, ballpark figure, bottom line, diamond geezer, it's not rocket science, ongoing, prioritise, pushing the envelope, singing from the same hymn sheet, and thinking outside the box

noun; climb down verb

two Ns (as in bunny boiler)

TM

we have been known to spell it "course"

TM; the generic term is cola; coke for smokeless fuel and cocaine

London theatre

Rome