The englishtalk style guide

The englishtalk approach to style, writing conventions, etc.

To add or change content click on edit. For guidance on editing visit Basic editing tips.

---

englishtalk conventions

• Addresses:
  • Paul-Schäfer-Strasse (not Paul-Schäfer-Straße)
  • 70173 Stuttgart, Germany (not D-70173 Stuttgart)
• Colons
  • After the colon: lower case letter in the first word
• Countries
  • Großbritannien > usually United Kingdom/UK
  • USA > US, or the States
• E-Learning a the start of a sentence, otherwise e-learning
• Email (not E-Mail or e-mail)
  • UK: things are sent by email. US: things are sent via email.
• Etc without a dot afterwards. "Red, blue, green etc, including standard...."
  • At end of list delete if preceded by "such as/for example ..... "
• For example:
  • e.g. in formal documents
  • eg, in more modern contexts
• englishtalk always written small. englishtalk Ltd (without dot) in formal uses
• Headers
  • UK: First word only capitalized (so not First Word Only)
  • US: Nearly All Words in Title Capitalized
• Impressum (German word)
  • NEVER Imprint. Website: About, legals, statutory details
• Links/email addresses/website
  • At end of line drop off the full stop otherwise it looks like the address should have a '.' at the end: www.like-this.net
• Lists
  • Usually without a dot at the end of each line. Unless line contains senetences.
  • Preferably with 1) 2) 3) and not not 1. 2. 3.
• Mr/Mrs/Ms/Dr
  • Mr. with dot after title only in formal titles and addresses
  • In the middle of sentences write Mr Smith without dots
  • UK English: Dear Mr Smith, (then starting first line of letter with a lower case letter)
  • American English always uses a period/dot: Dear Mr. Smith, (standard opener)
• Per cent with gap, not percent
• p.s. at the end of a letter, both the p and the s are lower case, with dots
• Quotations
  • He said, "This is reported speech." With the dot inside the quote.
  • Adding, "But I then quoted someone as saying, 'Look, single inverted commas within the quote'. Which finish with a dot."
  • John Smith: "Straight into the sentence." Dot inside the quote.
  • "You can start like this too," he added, with a comma in the quotation marks. "But then start again with a capital letter."
  • Not reported speech: put things in 'single quotation marks'. Note the dot outside single quotation marks.
• Slash
  • In most cases with just two words no gap between/after the slash and following word (so not like / this)
  • If numbers and currencies are involved, sometimes with a gap for clarity, eg £54 / €81
• Tel: or Fax: (not Tel.: with added .)
• Versus: England vs Germany without dot after vs

Numbers/currency/dates

• £10.00: UK. $10.00 US. Or £10 / $10 in less formal context
• £100.00: UK. $100.00 US. Or £100 / $100 in less formal context
• £1000.00: UK. $1000.00 US. Or £1000 / $1000 in less formal context
• £10,000.00: UK. $10,000.00 US. Or £10,000 / $10,000 in less formal context
• 1000 - 9999 without a comma
• 10,000 + with comma
• £2 million or £2m in tight spaces
• Percentages
  • 98% of the time: without gap between number and %
  • Also possible: 10pc of time
  • Some 58 percent of words
• Dates
  • February 28, 2007 (US)
  • Saturday December 5, 2007 (US)
  • 28 February 2007 (UK)
  • Saturday, 5 December 2007 (UK)
  • Formal UK: Saturday, 5th December 2007 (UK)
  • 43 BC
  • 5th/fifth century AD
  • The 1960s
• Number
  • UK: No. 34 usually with the dot
  • US: #34 with no space
• Time - 12-hour clock, dot between hours and minutes, no space after time, no dots
  • 10.40am
  • 10.40pm
• Temperature: 34°C - no gaps, capital C, ditto Fahrenheit
• Distances
  • 34km without gap
  • 3200m without gap (metres)
  • 16.41m without gap
  • 327cm without gap
  • 55nm without gap (55 nautical miles)
  • 28,000m if clearly in MILES context
• Speed
  • 110 mph with gap
  • 54 kph car speeds but 54 km/h for sports

US vs UK differences at englishtalk

• Apart from: UK. Aside from: US.
• Asking someone to do something: UK:Ask them to do xxx. US: Have them do xxx.
• Diary: UK, Planner: US
• Email: UK: things are sent by email. US: things are sent via email.
• Help
  • UK: This pen helps you write more clearly (more common than: helps you to write)
• Like
  • UK: They like playing football (more common than: they like to play football)
• Telephone:
  • UK: please ring on 0123 782136
  • US: call at this number
• Weekend:
  • UK: at the weekend
  • US: on the weekend
• While in most documents. Whilst in very formal UK usage.

Words/spelling

• brackets:UK. Parenthesis: US. = (xxx)
• brackets:US = [xxx]
• car park: UK. Parking lot: US.
• colour: UK. Color: US.
• cotton wool: UK. Cotton: US.
• envisage: UK. Envision: US.
• estate car: UK. Station wagon: US.
• full stop: UK. Period: US.
• grey:UK. Gray: US.
• labour: UK. labor: US.
• metre: UK. meter: US.
• mobile phone: UK. cell phone: US.
• plaster:UK. Band Aid: US:
• open day: UK. open house: US.
• saloon (car): UK. sedan: US.
• tyre: UK. tire: US.

Links & external style guides

• http://www.economist.com/research/StyleGuide/
• http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html
• http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/guides.htm
• http://www.askoxford.com/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/ (basic grammar)
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/course/jargon/a.shtml (web jargon buster)
• http://www.marketingpower.com/mg-dictionary.php (American Marketing Association online dictionary)
• http://www.worldwidewords.org/