Difference between revisions of "The englishtalk style guide"
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* '''tyre''': UK. tire: US. | * '''tyre''': UK. tire: US. | ||
− | + | * '''-ization''': US. -isation: UK. If text should be neutral than the use of words such as organize with a z is possible as even in traditional UK texts in the early 1900s editors use to use z more than s until it became essential to play up the UK/UK differences. | |
== Links & external style guides == | == Links & external style guides == |
Revision as of 11:59, 30 April 2007
The englishtalk approach to style, writing conventions, etc.
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Contents
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
- Company names
- Avoid hyphens on the end of names. Use 'The Siemen solution was to ...' rather than 'Siemen's solution was to...'
- Competence
- Modern management (slightly alienating): competency, plural: competencies
- Formal or more traditional/UK competence, plural: competences
- To avoid: use skills
- Countries
- Großbritannien > usually United Kingdom/UK
- USA > US, or the States
- E-Learning at 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
- Web: englishtalk.net (without www before address, not introduced as website/homepage/Internet)
- 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 sentences.
- 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 standard: Dear Mr Smith (NO COMMA at end of line) then starting first line of letter with an upper case letter
- UK English formal: Dear Mr Smith, (COMMA at end of line) then starting first line of letter with an upper 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
- Wattage
- 40W (no gap, cap W) not 40 watt ( http://www.johnlewis.com/Electrical/Small+Appliances/Category.aspx )
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] (UK: square brackets)
- 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.
- tidbits: US. titbits: UK (alternative: tasty morsels)
- tyre: UK. tire: US.
- -ization: US. -isation: UK. If text should be neutral than the use of words such as organize with a z is possible as even in traditional UK texts in the early 1900s editors use to use z more than s until it became essential to play up the UK/UK differences.
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/