The englishtalk style guide
From Et_wiki
The englishtalk approach to style, writing conventions, etc.
To add or change content click on edit. For guidance on editing visit Basic editing tips.
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
- 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
- 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
- Dates
- February 28, 2007
- Saturday December 5, 2007 in that order, not 05
- 43 BC
- fifth century AD
- Time - 12-hour clock, colons, space after time, no dots
- 10:40 am
- 10:40 pm
- Temperature: 34°C - no gaps, capital C, ditto Fahrenheit
- Distances
- 34km without gap
- 3200m without gap (metres)
- 16.41m without gap
- 327cm without gap
- 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.
- Email: UK: things are sent by email. US: things are sent via email.
- 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.
- 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.
- open day: UK. open house: US.
- saloon (car): UK. sedan: US.
- tyre: UK. tire: US.
