The englishtalk style guide

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Revision as of 16:06, 8 October 2007 by Alex (talk | contribs) (→‎Formal rules (grammar, punctuation, proofreading points, editing conventions))

© englishtalk Ltd 2007

The englishtalk approach to style, writing conventions, etc.

Everyone is free to refer to this style guide, customers and non-customers, but please note that material must not be copied, reproduced or quoted without the prior permission of englishtalk Ltd.

englishtalk conventions

Formal rules (grammar, punctuation, proofreading points, editing conventions)

  • Age
    • Hyphens throughout: a 31-year-old woman
  • Colons
    • After the colon: lower case letter in the first word
    • Upper case in a list: Sometimes
  • Company names
    • Avoid inverted commas and possessive with company names (eg: IBM's). Use 'The Siemens solution was to ...' rather than 'Siemens's solution was to...'
    • GmbH/AG, etc: only put in if the context is more formal. 'The product launched by Siemens' is preferable to 'The product launched by Siemens AG'
    • Do not replace GmbH with Ltd. If necessary do this: Wolfgang und Michael Schmidtlein Gmbh (Ltd)
    • AG without dots, unless the name of the company would make this confusing: PTV AG is probably better as PTV A.G.
  • 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
    • In more modern contexts
      • eg: this way
      • or eg, this way
  • German addresses
    • Paul-Schäfer-Strasse (not Paul-Schäfer-Straße)
    • 70173 Stuttgart, Germany (not D-70173 Stuttgart)
  • Headers
    • UK: First word only capitalized (so not First Word Only)
    • US: Nearly All Words in Title Capitalized
  • Hyphens
    • A 31-year-old woman
    • 20th-century man
    • After sales support
    • Business related, without hyphen
    • Compound adjectives, eg the ever-shrinking ozone layer, above-average performance
    • Cooperation, only in extremely formal contexts: co-operation
    • Experience business first hand - not hyphenated, unlike first-hand experience
    • Tenfold not ten-fold
    • Front-runner, formal: front runner
    • Like-for-like, not to be confused with 'Comparing like with like'
    • Long-term thinking, not to be confused with 'in the long term'
    • As early as the mid 19th century (noun); they discovered a mid-19th century novel (as adjective)
    • Night-time
    • One-stop/one-step
    • Ongoing without a hyphen
    • Re- only hyphenate if next word starts with a vowel (re-use, re-educate but remastered and rekindled)
    • A state-of-the-art system (before noun) which was state of the art (no hyphen after noun)
    • Third party
    • Time to market
    • "This is up-to-date technology", but "this technology is up to date"
    • To date, there are...
    • Torchlit (not torch-lit)
  • Italics
    • Used with foreign words that are not yet part of the Zeitgeist, but not if most people are au fait with them (eg, café)
    • Scientific names such as Homo sapiens
    • Used with company names or proper nouns that could be confused with content ("The rock scene giant rock rebel struck the right chord","'Fixing a hole' is one of the best tracks on The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album")
  • 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
    • Internet is spelt with a capital I (Internet)
    • People order things over the Internet (preferable, although through and via are not wrong)
  • 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
  • Punctuation
    • The ’ symbol is like a comma, curved to the LEFT not to the right …‘
    • Apostrophe: use ’ wherever possible, or ' in many online texts, but do not mix
    • Quotation marks (off-line) should look like “ ” (66 ... 99)
  • p.s.
    • UK: At the end of a letter, both the p and the s are lower case, with dots
    • In American English, this is written P.S. (both letters upper case)
  • 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.
    • Call attention to a specific term in British English: It's the typical ‘you get what you pay for’ scenario.
    • Call attention to a specific term in American English: It's the typical “you get what you pay for” scenario.
  • 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:
    • Without dot, or Fax: (not Tel.: with added .)

Stylistic preferences and conventions

  • Among
    • Preferable to amongst in more modern texts
  • And/or
    • Where possible rather than "Take a ferry and/or plane", use: "Take a ferry, plane, or both"
  • 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
  • englishtalk
    • always written small. englishtalk Ltd (without dot) in formal uses
  • Focused preferably with one S (although focussed with two S's is not wrong)
  • He or she
    • In German it is common to use the masculine form of a word then follow this up with "er/ihm/ihn" (eg, The reader can skip to page 5 and enter his name there). In modern English usage "he" is often avoided as this could be deemed 'sexist'. Solutions:
      • The reader can skip to page 5 and enter his or her name there.
      • The reader can skip to page 5 and enter their name there. (see also they below)
      • [Best solution] Readers can skip to page 5 and enter their name there.
  • Homoeopathy
    • Preferably as above in UK English, but homeopathy permissible with younger audiences
  • Impressum (German word)
    • NEVER Imprint on a website. Instead: About, legals, statutory details, about this website. More: here.
    • Magazines and printed media: Publishing details
  • Market
    • On the market rather than in the market
  • Nordic walking
    • With a capital letter on Nordic but not walking
  • Plurals
    • One prospectus, two prospectuses
    • One radius, two radii
    • One stadium, two stadia
    • Data: The data clearly indicates... OR The data clearly indicate... [Data and datum are used on a case-by-case basis. See The Merriam Webster Dictionary for a concise yet informative explanation: [1]]
  • They (singular and plural)
    • In UK English it is common to see single nouns used as a plural, eg "Blair's Government are introducing a new law.", "IBM are launching their latest server." Sometimes this also happens in reverse, "Freezing fog and mist is common in late winter".
    • They is also sometimes used in UK English to mean "one" or "someone". eg: "Someone left the light on. Could they please take more care next time.", "The javelin stabbed an athlete in the back but they are expected to make a full recovery."
  • Versus
    • England vs Germany without dot after vs

Numbers/currency/dates

  • Single digit numbers written out, "four million". Otherwise as digits, "10 million"
  • £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
    • With multilingual texts (refering to the same numbers) a useful trick is a minimal gap in the middle: 340 000
  • £2 million or £2m or £2mn in tight spaces
  • euros, dollars and pounds always plural and written small (eg, he lost 50 euros)
    • Official descriptions (more formal/finance): EUR 50, GBP 50, USD 50
  • Percentages (see also US vs UK)
    • 98% of the time: without gap between number and %
    • Also possible: 10pc of time
    • Some 58 per cent of words
  • Areas
    • 34sq m. Not 34 square metres or 34 metres squared or 34m²
    • 34sq ft. Not 34 square feet or 34 feet squared or 34ft²
  • 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 (with gap)
    • 5th/Fifth century AD
    • The 1960s, or the 60s (and not the '60s)
  • 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
    • American English: 10:40am (colon)
  • Fractions: where it would be spoken as "2 and a half": 2½ [= Alt 0189; ¼ = 0188, ¾ = Alt 0190], otherwise 2.5
  • Temperature: 34°C - no gaps, capital C, ditto Fahrenheit
  • Distances
    • 34km without gap
    • 3200m without gap (metres, US: meters)
    • 16.41m without gap
    • 327cm without gap
    • 55nm without gap (55 nautical miles)
    • 28,000m if clearly in MILES context
  • People
    • A 5-strong team (not a five-strong team)
  • Speed
    • 110 mph with gap
    • 54 kph car speeds but 54 km/h for sports
    • A yacht doing 8kts
  • Wattage
    • 40W (no gap, cap W) not 40 watt ([2])
  • dBA
    • Preferably written out: 65 decibels

US vs UK usage differences at englishtalk

Words/vocabulary/grammar

  • Aftersales: US. After sales: UK
  • 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)
  • Nail varnish: UK. Nail polish: US.
  • Orient(at)ed
    • UK: orientated, US: oriented
  • People as percentages
    • US: 100 people walk into a store and 98% buys something
    • UK: 100 people walk into a store and 98% buy something
  • Query/Enquiry: Uk. Inquiry: US
  • 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
  • In the UK you write to someone, in the US you write someone

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.
  • speciality: UK. specialty: US.
  • tidbits: US. titbits: UK (alternative: tasty morsels)
  • toward: more common in the US, towards: more common in the UK
  • 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 used z more than s. It was only after American adoption of words such as color for colour that UK writers decided that it was essential to play up the UK/US differences.

Place names

  • The Alps with a capital A, alpine furniture with a small A
  • Brunswick, Germany instead of Braunschweig
  • Dusseldorf without umlaut
  • Hanover with one N
  • Nurburgring without umlaut
  • Nuremberg for Nürnberg

Links & external style guides

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