The englishtalk style guide

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© 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 do ask englishtalkbefore copying, reproducing or quoting this website.


englishtalk conventions

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

  • Age
    • Hyphens throughout: a 31-year-old woman
  • Capitals
    • masters thesis but Master of Business (fixed title)
  • 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)
    • Real-time
    • 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)
    • Content is found or posted on the Internet
  • 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

  • Acronyms
    • Spell the name out in full followed by the acronym in brackets - eg, National Savings and Investments (NS&I) - the first time it appears in copy. Then the acronym can be used, if that's the preference, in the rest of copy.
  • 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.
  • Job titles
    • lower case - particularly when the title is more general, eg, football player, manager, director etc
    • upper case when they are a salutation eg, Dr, Prof etc
    • Magazines and printed media: Publishing details
  • Market
    • On the market for a product rather than in the market (sometimes for a company)
  • None
    • Can be "none is" or "none are" but englishtalk prefers "none are" as more modern and US/UK neutral
  • 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
  • Area / volume
    • 34sq m in flowing copy. If there is lots of space it can be written out in full in copy ie, 34 square metres or 34 metres squared. Only write 34m² if it is within a numerical context.
    • 34sq ft in flowing copy. If there is lots of space it can be written out in full in copy ie, 34 square feet or 34 feet squared. Only write 34ft² if it is within a numerical context.
    • 34 cu m in flowing copy. If there is lots of space it can be written out in full in copy ie, 34 cubic metres. Only write 34m³ if it is within a numerical context.
  • 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)
  • Degrees
  • Temperature: 34°C - no gaps, capital C, ditto Fahrenheit
  • Angles: write out full as '350 degrees' in sentences, 350° if in among figures
  • 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
  • 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
    • 110mph without gap
    • 54kmh, sometimes 54km/h for sports
    • A yacht doing 8kts
  • Wattage
    • 40W (no gap, cap W) not 40 watt ([2])
  • Weight
    • 100tn not 100 tonnes
  • dBA
    • Preferably written out: 65 decibels
  • Kilowatt-hour
    • kWh

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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