Introduction
Please also refer to The Times and The Guardian online style guides.
The Oxford English Dictionary online is also very useful.
Grammatical terminology
- Adjective - describes a noun (The pretty girl)
- Adverb - describes a verb (He ran quickly)
- Apostrophe - denotes possession (David’s cap) or an omission of a letter (I’m fine)
- Colon - indicates a significant pause between two closely related phrases, or indicates the start of a list (The winners are: )
- Comma - denotes a pause in a sentence (Excuse me, are you Margaret Thatcher, or do you just look like her?) and can be used to break up items in a list (I need eggs, flour, milk and bread)
- Hyphen - a link which joins two words together
- Infinitive - the ‘whole’ form of a verb, constructed in English with ‘to’ (to buy). Splitting an infinitive means breaking up ‘to’ from its verb: (To boldly go) is a split infinitive
- Noun - denotes a person, place or thing
- Semicolon - indicates a pause shorter than a colon, but longer than a comma, and links two closely related complete phrases
- Verb - denotes an action.
A
Abbreviations and acronyms
Should be written out in full the first time they are used. If the term is to be used again, the abbreviation or acronym should be bracketed after the full name, and used on subsequent mentions, eg, Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The exception is where the abbreviation is better known than what it stands for eg BBC, IRA, AIDS.
Full stops should not be used with acronyms or abbreviations. This rule covers all academic awards and degrees (eg, BA, MA, MPhil, BPhil, MEng, EdD, PhD, PGDip, PGCert, etc).
Also omit the full stops in abbreviations such as eg, ie, etc, Dr, Mr, Mrs, am, pm.
Accents
Use accents on foreign words, unless the word has been anglicised. Exceptions: précis; exposé (to distinguish from expose).
Addresses
No commas in addresses:
University of Exeter
Northcote House
The Queen’s Drive
Exeter EX4 4QJ
UK
In the case of department addresses, put the department name before the University.
Adviser
Not Advisor
Affect/Effect
When used as a noun (eg, the results of something) it’s always ‘effect’. ‘Affect’ is the verb, or when the noun is referring to emotion.
A level
Not A Level or A-level or A-Level
All right
Not Alright
American usage
In general, British rather than American conventions of usage and spelling should be used. For example, -ise rather than -ize in words such as emphasise; -ogue rather than -og in words such as catalogue.
Ampersand
Unless used as part of a company’s name (eg, Procter & Gamble), ampersands should be avoided.
Apostrophe
Apostrophes are used to show (a) possession (The University’s halls of residence; The Students’ Guild) or (b) omissions (I’ll, They’ll) in words and phrases.
- Possession
With a singular noun, the apostrophe goes before the <s>:
Claire’s hat
The cat’s blanket
With a plural noun, the apostrophe goes after the <s>:
The boys’ game
Students’ Union
If a word already ends in <s>, then the apostrophe alone signifies possession; no <s> is needed:
In James’ opinion
Their patio wasn’t as impressive as the Jones’
The ladies’ room
A word with an irregular plural still takes the <’s>:
The children’s playground
The people’s votes
The men’s eyes - Omission of a letter
It’s okay, I’m all right
you’re right
don’t worry
NB. It’s always means ‘it is’ or 'it has'. If it does not mean this, don’t use an apostrophe.
Apostrophes are never used to denote the plural:
Apples (not Apple’s)
Pears (not Pear’s)
Where not to use apostrophes: Don’t use an apostrophe to form a plural with numbers and letters: 1990s not 1990’s; 3 As at A level, not 3 A’s at A level; CDs not CD’s.
