Download writing style guide - University of Hull

Version: 12/11/09
Style guide
About the Style Guide
The Style Guide is a reference tool for those whose jobs involve writing and editing
text for publication, whether in prospectuses and subject pamphlets, bulletins and
newsletters, or posters and job ads, and whether in print or on the web. It is not a
guide to English grammar or usage, though we have allowed one or two principles of
‘good English’ to sneak in. (Those who are interested in such matters will probably
know which books to consult for further guidance, but some relevant titles are listed
below.) Nor is it a guide to institutional nomenclature, though it does include a few
entries relating specifically to people and things around the University. (For the
current names of faculties, departments, research centres, etc, and other such
organisational arcana, the University’s website will be a better reference.) Nor, finally,
is it a guide to literary style, though it does make some discrete, unsystematic
suggestions as regards the kind of language we should be using. (Supplementary
advice is offered in the second part of this introduction.) The document is intended
primarily as a guide to our ‘house style’, in the usual sense of that term: that is, it
formulates a set of easy-to-follow rules concerning spelling, hyphenation,
accentuation, capitalisation, punctuation and the like.
The purpose of house style is not to distinguish right from wrong in such things. There
is an obvious sense in which it does not matter, ultimately, whether we print ‘adviser’
or ‘advisor’, ‘cafe’ or ‘café’, ‘email’ or ‘e-mail’, ‘organise’ or ‘organize’. But every careful
writer or editor knows how troublesome it can be to decide between such alternative
forms, and every careful reader will have been annoyed by the writer or editor who
could not make up his or her mind. For writers and editors, therefore, house style is
essentially a practical aid, one which relieves them of a range of irksome stylistic
decisions and permits them to concentrate on more important matters (such as
grammar and clarity). For readers, the point of house style is to ensure consistency
from page to page, from article to article, from publication to publication, minimising
vexatious distractions and thereby helping them to focus on what you have to say.
Style also has implications for the image and reputation of the University. It is not just
that inconsistency looks bad, though this is certainly one reason why every serious
publisher has a house style. Stylistic regularity helps to give a distinctive ‘voice’ to our
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multifarious external communications. The voice of the University of Hull, as
embodied in its house style, has been evolving for a number of years and generally
represents a pragmatic compromise between the ‘traditional’ and the ‘modern’,
between the formal and the informal – or, if you like, between the ‘bookish’ and the
‘journalistic’. (If we must remember that we are a university, we must also remember
that our readers are not, on the whole, academics. The style appropriate to a scholarly
monograph is not the style appropriate to an undergraduate prospectus.) On the one
hand, for example, we insist on ‘correct’ syntactic punctuation, resisting a widespread
tendency to abuse the comma and neglect the semicolon; on the other hand, for the
the sake of typographic elegance, we omit syntactically unnecessary punctuation
wherever possible, notably in abbreviations and some displayed lists. Where the use of
hyphens or capital initials is concerned, we similarly eschew both journalistic
minimalism (as practised even in the THE) and pedantic, or bureaucratic, excess. In
these and other areas of style, the underlying thesis is that ‘traditional’ text need not
be fussy or old-fashioned and, conversely, that ‘modern’ text need not be lax or off the
wall. The hope is that this balanced approach will satisfy the broadest possible
readership, including both young people and their influencers.
Only up to a point, however, is it possible to generalise about ‘University of Hull style’.
While our rules concerning hyphens or capital initials, for example, may be valid for
all publications, some of the advice in this Style Guide will require the writer or editor
to exercise discretion according to the kind of publication that he or she is working on.
One example of this is the entry relating to end-of-sentence prepositions. Another is
the entry relating to contractions. In a very official and formal document such as the
University’s annual report, final prepositions may be undesirable and ‘is not’ or ‘we
are’ will be preferable to ‘isn’t’ or ‘we’re’. In a very friendly and informal document
such as a flier telling sixth-formers about open days, the reverse may be true. Both
publications should be grammatically impeccable, of course, but the register will vary
to suit the kind of communication that is envisaged. (Remember that communication
is a social activity, and adopt a voice appropriate to the occasion.) Up to a point, then,
the choice of language and style is a matter of ‘horses for courses’ rather than ‘one size
fits all’. Even so, as we have said, most of the Style Guide is valid for most
publications. Formality of register can be no excuse for an archaic superabundance of
hyphens or capital initials, for instance, and informality cannot justify a tabloidjournalistic deficiency in those areas. Simple and clear communication is always
appropriate.
While they do not pretend to be authoritative in any absolute sense, many of the rules
contained in the Style Guide are informed by printed ‘authorities’ of the kind that are
referred to every day by professional writers and editors. (Some of the many works
consulted by the compilers are listed at the end of this introduction.) Wherever it was
convenient to do so, we also borrowed more or less directly from the style guides of
certain other universities.
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We have kept grammatical terminology to a minimum, and have avoided terms that
would not be explained by any good one-volume dictionary. Formal exposition is,
moreover, abundantly supported by practical examples of usage, and some users of
the Style Guide may find that these constitute sufficient explanation.
Writing for prospective students
Important though it is, even a perfect command of house style will not guarantee that
you communicate effectively with your readers. Those who write for prospective
students, in particular, must also be careful to adopt an appropriate literary or
rhetorical style.
Alongside the prescriptions and preferences of the Style Guide, therefore, we would
urge such writers to be mindful of the following advice.
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Be direct, and try to involve the reader in what you are saying. This means that,
wherever possible, you should prefer the second to the third person: write, for
example, ‘the common core modules allow you to switch from one stream to
another if you find that your interests change during Year 1’, not ‘the common
core modules allow students to switch from one stream to another if they find that
their interests change during Year 1’.
•
Be human, and as friendly as the context allows. Prefer personal to impersonal,
and active to passive, constructions: write ‘we welcome applications from mature
candidates’, not ‘applications from mature candidates are welcomed’; write ‘we
expect you to have three full A levels’, not ‘it is expected that you will have three
full A levels’.
•
Programmes, modules and other features of our provision should generally be
described in the present, not the future, tense: write ‘in this degree first-year
students take three languages concurrently’, not ‘in this degree first-year students
will study three languages concurrently’. In the second person, however, ‘you will
study three languages concurrently’ is fine (since you are addressing prospective
students). At all times, apply some discretion to tenses.
•
Keep your sentences short. This will help both you to think clearly and your reader
to take your meaning. If you find that you have slipped into long ones, split them
up. But don’t overdo it – bear in mind that a chain of very short sentences can be
as irksome as a very long one.
•
Avoid verbosity – use no more words than are necessary to do the job – and the
kind of obscurity that tends to go with it. In your choice of words, other things
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being equal, prefer the short to the long, the familiar or common to the unfamiliar
or the uncommon, the concrete to the abstract, the Anglo-Saxon to the Latinate.
In other words, try to communicate in plain English, making special allowances –
where appropriate – for young and international readers. Remember, however,
that postgraduate readers will be more tolerant of complexity than prospective
undergraduates, and don’t ‘dumb down’ for the sake of plainness.
Using the Style Guide
Entries are arranged alphabetically, for easy reference. Cross-references are set in
bold type. Headwords set in red type indicate entries which should ideally be read
and digested before you write or edit text for publication.
Feedback
Like English usage in general, our house style is inevitably in a state of flux. The
advice contained in the Style Guide is open to revision and refinement in the light of
user feedback, and we would positively encourage you to let us know of any defects or
omissions. Please email your input to [email protected] or [email protected].
Select bibliography
Judith Butcher, Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook, 3rd edn (Cambridge
University Press, 1992)
G V Carey, Mind the Stop: A Brief Guide to Punctuation (Cambridge University Press,
1958)
Collins English Dictionary, 9th edn (HarperCollins, 2007)
The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 9th edn (Oxford University Press, 1995)
The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th edn (Oxford University Press, 1999)
The Economist Style Guide, 3rd edn (The Economist Books, 1993)
Harry Fieldhouse, Everyman’s Good English Guide (Dent, 1982)
H W Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 2nd edn, rev Sir Ernest Gowers
(Oxford University Press, 1983)
Sir Ernest Gowers, The Complete Plain Words, 3rd edn, rev Sidney Greenbaum and
Janet Whitcut (Penguin, 1986)
Hart’s Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press Oxford, 39th edn
(Oxford University Press, 1983)
The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, ed R W Burchfield (Oxford University
Press, 1998)
The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (Oxford University Press, 1981)
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The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, 2nd edn, ed R M Ritter (Oxford
University Press, 2000)
The Oxford Guide to English Usage, 2nd edn, comp E S C Weiner and Andrew
Delahunty (Oxford University Press, 1993)
Eric Partridge, Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English, rev Janet Whitcut
(QPD, 1994)
R M Ritter, The Oxford Guide to Style (Oxford University Press, 2002)
Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
(Profile, 2003)
Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age, ed Constance Hale
(HardWired, 1996)
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A–Z guide to University of Hull style
a, an Use the indefinite article ‘a’, not ‘an’, before words beginning with a sounded
‘h’, such as ‘hotel’, ‘historian’ or ‘hallucination’. ‘An’ is anachronistic (a relic from when
the days we did not sound the ‘h’) and is, one might say, hypercorrect.
abbreviations With the exception of ‘e.g.’ and ‘i.e.’, which look defective without
points, we do not use full stops in abbreviations, whether formed by contraction (‘Dr’,
‘dept’, etc) or truncation (‘incl’, ‘etc’, etc) or from the initial letters of the abbreviated
phrase (‘pm’, ‘pp’, ‘MA’, ‘UK’, etc).
Avoid the use of an apostrophe in the plural: ‘HMIs’ is preferable to ‘HMI’s’. We
do, of course, use an apostrophe to indicate omission in such colloquial contractions
as ‘can’t’, ‘we’ll’ or ‘it’s’, but an initial apostrophe is not needed in such common
abbreviations as ‘bus’, ‘flu’ and ‘phone’.
If an abbreviation is pronounced as a word (‘HEFCE’, ‘NATO’, ‘UCAS’, etc), it does
not generally require the definite article. Other organisations, committees, etc, should
usually be preceded by ‘the’ (‘the BBC’, ‘the AUT’, ‘the UN’, etc).
Abbreviations that can be pronounced and are formed from bits of words rather
than initials should be expressed in upper and lower case: ‘Comecon’, ‘Ofsted’, etc.
Where an abbreviation is preceded by the indefinite article, it is generally
advisable to use ‘a’ or ‘an’ according to the pronunciation of the abbreviation rather
than the pronunciation of the word(s) that it stands for. When abbreviated, ‘a Master
of Arts programme’ becomes ‘an MA programme’; ‘a Student Community Action
project’ becomes ‘an SCA project’; ‘a hydrogen bomb’ becomes ‘an H-bomb’. In these
cases ‘an’ is appropriate because it is assumed that the reader will pronounce each
letter of the abbreviation individually and because the names of the consonants ‘m’, ‘s’
and ‘h’ begin with vowel sounds. For acronyms and other abbreviations pronounced as
words, you can, of course, follow the usual rule that ‘a’ precedes a consonant: ‘a MIDI
device’, ‘a SciEx event’, ‘a HUBS facility’.
In your use of abbreviations, as more generally, always put the reader’s comfort
and convenience before your own.
Use abbreviations where economy requires them – for example, to avoid tiresome
repetition of a lengthy name or term – but try not to serve up alphabet soup.
An abbreviation which may be unfamiliar to any of your readers (as distinct from
professional colleagues and others ‘in the know’) should be spelled out at the first
reference, with the abbreviation following in parentheses: ‘Applications are made
through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).’ Note, though, that
it is pointless to cite the abbreviated form if this is not subsequently employed.
academic disciplines These – as distinct from academic departments – should
generally have lower-case initials (as chemistry, economics, gender studies, sociology,
etc). The obvious exceptions are those incorporating words which always have an
upper-case initial (as American studies or English). Note also that formal degree titles
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do have capital initials: ‘The BSc in Human Biology is one of several biology
programmes offered at Hull.’
accents In foreign proper names (of people, institutions, etc), and in genuinely
foreign words and phrases (those that should normally be printed in italic), include all
the proper accents. In words and phrases of foreign origin which have been fully
assimilated into English (and which should therefore be printed in roman type), omit
accents unless this might cause confusion: thus, for example, ‘cafe’, ‘elite’ and ‘protege’
are OK without diacritics, but the nouns ‘résumé’ (two accents!) and ‘exposé’ need
acute accents to distinguish them from the verbs ‘resume’ and ‘expose’. Though it puts
us ahead of some dictionaries, this very logical rule merely encapsulates a general
historical tendency.
Access (to Higher Education) (course) Capital initial(s).
accommodation Write ‘Thwaite Hall’, ‘Taylor Court’, etc (capital initials for proper
names), but ‘our halls of residence’, ‘our on-campus flats’, etc (lower-case initials for
common nouns). Though we perhaps use terms such as ‘traditional halls’ or ‘student
houses’ in a special sense, the context should make capital initials unnecessary. Write
‘Head Leasing Scheme’, ‘Directed Accommodation Scheme’, etc, as appropriate; but
again the context should allow us to write ‘head-leased accommodation’, ‘directed
accommodation’, etc, without fear of misunderstanding.
acknowledgement Not ‘acknowledgment’.
acronyms An acronym is a particular kind of abbreviation, being a word formed
from the initial letters of other words. See abbreviations.
AD, BC ‘AD’ should precede the year (‘AD 1830’), though ‘10th century AD’ is well
established; ‘BC’ follows the year (‘1830 BC’).
addresses Omit non-essential elements (such as ‘Cottingham Road’ or ‘East
Yorkshire’) from addresses. Include ‘UK’ only if the publication will have an
international readership. Where an address is ‘for further information’ and an
individual contact is named, try to give his or her forename rather than initials.
Ensure that addresses are presented consistently throughout a document. If the
address is broken off and displayed, no end-of-line punctuation is required:
Dr Joseph Bloggs
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Hull
Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
Where the address runs on within text, punctuate with a comma after each element:
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‘Dr Joseph Bloggs, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, HU6
7RX, UK’.
Note that, as in the logo, we omit ‘The’ from ‘University of Hull’.
See also email addresses; phone/fax numbers; URLs.
adviser Not ‘advisor’.
ages Use numerals, not words, even where the number is less than 10: ‘5 and 13 years
of age respectively’; ‘a 6-month-old infant’. Whether functioning as adjective or noun,
‘19-year-old’ is hyphenated.
A level Capital ‘A’, lower-case ‘l’. No hyphen, even when used as an attributive
adjective (‘three A level subjects’). This is a pragmatic rule. In some contexts,
hyphenation of ‘A-level’ would result in an ugly rash of hyphens and would logically
entail such further infelicities as ‘A- or AS-level Maths’. Omission of the hyphen, on
the other hand, is unlikely to confuse anyone.
alma mater Lower-case roman.
alumna, alumnae, alumnus, alumni Use the correct word for gender and
number.
•
•
•
•
‘Alumna’ is the feminine singular form.
‘Alumnae’ is feminine plural.
‘Alumnus’ is the masculine (or non-gendered) singular.
‘Alumni’ is masculine (or mixed-gender) plural.
among Preferable to ‘amongst’.
ampersand (&) This occurs in the names of some companies (Procter & Gamble,
Simon & Schuster, etc) and in some abbreviations (such as ‘R&D’). Elsewhere,
including the names of University departments, ‘and’ is to be preferred.
Ampersand can be useful as a space-saving device in narrow-measure work,
especially, for example, in headings or in lists of programme or module titles, but care
should be taken to use it consistently.
And … ‘That it is a solecism to begin a sentence with and is a faintly lingering
SUPERSTITION. The OED gives examples ranging from the 10th to the 19th c.; the Bible
is full of them’ (H W Fowler). Compare But …
and also Avoid this tautologism. ‘A and B’ is better than ‘A and also B’, not least
because it is two syllables shorter.
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and/or Again we agree with Fowler: ‘The ugly device of writing x and/or y to save
the trouble of writing x or y or both of them is common and convenient in some kinds
of official, legal, and business documents, but should not be allowed outside them.’
anticipate In its primary senses the word still means ‘to foresee and act in advance
of’, ‘to thwart by acting in advance of’, ‘to forestall’. Try to avoid using it as a sloppy
synonym for ‘expect’.
apostrophe As is well known, the apostrophe is never used to form the plural of a
word. While it is helpful in ‘dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s’, moreover, it is
unnecessary in such plurals as ‘MPs’ and ‘1940s’.
Note that an apostrophe, not a turned comma (opening quotation mark), is
required in ‘class of ’76’.
See also possessive case and typesetting characters.
apposition This can be defined as ‘a relationship between two or more words in
which the units are grammatically parallel and have the same referent’. You are using
it when you say ‘my brother Jake’ or ‘my brother, Jake,’ in that ‘my brother’ and ‘Jake’
are parallel nouns referring to the same person.
‘My brother Jake’ – without the commas – is an example of restrictive apposition,
in which ‘Jake’ restricts the sense of ‘my brother’ to one of several possible persons
(i.e. you have several brothers of whom Jake is one). ‘Jake’ is essential here, since
without it ‘my brother’ will be ambiguous (which brother do you mean?).
‘My brother, Jake,’ is nonrestrictive apposition, in which ‘Jake’ adds inessential
information to ‘my brother’. With commas, the addition of ‘Jake’ tells us not only that
your brother’s name is Jake but that also that he is your only brother. Because he is
your only brother, ‘Jake’ could be left out and the reference would still be
unambiguous.
So: as with relative clauses (see comma and that, which (relative pronoun)),
the humble commas make a critically important distinction. It is a distinction that
journalists (not just red-top journalists) routinely fail to respect, and one can only
surmise that this is because their training encourages them not to respect it.
Journalistic confusion about apposition is compounded and complicated by confusion
about articles (of the definite and indefinite kind), and it is worth looking at a
(fictitious but typical) example of this tabloid disorder.
Progressive rock musician, Ed Banger, is being sued for divorce by his
wife Sheila on the grounds of adultery. Co-respondent Krimi Masch
has been seen with Mr Banger on several occasions recently.
If the commas around ‘Ed Banger’ were correct, we would be dealing with
nonrestrictive apposition and the name could be omitted without altering the
meaning. But that would make nonsense, of course. The sense could be saved by
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inserting the indefinite article ‘A’ at the beginning of the sentence, but this would
imply that Banger was a rather obscure musician and one would wonder why his
divorce proceedings were being reported at all. No, he must be well known, and the
apposition must be restrictive (in that there must be other well-known progressive
rock musicians), so the commas should go. And if we want to avoid tabloid shorthand,
what we also need to do is add the definite article at the head of the sentence: ‘The
progressive rock musician Ed Banger is …’
Unless Banger is a polygamist, ‘his wife Sheila’ needs nonrestrictive commas: ‘his
wife, Sheila, …’
‘Co-respondent Krimi Masch’ is the worst problem here. Journalistic carelessness
about appositive commas, along with the habit of omitting articles (definite or
indefinite), means that it is never immediately clear what this kind of formulation
means. The lack of nonrestrictive commas suggests that Ms Masch may be one of
several co-respondents. You may think that this is unlikely, but the point is that we
cannot know whether Ms Masch is the sole co-respondent or one of several because
this typical red-top writer always uses the same formulation for either case. So how do
we disambiguate? In the former case (one co-respondent) we actually need to write
‘The co-respondent, Krimi Masch, has …’; in the latter case we must write ‘Krimi
Masch, one of several co-respondents, has …’ or ‘Krimi Masch, a co-respondent in the
suit, has …’ or ‘A co-respondent in the suit, Krimi Masch, has …’ (it partly depends on
how famous she is).
Journalistic shortcuts are perhaps OK in journalistic contexts (such as press
releases), but even here we should all be alert to the risk of ambiguity – and take steps
to avoid it.
articles (a, an, the) Much inconvenience can be caused by using these carelessly,
and particularly by wantonly omitting them from appositive constructions – see
apposition. See also a, an.
arts, the Lower-case ‘a’.
audiovisual One word (but ‘the Audio Visual Centre’).
Bachelors (degree) Capital ‘B’; no apostrophe. (Originally a genitive, perhaps, but
what would be the plural of ‘Bachelor’s degree’? Better to avoid punctuation
altogether, as the QAA and many other universities do.)
bastard enumeration This delightful term is borrowed from Fowler, who rightly
warns:
One of the first requisites for the writing of good clean sentences is to
have acquired the art of enumeration, that is, of stringing together
three or four words or phrases of identical grammatical value without
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going wrong. This cannot be done by blind observance of the rule of
thumb that and and or should be used only once in a list.
Even in the simplest case, a list of nouns of the ‘A, B and C’ type, the rule of thumb
must sometimes be broken, as when one of the items includes its own internal ‘and’:
‘Her favourite sandwiches were ham, chicken, and cheese and onion.’ Here, of course,
to omit the first ‘and’ would be to turn an ‘A, B and C’ list into an ‘A, B, C and D’ list,
in which cheese and onion would misleadingly appear as two discrete sandwich
fillings. And yet some people would omit it, so powerful is the misconception that
‘and’ must not be used twice.
What Fowler calls ‘bastard enumeration’, however, tends to occur more frequently
in more complex sentences. For example: ‘The introductory paragraph is clear, cogent
and arouses interest immediately.’ Here, to avoid repeating ‘and’, the writer has
imposed an ‘A, B and C’ structure on a sentence that will not support it. In fact the
sentence comprises not three but two propositions, signalled by the two verbs ‘is’ and
‘arouses’: ‘The introductory paragraph [A] is clear, cogent and [B] arouses interest
immediately.’ On this analysis, it is clear that the sentence can be mended simply by
replacing the comma with the ‘and’ that the writer misguidedly shunned: ‘The
introductory paragraph is clear and cogent and arouses interest immediately.’ Some
writers may wish to insert a comma after ‘cogent’, but the doubled ‘and’ is unavoidable
given the logical and grammatical structure of the sentence. (Another, more radical,
solution would be to turn the second predicate into a third adjective, to achieve a
legitimate ‘A, B and C’ list: ‘The introductory paragraph is clear, cogent and
immediately interesting.’)
One more example of this common problem: ‘He plays good cricket, likes football
and a round of golf.’ Again an ‘A, B and C’ structure has been wrongly imposed on
what is really an ‘A and B’ sentence: ‘He [A] plays good cricket, [B] likes football and a
round of golf.’ And again the remedy is to substitute ‘and’ for the comma: ‘He plays
good cricket and likes football and a round of golf.’ Here, as in the previous example, a
comma after ‘cricket’ is optional, but the doubled ‘and’ cannot be avoided.
Why, anyway, should we be afraid of the doubled ‘and’? As Fowler implies, ‘that
insertion of the missing and, from which ignorant writers shrink consciously or
unconsciously,’ does far less damage to euphony than its omission does to logic and
grammar.
See also lists.
besides A useful and friendly alternative to the overworked phrase ‘in addition to’.
bias Avoid using language which might expose the University to any imputation of
racism, sexism, ageism or some other unacceptable -ism. But also avoid ‘politically
correct’ euphemisms and circumlocutions that have not generally caught on despite
promotion by pressure groups.
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brackets In publishing, ‘brackets’ usually means not parentheses, ( ), but square
brackets, [ ]. These are used to enclose ‘editorial’ comments, corrections, explanations,
interpolations, etc, within quoted matter:
‘Before I knew what had happened,’ said the coach, ‘he [Smith] had
scored. I haven’t seen skills like that since Jones’s hat trick against
York [in fact it was against Leeds].’
Often found within brackets is the Latin word sic, literally ‘thus’ or ‘so’, which is
used to indicate that an error or oddity in quoted matter is being reproduced exactly:
‘Smith and Jones are superfluous [sic] strikers,’ he added proudly.
Because of their specialised ‘editorial’ function, brackets should not be used (in
the American fashion) as parentheses-within-parentheses. While not elegant, it is OK
to employ double parentheses:
The match has been immortalised in a recent book (A N Author, It’s
Only a Game (London: X Press, 2008)).
buildings Capitalise the proper names of University and other buildings, including
the word ‘building’ if (and only if) it is part of the proper name: ‘the Cohen Building’
but ‘the Chemistry building’. In some contexts, ‘Cohen’ can be effective shorthand for
‘the Cohen Building’.
bullet (centred dot) A small solid circle sometimes printed before each item in a
list. (See lists.) When word-processing text for publication, please do not use auto
bulleting. Instead, key in the bullets and tabulate manually.
But … Contrary to popular superstition, it is OK to begin a sentence with ‘But’, and
often preferable to the more formal ‘However’. Compare And …
c Abbreviation of Latin circa, literally ‘about’ or ‘approximately’. If used, it should be
set close up to any figures following (‘c1066’) but spaced from words and letters (‘c AD
44’); and with a span of dates it must be repeated before each date if both are
approximate (‘c1105–c1170’). In general, however, prefer ‘about’ or ‘approximately’.
campuses We call ours the Hull Campus and the Scarborough Campus, each with a
capital ‘C’. Use a lower-case ‘c’, however, when ‘campus’ functions as a common noun,
as in ‘the main campus’, ‘our campus at Scarborough’, etc.
Note that there is no such thing as the ‘West Campus’, whatever you may have
read in internal memos and announcements. Refer instead to ‘the western side of the
Hull Campus’ or ‘the western part of the Hull Campus’.
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capitals Over-liberal use of capital initials makes text look fussy, old-fashioned or
bureaucratic, and this is an area in which we need to modernise and streamline our
style. Some specific preferences are dealt with under other headings in this guide.
Apart from the elementary requirement that the first letter of a word which begins a
sentence should be capitalised, the most fundamental general rule is, of course, that
proper names or titles – of committees, departments, organisations, institutions, etc –
should have capital initials whereas common nouns should not. (A common noun
denotes a class of objects or a concept as opposed to a particular individual.) So we
refer to ‘the Academic Planning Committee’ but we say that ‘the APC is a committee of
Senate’; we speak of ‘the Department of History’ but we proclaim that ‘Hull has one of
the best history departments in the UK’; we write ‘the Particle Physics and Astronomy
Research Council’ or ‘the University of Hull’, but ‘an approachable research council’
and ‘a friendly university’.
So far, so good; but we can go further – without going quite as far as some
journalistic publications (including the THE). Even when referring to particular
individual committees, departments, organisations, institutions, etc, we need not
always use upper case. Our view is that we should write ‘the Brynmor Jones Library’,
‘the Academic Planning Committee’ or ‘the Department of History’ – just as we should
write ‘the Humber Bridge’ or ‘the River Hull’ – with capital initials, since these are
their full, formal names. In subsequent shortened references to the same, however, we
can quite safely write ‘the library’, ‘the committee’ or ‘the department’ – just as we can
write ‘the bridge’ or ‘the river’ – with lower-case initials. ‘Library’, ‘committee’ and
‘department’ are, after all, common nouns, just like ‘bridge’ and ‘river’. If using a
lower-case initial leaves it unclear which library, committee or department you are
referring to, you probably need to use the full name anyway. The sole exception to this
rule is ‘university’, which should be written with a capital ‘U’ if it is shorthand for
‘University of Hull’ (or the name of any other university) but not if the word is
functioning as a common noun – see also university.
In references to the titles of programmes, modules, publications, etc, if the style is
upper-and-lower-case, give a capital initial only to the first word, the last word, and
any important words in between (capitalise all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs and
adverbs, but generally not articles, conjunctions or prepositions such as ‘the’, ‘but’ and
‘to’). Where a hyphenated compound appears in the title, capitalise as if each element
were a separate word (write ‘Promoting Cross-Cultural Research’, ‘An End-of-Year
Symposium’, etc) unless one element is a prefix or combining form such as ‘co-’, ‘pre-’,
‘neo-’, etc (write ‘Co-ownership of Property’, ‘Neo-conservatism in the USA’, etc).
In upper-and-lower-case headings and subheadings, the first word and proper
nouns should have a capital initial; so should the key words in titles (of programmes,
modules, etc), where these occur within such headings and subheadings. (In short,
give a capital initial to any word which would normally have one.) All other words
should have lower-case initials. Hence ‘The University, the city and the region’,
‘Resources and facilities at the Scarborough Campus’, ‘Content and structure of the BA
Business and Marketing’, etc.
13
captions A caption always begins with a capital initial and ends with a full stop, even
if it comprises less than a complete sentence:
The interior of the award-winning Asylum nightclub.
Terms such as ‘above’, ‘below’, ‘top’, ‘bottom’, ‘left’, ‘right’ and ‘clockwise’ can serve to
pinpoint individual pictures within a group of illustrations or to identify individual
elements within an illustration. Such terms are followed by a colon when preceding
the subject and are placed in parentheses when following the subject:
Above: the Continental Cafe. Below: the Sports and Fitness Centre.
Left to right: Terry Simmons, Gillian Shepherd and Tracy Fletcher.
Philip Larkin (centre) and Andrew Motion (left) are among the
many poets associated with Hull.
case study Two words. Hyphenate only when attributive: ‘a case-study module’.
centuries See dates.
certificate Lower-case ‘c’ except in the full, formal title of an award such as the
Certificate in Higher Education.
Clearing Capital ‘C’ when referring to the annual scrummage in August–September.
colon ‘In general usage it … has [now] acquired a special function: that of delivering
the goods that have been invoiced in the preceding words. In this capacity it is a
substitute for such verbal harbingers as viz., scil., that is to say, i.e., etc.’ (H W
Fowler). It therefore tends to precede a list, particularly if the lead-in text constitutes a
grammatically complete sentence: ‘Jeff has three favourite meals: breakfast, lunch and
dinner.’ Do not, however, interpose a colon between a verb (such as ‘are’) and its
complement: ‘Jeff’s three favourite meals are breakfast, lunch and dinner.’ See also
lists.
The colon may also be used to introduce speech or other quoted matter: ‘Jeff
complained: “I seem to be always hungry.”’
comma In lists of three or more items, we generally do not include a comma (the socalled ‘serial’ or ‘Oxford’ comma) before ‘and’ or ‘or’: ‘The meeting was attended by
Tom, Dick and Harry.’ However, in more complex lists – for example, where one item
requires its own conjunction – the comma may be needed to avoid ambiguity or
confusion: ‘Tom had to choose between criminology, gender studies, and sociology
and anthropology.’ See also lists.
Sometimes commas should be inserted between adjectives preceding and
qualifying a noun, as in ‘wild, windy weather’ or ‘a tall, dark, handsome stranger’; but
sometimes they should not, as in ‘a good little boy’ or ‘a supercharged V8 rear engine’.
14
It is difficult to formulate hard-and-fast rules here, and the choice is often a matter of
taste, but one might say that commas tend to be omitted where the last adjective is in
closer relation to the noun than the preceding ones (‘a good little boy’), or where the
adjectives form a kind of unit (‘a supercharged V8 rear engine’). A good test is whether
‘and’ could sensibly be placed between the adjectives: if the answer is no, you should
probably leave out the comma(s).
Use two commas to set off appositives: ‘The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Calie
Pistorius, gave an introductory talk.’ But be aware that commas are not required
where the item in apposition is restrictive (that is, when it defines which of more than
one item is meant): ‘The poet Andrew Motion also addressed the audience.’ See also
apposition.
In general, use a comma before a conjunction that introduces an independent
clause: ‘Tom chose criminology, and Harry opted for gender studies.’ But note:
semicolons or full points, not commas, should normally be used to separate main
clauses that have different subjects and are not introduced by a conjunction. Thus:
‘Tom chose criminology; Harry opted for gender studies.’ See also semicolon.
Use a comma before (and after) a nonrestrictive relative clause: ‘The book, which
lay on his desk, looked unappealing.’ (The information in the ‘which …’ clause is
incidental to the main statement.) But do not use a comma before (or after) a
restrictive relative clause: ‘The book which lay on his desk looked unappealing.’ (The
information in the ‘which …’ clause is essential to the main statement in that it
identifies which book is being referred to.) See also that, which.
In general, do not separate a subject from its verb with a comma. Very
occasionally a comma may be necessary, as in ‘Those who can, teach’; but who would
write ‘The cat, sat on the mat’? The comma in the following, for example, is no less
inappropriate and should be eliminated: ‘Those with the smallest incomes and no
other means, should get most support.’
commence Prefer ‘begin’ or ‘start’.
compass points Use capital initials when denoting a region by the nominal form
(‘unemployment in the North’) and in geographical names with recognised status
(such as Northern Ireland or South Africa), but not otherwise (write ‘northern France’
or ‘southern England’). Compounds such as ‘north-east’ and ‘south-west’ should be
hyphenated.
competence, competency Where the reference is to a particular ‘skill or ability’, as
distinct from ‘skill or ability’ per se, the word to use is ‘competency’ (plural
‘competencies’). ‘Competence’ (like, for example, ‘luggage’ or ‘happiness’) is best
treated as a mass noun – that is, as one which is used neither with an indefinite article
nor in the plural. Thus: ‘Roger displays reasonable competence in two of the three Rs,
but the third is a competency that seems quite beyond him.’
15
compose, comprise, consist, constitute If A and B compose or constitute C,
then C consists of or comprises A and B. The use of ‘of’ after ‘comprise’, as in ‘the
collection comprises of a million volumes’ or ‘the collection is comprised of a million
volumes’, should be avoided; but it is OK to say ‘the collection is composed of a
million volumes’. ‘Make up’ is a handy and friendly alternative to ‘compose’ or
‘constitute’.
conferences Conference titles should be cited in italic. The titles of addresses,
seminars, workshops, etc, at a conference should be cited in roman type within
quotation marks.
contractions Common verbal contractions, such as ‘I’m’, ‘can’t’, ‘we’ll’ or ‘it’s’, are
perfectly acceptable in less formal writing and, if employed moderately and
judiciously, can even help to leaven more formal prose; but a misjudged contraction
can stick out like a sore thumb if the prevailing register is ‘official’, and a careless mix
of contracted and uncontracted forms will simply confuse the reader. Within reason,
try to maintain a consistent register – whether formal or informal – throughout a
piece of writing. See also abbreviations.
cooperate, coordinate These and cognate words (‘cooperative’, ‘coordination’, etc)
should be written solid. (They are so familiar that there really is no practical danger of
their being misread.) For clarity or comfort or both, however, write ‘co-op’, ‘co-opt’,
‘co-own’, etc. See also hyphenation.
course For a course of study leading to a degree or other qualification, this university
uses the word ‘programme’ in its internal discourse. In our recruitment literature,
though, and especially in publications for prospective undergraduates, we generally
defer to popular usage and allow ‘course’.
For a course of study that is a component of such a programme, ‘module’ is
usually the appropriate word.
coursework One word.
cross-references Cross-references by page number should be kept to a minimum,
as the page numbers often cannot be inserted until pagination is finalised. The word
‘page’, with a lower-case ‘p’, should be plural where appropriate: write, for example,
‘see pages 16–17’.
Other cross-references (by section heading or number, for example), in so far as
they are really necessary and useful, should take a consistent form.
dash In professional typography – and we do not want the University to look
amateurish – a dash is not the same thing as a hyphen. It is usually constituted by the
character known as an en rule, which is longer and normally thinner than a hyphen.
16
The following guidance assumes that the en rule is available to you – see typesetting
characters.
For the parenthetical dash – it is exemplified here – we use a spaced en rule, not a
spaced hyphen. Use dashes – but don’t overdo it – to express a more pronounced
break in sentence structure than commas, and to draw more attention to the enclosed
phrase than parentheses:
The seminar lasted – we knew it would! – far longer than planned.
There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as
pure scientific research.
A single parenthetical dash may be used to append a phrase – perhaps by way of an
ironic twist – at the end of a sentence, or it can replace (but not follow) an
introductory colon:
In England, higher education is open to all – like the Ritz Hotel.
She has just one interest – quantum mechanics.
Do not, however, use the dash to splice together clauses which are joined by a
conjunction, as in
The University is a cosmopolitan institution – and the city of Hull is
slowly catching up.
This is a peculiarly tabloid-journalistic device, and it is out of place in most of our
publications. The appropriate stop, as in the foregoing sentence, is the comma.
The unspaced en rule, not the hyphen, is used in number spans. It is also used
in certain kinds of compound where it can usually be thought of as standing for ‘and’
or ‘to’.
The en rule is used to mean ‘and’ (and is preferable to the solidus or slash) in such
phrases as ‘Bruno–Tyson fight’, ‘Labour–Liberal alliance’, ‘oil–water interface’,
‘Urdu–Hindu issue’, etc. Distinguish between ‘the Smith-Jones thesis’ (one person)
and ‘the Smith–Jones thesis’ (two people). The en rule should not replace ‘and’ in
constructions of the ‘between … and …’ kind: write ‘the period between 1980 and
1990’, not ‘the period between 1980–90’.
En rules are used to mean ‘to’ in such phrases as ‘September–January’, ‘1914–18
war’, ‘London–Glasgow railway’, ‘input–output ratio’, etc. The en rule should not
replace ‘to’ in constructions of the ‘from … to …’ kind: write ‘from 1990 to 1996’, not
‘from 1990–96’. See also dates.
Where possible, do not use en rules to link elements comprising more than one
word, such as ‘the Winston Churchill–Anthony Eden Government’ or ‘the New
York–London flight’, since the relationship is not immediately clear. Find some other
way of expressing it if you can, such as ‘the Government of Winston Churchill and
Anthony Eden’ or ‘the flight from New York to London’.
17
data In Latin, ‘data’ is the plural of ‘datum’ and, historically and in specialised
scientific fields, it is also treated as a plural in English. In modern non-scientific use,
however, it is often treated as a mass noun, similar to a word like ‘information’, which
cannot normally have a plural and which takes a singular verb. Sentences such as ‘data
was collected over a number of years’ are now widely accepted in standard English. In
short, respect the context.
dates The order is always day, month, year. Write ‘12 September’, ‘September 2001’,
‘12 September 2001’, without commas. Note that the day takes the form of a cardinal
number, without ‘st’, ‘nd’, ‘rd’ or ‘th’ attached to it (but write ‘the 12th of this month’ –
with the ‘th’ on the line, not superscript). When including the name of a day, do not
follow it with a comma: write ‘Tuesday 12 September’.
Four-figure years – such as 2001 – do not, of course, have a comma after the
thousands digit, but those with more – such as 10,000 BC – do have one.
Centuries: Write ‘7th century’, ‘19th century’, etc (‘7th-century’, ‘19th-century’, etc,
if attributive). The ‘th’ (or the ‘st’, ‘nd’ or ‘rd’) should not be superscript. Note that
‘century’ does not need a capital initial (would you give one to ‘decade’, ‘year’, ‘month’,
etc?).
Decades: If you simply want to denote a 10-year historical time span, write, for
example, ‘the 1920s’ (no apostrophe). (When referring to more than one decade,
prefer ‘the 1920s and 1930s’ to ‘the 1920s and ’30s’.) If it is clear what century you are
talking about and you also want to connote all the social, cultural and political
conditions unique to or significant in that decade, you may write ‘the Twenties’
(capital ‘T’; no apostrophe).
Spans: ‘1995–96’ or ‘2001–02’, with an unspaced en rule (see dash and
typesetting characters), signifies two calendar years (but do not elide digits in
‘1999–2000’ or ‘2000–2001’); ‘1995/96’ or ‘2001/02’, with a solidus, is one academic
year (but write ‘1999/2000’ or ‘2000/2001’ in full). Write ‘from 1924 to 1928’ or
‘1924–28’, not ‘from 1924–28’; similarly, write ‘between 1914 and 1918’ or ‘1914–18’,
not ‘between 1914–18’.
When dealing with dates, at least in publications with a shelf life of more than a
couple of years, avoid vague references that will soon become misleading: ‘over the
last three years’, ‘recently’, etc, would be better as ‘in 2005–08’, ‘since 2006’, etc.
See also AD, BC and number spans.
decades See dates.
decimals There should be a number either side of a decimal point: ‘0.6’, for
example, not ‘.6’. In statistical series, try to ensure that there is always the same
number of digits after the point: write ‘4.68, 10.20, 3.00 and 8.74’, not ‘4.68, 10.2, 3
and 8.742’.
18
Deep, The The definite article always has a capital ‘T’, even in mid sentence. See
University of Hull, The/the.
degree Lower-case ‘d’ (as, for example, in ‘a Joint Honours degree’).
degrees Omit full stops from the abbreviations ‘BA’, ‘MPhil’, ‘PhD’, etc. Where the
awarding institution is cited, leave a space before the parenthesis: ‘MSc (Hull)’.
When used after a name, set off degree abbreviations with commas: ‘John Smith,
PhD, is an alumnus of the University of Hull.’ Avoid redundancies such as ‘Dr John
Smith, PhD’ (where ‘Dr’ or ‘PhD’ is superfluous).
Use capital initials for ‘Bachelors’ and ‘Masters’ and for types of degree: ‘Single
Honours’, ‘Joint Honours’, ‘Combined Honours’, etc.
Use lower-case initials for degree classifications such as ‘first class’ or ‘upper
second class’. Do not hyphenate these terms, even when used attributively: ‘a lower
second class degree in Human Biology’. Classifications may be abbreviated, if
necessary, as ‘1st’, ‘2.1’, ‘2.2’ and ‘3rd’.
departments Write ‘the Department of X’, with a capital ‘D’, if this is its full, formal
title; but write ‘the department’ or ‘departmental’, with a lower-case ‘d’, if referring
back to the same. Where the reference is indefinite or generic, always use lower-case
initials: ‘Ours is one of the best drama departments in the UK.’ (See also capitals.)
Similar rules apply to schools, faculties and other units.
despatch Use ‘dispatch’.
dictionaries See spelling.
different (from, to, than) There is little difference in sense between ‘different
from’, ‘different to’ and ‘different than’, and all have been used by respected writers.
But ‘different from’ is traditionally held to be correct, and is by far the commonest in
written English; ‘different than’, which is often criticised, is largely restricted to North
America. Prefer ‘from’, which will antagonise fewer readers.
diploma Lower-case ‘d’ except in the full, formal title of an award such as the
Diploma in Higher Education.
direct, directly For the adverbial sense of ‘direct’, The Concise Oxford Dictionary
(10th edn) has ‘in a direct way or by a direct route’; for the principal sense of ‘directly’,
it has ‘in a direct manner’. In short the two adverbs are largely synonymous,
notwithstanding the fact that ‘directly’ can also mean ‘immediately’ or (more
colloquially) ‘soon’. Do not agonise over the choice between ‘direct’ and ‘directly’,
therefore, if you want to say ‘in a direct manner’ or ‘by a direct route’; but if you want
to say ‘immediately’ or ‘soon’, use ‘immediately’ or ‘soon’.
19
disability We have no axe to grind in the contention between the medical model and
the social model: ‘students with disabilities’ and ‘disabled students’, for example, are
equally acceptable. See also bias.
dispatch Not ‘despatch’.
distance learning Hyphenated when used attributively: ‘distance-learning
provision’.
distance-taught Hyphen.
doctoral, doctorate Lower-case (but ‘Doctor of Philosophy’).
e-business, e-commerce, etc Hyphen (but ‘email’ is written solid). Capitalise the
‘e’ when the term appears at the beginning of a sentence, at the beginning of an upperand-lower-case heading or within an upper-case heading, but not otherwise.
e.g. One of only two abbreviations which take full stops (the other being i.e., with
which it should not be confused). Stands for exempli gratia, meaning ‘for example’. It
should usually be spelled out in prose (as distinct from lists, parenthetical matter,
notes, etc) and should never begin a sentence.
ellipsis ( … ) Use this device to indicate the omission of one or more words from
quoted matter (but not at the beginning or end of a quotation). We also sometimes use
it to indicate grammatical continuity between typographically discontinuous bits of
text – for example, between a heading and the text which follows it.
Our ‘corporate’ fonts offer a one-piece ellipsis – see typesetting characters. If
this is not available, however, use three full points. In any case there should be a space
before and after the row of ‘dots’.
email One word (but write ‘e-business’, ‘e-commerce’, etc). Capitalise the ‘e’ only
when the term appears at the beginning of a sentence, at the beginning of an upperand-lower-case heading or within an upper-case heading.
email addresses Our style is lower-case – [email protected] – and, since email
addresses are not case-sensitive, there need be no exceptions.
If the email address ends a sentence, it must be followed by a full stop. We cannot
suspend the most basic rules of punctuation just because a few technologically
challenged readers might be confused by the extra ‘dot’.
Try not to break email addresses over two lines. Taking a whole address over to
the next line can sometimes leave a very short line, but this may be a lesser evil than
breaking the address. Where typographic considerations absolutely require that the
address be broken, however, try to break it after the ‘@’.
20
emphasis While bold type is OK for headings and other independent matter, italic is
always to be preferred as a means of applying emphasis or distinction to a word,
phrase or passage within running text – unless, of course, you really want it to stick
out like a sore thumb. Do not use capitals or underline for emphasis.
encyclopedia Not ‘encyclopaedia’.
enquire, inquire Though some people use these two words interchangeably,
‘enquire’ is best used to mean ‘to ask’ in general contexts, while ‘inquire’ is best
reserved to mean ‘to make a formal investigation’. (In cases of academic investigation,
‘enquire’ tends to be preferred.) But why not avoid these starchy verbs altogether and
write ‘ask’ or ‘investigate’?
en rule See dash and typesetting characters.
en suite Not italic. Hyphenate when attributive: ‘en-suite accommodation’.
etc No full point. Notwithstanding our general policy on the ‘serial’ comma (see
comma), include a comma before ‘etc’ in lists such as ‘apples, bananas, cherries, etc’.
Also include a comma after ‘etc’ when it occurs in mid sentence: ‘Apples, bananas,
cherries, etc, were conspicuously absent from the typical student’s diet.’
However: in running text, if space permits, ‘etc’ is better spelled out. (That is, use
‘and so forth’, ‘among other things’, ‘and the like’, etc.) In any case, be consistent
within any particular document.
It is considered offensive to use ‘etc’ when listing individual people. Use ‘and
others’ instead (except in bibliographical and other technical contexts where the Latin
abbreviation ‘et al’ is the norm).
If ‘such as’, ‘including’ or ‘for example’ precedes your list, do not write ‘etc’ (or
similar) after it, since these indicate that the list is to be selective and incomplete.
Normally at least two examples are necessary before ‘etc’ (or similar), to establish
the relationship between the elements and show how the list might go on.
events Where capitalisation is concerned, treat the titles of these in the same way as
titles of publications etc. In general there is no need for quotation marks, but it is
occasionally helpful to use them when an event is first cited – ‘On the Edge’, for
example, or ‘The Humber Mouth’ – to distinguish the title as a title and avoid puzzling
or confusing the reader.
exclamation mark Generally to be avoided. If it seems to be the only way of
indicating that you are making a joke, ask yourself whether the joke is worthwhile.
ex officio Not italic.
21
extra-departmental Hyphen.
faculties See departments.
fax The initial ‘f’ is not capitalised except at the beginning of a sentence, at the
beginning of an upper-and-lower-case heading or within an upper-case heading . See
also phone/fax numbers.
field work Two words (but write ‘a field-work project’).
figures See numbers.
first, second, third, etc Not ‘firstly’, ‘secondly’, ‘thirdly’, etc.
first-year, second-year, third-year, etc Hyphenate, whether noun (= ‘first-year
student’) or adjective. Floating hyphens are generally undesirable, but ‘first- and
second-year undergraduates’ is more natural than ‘first-year and second-year
undergraduates’. See also years.
focused, focuses, focusing Not ‘focussed’, ‘focusses’, ‘focussing’.
foreign words and phrases Genuinely foreign – that is, non-naturalised – words
and phrases, but not proper names (of people, institutions, organisations, etc), should
be set in italic. (But note that foreign-language quotations should be roman in
quotation marks, not italic.) Proper names and genuinely foreign words and phrases
should carry all their proper accents. For italic and accents, a recent edition of Collins
English Dictionary will be as good a guide as any.
However: try not to use foreign words and phrases unless there is no English
alternative, which is unusual.
See also accents and plurals.
foundation course, year, etc Lower-case ‘f’ (but write ‘Foundation degree’).
Foundation degree Upper-case ‘F’ (but write ‘foundation course’, ‘foundation year’,
etc).
fractions Spell out and hyphenate simple fractions: ‘The theatre was two-thirds full.’
The verb agrees with the noun following ‘of’: ‘three-quarters of the apple was eaten’,
but ‘three-quarters of the employees were at a seminar today’.
Numerals should be used for more complex fractions (such as 27/64), or when
fractions appear with whole numbers (51/4); but in these cases fractions are best
avoided – convert to decimals if possible.
To avoid typesetting difficulties in non-technical work, a complex in-text fraction
22
may be set in font-size numerals with a solidus (slash) between – the so-called
‘shilling fraction’ – such as 99/100.
free elective Lower-case initials (except in ‘Free Elective Scheme’); always two
words (no hyphen), whether noun or adjective.
fundraiser, fundraising One word.
further education Lower-case initials, despite the upper-case abbreviation ‘FE’.
Government, government Capital ‘G’ when referring to a particular body of
persons, such as the British Government; but use lower case for the general concept
and common nouns: ‘the art of government’, ‘a foreign government’, etc.
group work Two words.
headings Keep headings and subheadings as short as possible, while also keeping
them meaningful. (Remember that they are navigational aids, especially for web
readers.) In general, omit terminal punctuation (though a rhetorical question, for
example, would of course require a question mark). In upper-and-lower-case
headings, give a capital initial to the first word and to any other words which would
normally have one (see capitals); all other words should have lower-case initials.
In copy, try to make different levels of heading typographically distinct, with a
logical hierarchy of type size or weight or both, so that the structure of the document
is clear at a glance.
HEFCE This is a kind of acronym, in that it is pronounced as a word (‘heff-kee’), so it
does not require the definite article. Where the indefinite article precedes it, use ‘a’, as
in ‘a HEFCE initiative’.
he/she, him/her, his/her Ugly devices which are to be avoided in serious writing,
not least because they bear no relation to spoken English. Sadly, the language lacks
non-gendered singular personal pronouns, and the traditional use of ‘he’, ‘him’ and
‘his’ as inclusive makeshifts is now politically unacceptable. Despite distinguished
literary precedents and despite growing acceptance in general usage, the deployment
of ‘they’, ‘them’ and ‘their’ as singular pronouns is still frowned on by some literate
people, and we should probably try to avoid it in more formal contexts. The obvious
solution is to write ‘he or she’, ‘him or her’ and ‘his or her’, but this soon becomes
tedious. Ultimately, the only dependable strategy is to rewrite in such a way as to
circumvent the dilemma, perhaps by making things plural (changing ‘each student’,
for example, to ‘all students’), by employing the second person (changing ‘each
student’ to ‘you’) or by eliminating pronouns (changing ‘each student should insure
his/her personal possessions’ to ‘each student should take out personal possessions
23
insurance’). Yet such recasting is sometimes so laboriously difficult that even the most
conservative writers and editors may be tempted to wonder whether singular ‘they’,
‘them’ and ‘their’ are really so bad.
higher education Lower-case, despite the upper-case abbreviation ‘HE’.
historic, historical A distinction is usually made between ‘historic’ (important,
significant) and ‘historical’ (pertaining to history): ‘a historic decision’; ‘a historical
perspective’.
homepage One word.
Honours Capital ‘H’ (as in ‘Single Honours’). Abbreviated as ‘Hons’ (as in ‘BA
(Hons) English’).
however When used in its conjunctive sense of ‘nevertheless’, the word ‘however’
should be followed – and, where appropriate, preceded – by a comma (‘However, we
proceed ...’), not least to avoid momentary confusion with ‘however’ in its adverbial
sense of ‘by whatever means’ or ‘in whatever manner’ (‘However we proceed ...’). But
the shorter word ‘but’ is generally preferable, even at the beginning of a sentence, and
does not need a comma (‘But we proceed ...’).
Humber Estuary, the Capital ‘E’ (but ‘the estuary’ in subsequent shortened
references).
hyphenation It is still customary to hyphenate prefixes and combining forms before
a capitalised name (‘anti-Darwinism’, ‘pro-American’, ‘pseudo-Shakespearean’), but in
most other cases the overall modern tendency is towards the ‘closed’ compound
(‘anticlericalism’, ‘proactive’, ‘pseudoscientific’). Many words which used to be
hyphenated – such as those beginning with the prefixes ‘co-’, ‘de-’, ‘non-’, ‘pre-’, ‘re-’,
etc – are now generally written solid (that is, as one word), and this is an aspect of
contemporary usage that should be reflected in our publications. The hyphen must
sometimes be retained, as in ‘co-op’ or ‘re-mark’ (= ‘mark again’), to prevent
misreading; and it can be desirable, for the reader’s comfort, in such awkward
compounds as ‘co-own’ or ‘re-examine’; but no competent adult reader is likely to be
confused or discomforted by ‘cooperative’ or ‘resit’. Much does depend on how well
established and clearly recognisable the compound is, but we should certainly try to
avoid the superfluous hyphen. If in doubt about particular words, consult the most
recent edition of a good dictionary, such as Collins English Dictionary or the Concise
Oxford Dictionary.
Another modern tendency has involved avoiding hyphenation not by merging
words but by separating them. In recent decades, many two-word compounds
combining a present participle and a noun have been resolved into their constituent
24
parts. Nowadays, for example, we no longer write ‘walking stick’, ‘dining room’ and
‘colouring book’ as hyphenated compounds. Formerly it was also normal in British
English for a single adjectival noun and the noun that it modified to be hyphenated
(‘burial-place’, ‘title-page’, ‘lecture-room’). Not any more. Again the contemporary
practice is to leave out the hyphen and write each item as two discrete words.
So the number of hyphens in the typical English dictionary has been dwindling for
some time. But this is not to say that the hyphen is dispensable; rather, that modern
style requires a moderate and judicious use of this handy little device. For ad-hoc
clarification of sense, hyphenate compound adjectives such as ‘middle-class’, ‘firstyear’, ‘east-coast’, ‘research-based’, ‘government-funded’, etc; but do not hyphenate
capitalised words in phrases such as ‘British Library staff’ or ‘New Orleans jazz’, and
note that scientific terms (such as ‘liquid crystal display’ or ‘intensity modulated
radiation’) tend not to be hyphenated in technical contexts. ‘Well known’, ‘ill
educated’, etc, should be hyphenated when used attributively (‘a well-known book’, ‘an
ill-educated lad’) but not when predicative (‘the book is well known’, ‘the lad was ill
educated’). Do not hyphenate compounds of the ‘beautifully proportioned’ or ‘recently
completed’ type, even when used attributively. Write ‘decision making’, ‘information
processing’, etc, as two words, except when using them attributively (‘a decisionmaking strategy’, ‘an information-processing function’). If necessary, use hyphens to
indicate an omitted common element in a series: ‘four- and six-cylinder models’; ‘two, three- or fourfold’; ‘countrymen and -women’.
Please switch off auto hyphenation when word-processing text for publication.
i.e. One of only two abbreviations which take full stops (the other being e.g., with
which it should not be confused). Stands for id est, meaning ‘that is (to say)’. It should
usually be spelled out in prose (as distinct from lists, parenthetical matter, notes, etc)
and should never begin a sentence.
inform Prefer the less formal ‘tell’, if that is what you mean.
initials Forename initials, where they occur with the surname, should always be
spaced and without full points: ‘T S Eliot’. ‘TSE’ (= T S Eliot) and similar series of
initials should be close up without full points – see abbreviations. Except in very
formal contexts, omit middle initials from names: write ‘John Smith’, not ‘John X
Smith’.
in order to This is often redundant. (Did Jack and Jill go up the hill in order to
fetch a pail of water?) Prefer ‘to’.
inquire, enquire See enquire, inquire.
interdisciplinary One word.
25
internet, the Lower-case ‘i’. Hence also ‘the net’.
-ise, -ize We prefer the ‘-ise’ spelling in optional cases. The one mysterious
exception, in computing contexts, is ‘visualization’.
italic A style of type, as this. Use italic for the following (among other things):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
titles of published books, except for the Bible, the Koran, and books of the Bible,
which are roman without quotation marks (titles of chapters, articles, short stories
and unpublished theses or MSS are roman in quotation marks)
titles of newspapers and periodicals (but article titles are roman in quotation
marks)
titles of poems long enough to form a separate publication, such as Paradise Lost
(but titles of short poems – for example, as published within collections or
anthologies – are roman in quotation marks)
titles of plays, films, and radio and television programmes
in the field of classical music: titles of major works such as operas, oratorios,
ballets and song cycles given descriptive titles by the composer (but roman in
quotation marks for nicknames given by other people and for the titles of songs,
and roman without quotation marks for definitive titles such as Symphony No 5 in
C minor)
in recorded popular music: titles of albums (but songs are roman in quotation
marks)
titles of paintings, sculptures and other artworks
titles of conferences and exhibitions
names of individual ships and railway engines, apart from such prefixes as ‘HMS’
(write ‘aboard HMS Victory’)
Latin names of genera and species (as Homo sapiens)
mathematical variables
foreign words and phrases, not yet naturalised, in an English sentence (but roman
for proper names, and roman in quotation marks for foreign-language quotations)
– see also accents and foreign words and phrases
names of parties in legal cases (but ‘v’ between them is roman)
emphasis (but use it sparingly)
Note that punctuation within an italicised phrase (such as a book title) should also
be italic, but punctuation following (such as a comma after a book title) should not. In
italic subheadings, however, any terminal punctuation (such as a colon) should be
treated as part of the heading and italicised.
Where a word or phrase that would normally be italic occurs within a passage of
italic type (such as an italic heading or caption), it should instead be set in roman type
(or ‘reverse’ italic).
-ize, -ise See -ise, -ize.
26
job titles Full, formal job titles (such as ‘Emeritus Professor of Mathematics’) should
have capital initials, particularly in references to specific individuals; indefinite or
generic references to jobs or occupations (such as ‘mathematics lecturer’) should not.
journals See periodicals.
judgement Not ‘judgment’.
Lawns, The The definite article always has a capital ‘T’, even in mid sentence (but
write ‘the Lawns Centre’). See University of Hull, The/the.
learned, learnt See -t, -ed.
libraries Use a capital ‘L’ in ‘the Brynmor Jones Library’ and ‘the Keith Donaldson
Library’; but write lower-case ‘library’ or ‘libraries’ in subsequent shortened references
to these, and wherever else the word functions as a common noun – ‘the University’s
two libraries’, ‘the Brynmor Jones is an excellent library’, etc. See also capitals.
like Avoid the low-brow journalistic use of this word – which primarily means
‘similar to’ – as a substitute for ‘such as’. Prefer ‘such as’ – or ‘including’, if that is
what you mean – even in our more informal publications.
lists For our purposes there are two kinds of list: the run-in or embedded kind, which
occurs within an ordinary prose paragraph; and the displayed kind, which is broken
off and sometimes indented.
Embedded lists are relatively straightforward. In the simplest form, component
items – except the last two – are separated by commas: ‘The meeting was attended by
Tom, Dick and Harry.’ If any item within the list includes its own conjunction, a
comma may precede the ‘and’: ‘He had to choose between criminology, gender studies,
and sociology and anthropology.’ (Don’t let anyone tell you that ‘and’ must occur only
once in a list. See bastard enumeration.) If items within the list include their own
internal commas, they may be separated by semicolons: ‘I can’t remember whether
that opinion was expressed by Tom, the chairperson; Dick, the ex-officio member; or
Harry, the secretary.’ Insert a colon before the list only if it is preceded by a
grammatically complete sentence: ‘The meeting was attended by three members: Tom,
Dick and Harry.’
Displayed lists may be bulleted or numbered. (Use numbers – (1), (2), (3), etc –
only if the order is important, or to allow exact cross-reference.) Those which occur
within continuous text fall into three principal categories.
In displayed lists of Type 1, each item in the list comprises one or more complete
sentences.
•
The lead-in text will be a complete sentence terminating in a full stop.
27
•
Each item in the list will begin with a capital initial. In this respect, it will comply
with the normal rules for writing sentences.
Each item, again complying with the normal rules, will terminate in a full stop.
•
•
•
avoid appending an unnecessary colon to the lead-in text
begin each item with a lower-case initial
omit terminal punctuation from each item, including the last
•
Given the layout and the presence of initial bullets, it could be argued that the full stop
which terminates each item is unnecessary; but in an item comprising more than one
sentence (like the second item above), it might seem odd if the final sentence were
punctuated differently from the other(s).
In displayed lists of Type 2, the lead-in text is a part-sentence that is completed by
(each item in) the list. Here, because lists of brief items look very much better –
aesthetically speaking – when uncluttered by end-of-line commas or semicolons, and
because end-of-line stops would serve no useful syntactic purpose anyway, the normal
rules of punctuation are suspended. So, when (each item in) the list completes the
introductory sentence, the writer should
In Type 3 displayed lists, the lead-in text is a grammatically complete sentence,
usually terminating in a dash or a colon; and the list itself, in which each item is just a
noun or a noun-phrase, is grammatically independent. Here, again, there is no need
for end-of-line punctuation, even after the last item, and each item begins with a
lower-case initial. For example:
Scarborough-based students enjoy a variety of seasonal leisure
pursuits:
• surfing
• fishing
• water skiing
• pony or llama trekking
• et cetera
Of course, some other lists are not just grammatically independent but entirely
freestanding, perhaps appearing separately within a box or panel. Having no lead-in
text, they are usually announced by a heading of some kind. If each item in such a list
comprises one or more complete sentences, follow the rules for Type 1. If each item is
less than a complete sentence, perhaps just a noun or a noun-phrase, there should be
no terminal punctuation but each item should have a capital initial. For example:
Leisure options
• Surfing
• Fishing
• Water skiing
• Pony or llama trekking
• Et cetera
28
Finally, perhaps, it should be said that none of the above will help if your list is
badly put together (for example, if some items are sentences and some are not). In
such cases you will need to rework the content or the structure of the list, or both,
before considering how to present it.
See also bullet (centred dot) and colon.
local education authority Lower-case initials, despite the upper-case abbreviation
‘LEA’.
majority In the sense ‘the greater number or part’, this word is strictly used only
with countable nouns and not with mass nouns: write, for example, ‘a majority of the
students’ but not ‘a majority of the work’. When used with countable nouns, it is
followed by a plural verb: for example, ‘The majority of his books were failures.’ In
general, however, ‘most (of)’ is preferable.
Masters (degree) Capital ‘M’; no apostrophe. Compare Bachelors (degree).
measurements In non-technical text, physical quantities should generally be
expressed according to the rules for numbers: ‘two square feet’, ‘20 miles’, ‘240
volts’, ‘nine metres’, ‘300 acres’, etc (but quantities consisting of whole numbers and
fractions should be expressed as numerals: ‘81/2 inches’).
In more technical contexts, where an abbreviated unit of measurement (such as
‘cm’, ‘kg’, ‘ml’) is used, the number should be in the form of numerals: ‘5 cm’, ‘10 kg’,
‘500 ml’, etc. Here, even if plural, do not add ‘s’ to the unit of measurement; and note
that abbreviated units of measurement should be separated by a space from the
preceding number.
media The word ‘media’ comes from the Latin plural of ‘medium’. The traditional
view is that it should therefore be treated as a plural noun in all its senses in English.
In practice, in the sense ‘television, radio and the press collectively’, it behaves as a
collective noun (like ‘staff’ or ‘clergy’, for example), which means that it is acceptable
in standard English for it to take either a singular or a plural verb. But we still take the
view that, in most cases, ‘media’ is best treated as a plural noun. (If necessary, rewrite
to avoid singular verbs.) In any case, note that the countable singular noun should
always be ‘medium’.
medieval Not ‘mediaeval’.
mid Do not hyphenate ‘the mid 1980s’, ‘the mid 19th century’, etc (but write ‘a mid1980s phenomenon’, ‘a mid-19th-century invention’, etc).
money Use numerals in references to money: ‘50p’, ‘£2’, ‘£4.99’, ‘£5,500’, ‘£7
million’ (note that the word ‘million’ is spelt out). If whole pounds appear in the same
29
context as fractional amounts, they should be treated in a similar way: for example,
‘£6.00, £5.25 and £0.25’, not ‘£6, £5.25 and 25p’. Do not use ‘£’ and ‘p’ in the same
expression.
months Do not abbreviate the names of months in running text. Never abbreviate
‘May’, ‘June’ or ‘July’. See also dates.
multidisciplinary One word.
multimedia One word.
net, the Lower-case ‘n’.
nonetheless One word.
number When used as the subject of a quantity, words like ‘number’, ‘percentage’
and ‘proportion’ are singular with a definite article and plural with an indefinite:
The number of tourists is increasing. A proportion of them return
regularly.
While a number of accidents are inevitable, the percentage continues
to fall.
numbers Numbers greater than nine should be expressed in numerals, not words,
with these exceptions:
•
•
•
•
•
numbers at the beginning of a sentence
vague numbers (‘some fifty or sixty students’)
round numbers preceded by the indefinite article (‘I have told you a hundred
times’)
ages expressed as ordinal numbers or decades (‘in his thirty-third year’, ‘between
her teens and twenties’)
time of day with ‘o’clock’ (write ‘ten o’clock’)
millions, billions, etc (see below)
•
percentages (write ‘6%’)
•
Numbers greater than 999 should generally show a comma after the thousands
digit: 3,500; 35,000; etc. Exceptions include page numbers, mathematical workings,
house or hotel-room numbers, and library call or shelf numbers. Four-figure dates –
such as 2005 – have no comma, but those with more – such as 10,000 BC – do have
one.
Numbers less than 10 should be expressed in words, not numerals, with these
exceptions:
30
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
decimals (write ‘3.5’)
quantities combining whole numbers and fractions (‘31/2 inches’)
ages expressed in cardinal numbers (‘6 years old’)
centuries (‘7th century’)
dates (‘5 November’)
references (page, section, chapter numbers, etc)
time of day with ‘am’ or ‘pm’ (write ‘8 pm’)
money (write ‘£5’ or ‘£5.00’)
numbers giving exact measurements or with abbreviated units of measurement (‘7
kg’, ‘15.8 mm’, etc)
Round(ish) numbers greater than 999,999 should be expressed, for example, as
‘six million’, ‘11.5 million’, ‘24 billion’. Note that the number of millions, billions, etc, is
expressed in words or numerals according to the under-10 rule; but always use
numerals for sums of money: for example, ‘£6 million’.
Write ‘the first year’, ‘the second semester’, etc, but ‘Year 1’, ‘Semester 2’, etc.
Use words (or numerals) consistently for parallel quantities within a sentence: say
‘between eight and fifteen’ (or ‘between 8 and 15’), not ‘between eight and 15’.
Where two series of quantities are being discussed, e.g. numbers of wards and
numbers of beds, it may be clearer if words are used for one series of quantities: ‘Ten
wards held 16 beds each, but fifteen others contained as many as 40.’
See also measurements.
number spans We use an unspaced en rule (see dash and typesetting
characters), not a hyphen: ‘12–34’, not ‘12-34’.
In references to pagination etc, use the least number of figures consistent with
spoken English: for example, write ‘7–9’, ‘42–3’, ‘133–56’, etc; but write ‘10–11’ (not
‘10–1’), ‘16–18’ (not ‘16–8’), ‘30–31’ (not ‘30–1’), ‘100–107’ (not ‘100–7’), ‘116–18’ (not
‘116–8’), etc. Note that roman numerals should never be elided.
In dates, years should be elided to a minimum of two digits: write ‘1998–99’ (two
calendar years) or ‘1998/99’ (one academic year), not ‘1998–9’ or ‘1998/9’; but write
‘1999–2000’ or ‘1999/2000’ (not ‘1999–00’ or ‘1999/00’) and ‘2000–2001’ or
‘2000/2001’ (not ‘2000–01’ or ‘2000/01’). See also dates.
When expressing a range in figures, repeat the quantity as necessary to avoid
ambiguity: write ‘two million to five million litres’, not ‘two to five million litres’;
‘10,000–15,000 words’, not ‘10–15,000 words’.
on campus, off campus No hyphen unless used attributively: write, for example,
‘the meeting will be held on campus’, but ‘we attended an on-campus meeting’.
ongoing Prefer ‘current’, ‘continuing’, ‘developing’, or some such.
online One word when referring to computer communications.
31
onto, on to ‘Onto’ is now generally accepted as a word in its own right. ‘On to’ is still
used, however, where ‘on’ is considered to be part of the verb: ‘he moved on to a
different town’ as contrasted with ‘he jumped onto the stage’.
on, upon In general, where there is a choice, prefer ‘on’.
open day Lower-case initials when used as a common noun.
open learning To be hyphenated when used attributively: ‘open-learning provision’.
over ‘More than’ is preferable, if that is what you mean, but ‘over’ is permissible for
the sake of variety.
overseas In general, not to be used to to describe students: instead, write
‘international students’.
paragraphs In general, these should be shorter on web pages than in print. Even for
web readers, however, there is no need to keep them to one sentence (as some
journalistic websites do), and even in print there are very good reasons for keeping
them concise. In any case, and in any context, the paragraphing must reflect the
logical structure of the content and not be arbitrarily imposed.
parentheses These, ( ), should always go in pairs. When enumerating the items in a
list, for example, write ‘the meeting was attended by (1) Tom, (2) Dick and (3) Harry’,
not ‘the meeting was attended by 1) Tom, 2) Dick and 3) Harry’.
Parentheses within parentheses are permissible (there is no need to resort to
brackets, after the American fashion), but try to avoid them.
When it does not occur within another sentence, a complete sentence within
parentheses begins with a capital initial and ends in a full point. Note the distinction
between these two examples (both equally correct):
The discussion continued after dinner (this was inevitable).
The discussion continued after dinner. (This was inevitable.)
In the second example, note particularly that the full point belonging to the
parenthetical sentence precedes the closing parenthesis.
While both parentheses and dashes can enclose full sentences, only parentheses
can comfortably enclose more than one sentence. When contemplating a lengthy
parenthetical digression, however, be sure to consider the limits of the reader’s
patience.
percent One word; but use the symbol % wherever possible.
32
percentages Use numerals (even where the number is under 10) and the % symbol:
write ‘6%’, ‘60%’, etc. At the beginning of a sentence (if the sentence cannot be recast
to avoid it), write ‘Six percent’. Make sure that percentages are distinguished from
actual numbers in tables.
periodicals The titles of magazines, journals, newspapers, etc, should be italicised.
Italicise and capitalise ‘the’ only for one-word titles: write ‘The Times’, ‘The Spectator’
and ‘The Guardian’ but ‘the Daily Mail’, ‘the Radio Times’ and ‘the News of the
World’.
phone/fax numbers These should be expressed and presented consistently. If the
publication is solely for an international readership, make phone and fax numbers
international: +44 1482 346311. If the publication is for a mixed (home and
international) readership, include a parenthetical zero: +44 (0)1482 346311.
Otherwise, 01482 346311 is fine.
If displayed contact details include both a phone and a fax number, put ‘T’ and ‘F’
before them. A phone number on its own is obviously a phone number and does not
need ‘T’.
place names Prefer anglicised forms of foreign place names when they are in
common use: Cologne, Lower Saxony, Naples, Turin, etc. Be consistent: if you write
‘Munich’ rather than ‘München’, for example, write also ‘Florence’ rather than
‘Firenze’. In any case, the names of foreign places should not be italicised (except, of
course, in italic headings, captions, etc). In a very small number of instances, such as
‘The Hague’ or ‘The Gambia’, the definite article always has a capital ‘T’ (but write ‘the
Netherlands’, ‘the Lebanon’, etc). An encyclopedic dictionary such as Collins will be
found very useful for place names.
plurals Some naturalised foreign nouns have optional plural forms. Where the
option does exist, prefer the English to the native termination: for example, prefer
‘cactuses’ to ‘cacti’, ‘formulas’ to ‘formulae’ (except in technical contexts), ‘stadiums’ to
‘stadia’, ‘ultimatums’ to ‘ultimata’.
possessive case The possessive apostrophe always comes before the ‘s’ in singular
and plural nouns not ending in ‘s’, as in ‘the boy’s bicycle’ and ‘the women’s games’. It
comes after the ‘s’ in plural nouns ending in ‘s’, as in ‘the boys’ bicycles’. These rules
are well known.
In singular nouns ending in ‘s’, contrary to a widespread misconception, British
convention dictates there should usually be a further ‘s’ after the apostrophe: write,
for example, ‘an octopus’s garden’, ‘the witness’s statement’, ‘the campus’s facilities’.
This applies to proper names as well as to common nouns: write ‘James’s bicycle’,
‘Dickens’s novels’, ‘Zacharias’s reputation’.
Note, however, that there are some conventional exceptions to the rule, as ‘for
33
goodness’ sake’; and that euphony – or, if you like, ease of pronunciation – sometimes
requires omission of the possessive ‘s’, as in ‘Bridges’ poems’. The ‘s’ is also
conventionally omitted from ancient names (‘Venus’ rites’, ‘Moses’ law’, ‘Jesus’ love’,
etc), but we prefer to apply the usual rules – and the usual euphony test – to these too
(hence ‘Venus’s rites’ and ‘Jesus’s love’ but ‘Moses’ law’).
In French names ending in silent ‘s’ or ‘x’, the apostrophe is always followed by an
‘s’, as in ‘Laclos’s celebrity’ or ‘Le Roux’s obscurity’.
Of course, the possessive pronouns ‘hers’, ‘ours’, ‘theirs’, ‘yours’ and ‘its’ (as
distinct from ‘it’s’ = ‘it is’ or ‘it has’) never have an apostrophe.
postgraduate One word.
preposition ending a sentence Very common in speech (‘What is it for?’; ‘This
was the only edition I could lay my hands on’; ‘His is a name to conjure with’; etc),
and therefore equally common in colloquial writing. Even in the most formal writing,
there can be no hard-and-fast rules. In English, a prepositional ending is often the
most natural ending. As Fowler pointed out a long time ago:
The fact is that the remarkable freedom enjoyed by English in putting
its prepositions late and omitting its relatives is an important element
in the flexibility of the language … Those who lay down the universal
principle that final prepositions are ‘inelegant’ are unconsciously
trying to deprive the English language of a valuable idiomatic
resource, which has been used freely by all our greatest writers except
those whose instinct for English idiom has been overpowered by
notions of correctness derived from Latin standards.
As with split infinitives, a doctrinaire avoidance of prepositional endings can result in
ugly and unnatural – in other words, un-English – sentences. Winston Churchill
famously ridiculed this tendency when an editor rearranged one of his sentences so
that it would not end with a preposition: ‘This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with
which I will not put,’ objected the great man. Keep prepositional endings to a
minimum if you like, but – as with split infinitives – never avoid them by resorting to
something worse. Or, as Fowler puts it:
Follow no arbitrary rule, but remember that there are often two or
more possible arrangements between which a choice should be
consciously made. If the final preposition that has naturally presented
itself sounds comfortable, keep it; if it does not sound comfortable,
still keep it if it has compensating vigour, or when among awkward
possibilities it is the least awkward.
preventive Preferable to ‘preventative’.
34
prima facie If possible, avoid using this legal phrase in non-legal contexts.
Alternative adverbs include ‘at first sight’, ‘apparently’ and ‘on the face of it’.
prior to Prefer ‘before’.
problem solving No hyphen except when used as an attributive adjective: ‘Problem
solving can be learned only when an individual recognises the value of problemsolving skills.’
program, programme Use ‘programme’ except in computing contexts. See also
course.
proportion ‘Proportion’ as a noun means ‘comparative share or part’; it should not
be used as a mere synonym for ‘part’.
proprietary names See trademarks.
pro-vice-chancellor Two hyphens. See also job titles.
punctuation Ours should generally be as spare and simple as clarity permits. Some
specific rules and preferences are dealt with under other headings in this guide.
quantities See measurements.
quotation marks These should be genuine ‘curly quotes’ (inverted commas and
apostrophes), not ‘feet and inches’ (see typesetting characters). They should be
single, not double, except for quotations within quotations.
Where quoted matter is longer than one paragraph, use quotation marks at the
beginning of each paragraph but only at the end of the last paragraph. (Note, however,
that long quotations may be distinguished by other means – see quotations.)
Use quotation marks (rather than italic) to distinguish titles of chapters, articles,
literary works not forming separate publications (as short stories and short poems),
unpublished theses and MSS, lectures, songs, individual episodes of radio and TV
programmes, etc. Titles of academic programmes and modules are roman without
quotation marks.
Note that an apostrophe (identical to a closing quotation mark), not a turned
comma (opening quotation mark), is required in ‘class of ’76’.
Finally, the placing of quotation marks relative to syntactic punctuation. This can
be an intricate question, but in British practice the bottom line is this: all signs of
punctuation used with words in quotation marks should be placed according to the
sense. When the punctuation mark is not part of the quoted material, as in the case of
single words and phrases, place it outside the closing quotation mark:
35
I am told they were called ‘the Hull mafia’.
Why does he use the word ‘pedantic’?
When the quoted matter is a complete sentence or question, its terminal punctuation
may be included within the closing quotation mark:
Tom said, ‘A university without academic freedom is pointless.’
‘What is the use of a university’, thought Tom, ‘without academic
freedom?’
Or, if your own sentence requires a different stop, the quotation’s terminal
punctuation may be omitted:
Alas, how few of them can say, ‘I believe in the disinterested pursuit of
truth’!
In cases like this, where the end of the quoted sentence coincides with the end of the
main sentence, the general rule is to avoid doubled punctuation. When the
requirements of the quotation and the main sentence differ, use the more important
mark. In the last example, the quotation’s full stop gives way to the main sentence’s
exclamation mark and is omitted. Things would be different if the quoted sentence
were itself an exclamation:
I cried aloud, ‘I believe in the disinterested pursuit of truth!’
Here, the exclamation mark within the quotation mark obviates the need for a full
stop outside it. Similarly, a question mark is never followed or preceded by a full stop:
She was heard to mutter, ‘Do you really?’
Did Tom really say, ‘I believe in the disinterested pursuit of truth’?
However: when the terminal punctuation of the quoted material and that of the main
sentence serve different functions of equal strength or importance, it is regrettably
necessary to use both:
She had the nerve to ask, ‘Do you really?’!
Did he really shout, ‘I believe!’?
So much for end-of-sentence punctuation. In some ways mid-sentence punctuation
presents even more difficulties, but the same rule of thumb applies: if a punctuation
mark belongs to the quotation, place it within the quotation marks; if it does not, place
it outside them. Let us take these two utterances as examples:
Go home to your father.
Go home, and never come back.
These might be reported as follows:
36
‘Go home’, he said, ‘to your father.’
‘Go home,’ he said, ‘and never come back.’
The full stop we have already dealt with; it is the comma that interests us here. In the
first example the comma belongs to the main sentence, not the quoted sentence, so it
is placed outside the quotation marks. In the second the comma belongs to the
reported speech, so it is placed within the quotation marks. Simple enough, perhaps,
but complications arise when the reported speech comprises more than one sentence.
Take the following utterance:
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
There are three ways of rendering this:
Sam said, ‘I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.’
‘I hate quotations. Tell me what you know,’ said Sam.
‘I hate quotations,’ said Sam. ‘Tell me what you know.’
To the second and third of these it might be objected that the comma does not appear
in the original utterance and so should not be placed within the quotation marks. But
this is really a case of bending rather than breaking the rule of thumb. In neither
instance is it practical to include the original full stop, but in each instance the pause
represented by the full stop can be included in the form of a comma. The same kind of
strategy can be applied to a single sentence that hinges on a semicolon. Take this
utterance:
It cannot be done; we must give up the task.
The sentence might be reported in this way:
‘It cannot be done,’ he said; ‘we must give up the task.’
Note that the comma after ‘done’ is placed within the quotation marks because the
quotation has a natural pause at this point, but the semicolon has to be placed after
‘said’ and hence outside the quotation marks. Such pragmatic adaptations of quoted
matter may perhaps not satisfy the logician or the textual scholar, but they should not
cause any problems for the ordinary reader. Indeed the aim, as always, is to assist and
facilitate comprehension.
quotations In general, do not tinker with the wording, punctuation or style of
verbatim quotations. (Omissions may be indicated by ellipsis. Necessary
emendations or interpolations may be inserted within brackets.)
‘He says’ and such like should be set off by commas from the quoted text:
‘The lessons of the past’, said the Vice-Chancellor, ‘must be taken on
board.’
37
Extracts of more than a couple of lines in length should be displayed – that is,
broken off and indented, with space above and below. Displayed quotations generally
do not need quotation marks.
See also quotation marks.
R&D No space before or after the ampersand.
ratios A numerical ratio may be expressed by means of an unspaced colon: ‘a 2:1
ratio’. Ratios may also be expressed by means of an unspaced en rule (see dash and
typesetting characters): ‘the input–output ratio’.
register For our purposes, this can be defined as the level of formality or informality
of a piece of writing. It is an important consideration for writers and editors alike, who
must always be sensitive to the social dimension of style – and choose the right
language for the occasion. (If you say ‘shit’ when the occasion requires ‘excrement’ or
‘faeces’, you will be in trouble – even though the words are synonymous.) See the
general introduction, under ‘About the Style Guide’.
research council These words should have lower-case initials unless they occur
within the full title of a specific body (such as PPARC).
schools See departments.
seasons These are lower-case (‘spring’, ‘summer’, etc) except, for example, when
citing an issue of a publication (‘the Autumn 2000 issue’).
self- Hyphenate compounds: ‘self-esteem’, ‘self-taught’, ‘self-correcting’, etc.
semester A common noun which should generally have a lower-case initial, as in
‘the first semester’ and ‘the second semester’; but write ‘Semester 1’ and ‘Semester 2’
(upper-case ‘S’).
semicolon The semicolon separates two or more clauses, of more or less equal
importance, which could stand independently as sentences but which are closely
related in sense: ‘Tom arrived punctually at 9.30; Dick turned up at 9.45; Harry was
40 minutes late.’ It is particularly appropriate where the desired effect is one of
balance or antithesis: ‘Tom proposed the scheme; Dick opposed it.’
Where three or more clauses are combined into one sentence and the last two are
linked by a conjunction, it is often OK to insert mere commas between the parts: ‘Tom
proposed the scheme, Dick opposed it, and Harry sat on the fence.’ However, where
the combined clauses are long or complex or both, and particularly where they include
their own internal punctuation, the semicolon is usually called for: ‘Tom, always
radical, proposed the scheme; Dick, always conservative, opposed it; and Harry,
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neither radical nor conservative, sat on the fence.’ With commas instead of colons, the
structure of this sentence would be much less clear.
Semicolons may also be used to separate the items in a list where commas will not
do the job clearly – again, for example, where those items are already punctuated
internally: ‘I can’t remember whether that opinion was expressed by Tom, the
chairperson; Dick, the ex-officio member; or Harry, the secretary.’ See also lists.
serial comma See comma.
s/he To be avoided. See he/she, him/her, his/her.
sic See brackets.
slash See solidus.
social sciences, the Lower-case initials.
solidus (slash) This is not a real punctuation mark, and it should not be used as
such in serious writing (as distinct from text in note form) – compare and/or. People
often employ it where an en rule would be better – see dash. The solidus does,
however, have some acceptable uses, including the following.
It forms part of certain abbreviations, such as ‘A/C’ (account), ‘c/o’ (care of), ‘N/A’
(not applicable) and ‘24/7’ (24 hours a day, seven days a week).
To avoid typesetting difficulties in non-technical work, a complex in-text fraction
may be set in font-size numerals with a solidus between – the so-called ‘shilling
fraction’ – such as 99/100.
The solidus replaces the en rule for a period of one year reckoned in a format
other than the standard calendar year: ‘the academic year 2005/06’ (see also dates).
spacing Do not double-space after punctuation, including full stops. This is a
hangover from typewriter days and it looks wrong where proportionally spaced type is
used.
spelling Follow British rather than American conventions. If in doubt consult a
recent edition of a good dictionary published in this country, such as Collins English
Dictionary or the Concise Oxford Dictionary, and adopt the first spelling given –
except in the case of ‘-ise’/‘-ize’ variants (we prefer ‘-ise’) and unless otherwise
specified in this guide.
spin-off, spin-out Hyphen.
split infinitives ‘The traditional rule against placing an adverb between to and its
verb is gradually disappearing. Although it is true that a split infinitive may result in a
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clumsy sentence (he decided to firmly and definitively deal with the problem), this is
not enough to justify the absolute condemnation that this practice has attracted.
Indeed, very often the most natural position of the adverb is between to and the verb
(he decided to really try next time) and to change it would result in an artificial and
awkward construction (he decided really to try next time). The current view is
therefore that the split infinitive is not a grammatical error. Nevertheless, many
writers prefer to avoid splitting infinitives in formal written English, since readers
with a more traditional point of view are likely to interpret this type of construction as
incorrect’ (Collins English Dictionary, 9th edn). As a ‘traditional’ university, of course,
we might be expected (by some readers) to be an exemplar of ‘good English’ in the
‘traditional’ sense, and any offence against the ‘rules’ will (for those readers) tend to
obstruct communication. On pragmatic rather than grammatical grounds, then, it
seems best to avoid the split infinitive, but not if the only way of doing this is to
substitute something worse.
staff This word (like many other collective nouns) may be grammatically singular or
plural according to the context: ‘the staff comprises both men and women’, for
example, but ‘the staff disagree among themselves’.
staff–student (committee) En rule (see dash and typesetting characters), not
hyphen or solidus.
students’ union Always lower-case initials, even when referring to Hull University
Union (as it calls itself); always an apostrophe.
study-bedroom Hyphen.
subheadings See headings.
tables A big and complex subject that cannot be dealt with here. Ritter offers expert
guidance in the Oxford Guide to Style.
teamwork One word.
-t, -ed There are some English verbs whose past tense and participle can take either
the ‘-t’ form or the ‘-ed’ form. Typical of these are ‘burn’, ‘dream’, ‘lean’, ‘learn’, ‘smell’,
‘spell’, ‘spill’ and ‘spoil’. The choice between ‘learnt’ and ‘learned’ is the one that we are
likely to encounter most frequently. With ‘learn’ as with the other verbs, however,
neither form is incorrect or improper, and there are no good grounds for preferring
the one or the other (though The Oxford Guide to English Usage finds the ‘-t’ form to
be ‘usual in Received Pronunciation’). The writer or editor should therefore merely
ensure that the verb consistently takes the one form or the other within a particular
document.
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tel Better to say ‘call 01482 346311’ than ‘tel 01482 346311’. In displayed contact
details, the abbreviation to use is ‘T’ – but see phone/fax numbers.
telephone numbers See phone/fax numbers.
that (subordinating conjunction) Given a choice between ‘I believe he will come’
and ‘I believe that he will come’ (for example), we should almost always prefer the
latter. There are many occasions, to be sure, when ‘that’ could be omitted without
inconveniencing the reader, and it might be argued that omitting it would be natural
and appropriate in less formal writing. Such, no doubt, is the rationale underlying the
low-brow journalistic habit of omitting it consistently. But there are so many other
occasions when the subordinator is absolutely necessary, to avoid confusing or
misleading the reader, that the tabloid journalist’s approach is untenable. Instead, we
should make a habit of using ‘that’ consistently. Given that the word is so often
indispensable, this is the only way of ensuring an even register. It may sometimes be
necessary to break the rule for the sake of elegance, as when the word ‘that’ occurs too
frequently in a complex sentence, but it is no diminution of a rule’s validity to say that
the writer or editor should apply it judiciously.
that, which (relative pronoun) ‘Which’, not ‘that’, is always used in nonrestrictive
relative clauses: ‘The book, which lay on his desk, looked unappealing.’ (Here, the
‘which ...’ clause does not define – does not limit or restrict the sense of – ‘book’, and
is therefore incidental to the main statement.) This is not to say, however, that ‘that’ is
always used in restrictive relative clauses. In fact, contrary to a widespread
misconception, either ‘that’ or ‘which’ is permissible: ‘The book that/which lay on his
desk looked unappealing.’ (Here, the ‘that/which ...’ clause defines – limits or restricts
the sense of – ‘book’, and is therefore essential to the main statement.) So, clearly, the
distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive actually depends, in many cases, on
the proper use of the comma.
Thus … Prefer ‘So ...’.
till, until In less formal contexts, ‘till’ is a perfectly acceptable alternative to ‘until’.
Do not write ‘’til’.
time of day Use numerals in ‘8 am’, ‘11.30 pm’, etc; spell out the hour in ‘eight
o’clock’, ‘half past eleven’, etc. Never mix the two conventions: do not write, for
example, ‘7 o’clock’, ‘seven pm’, or – even worse – ‘7 o’clock pm’. Never use ‘am’ with
‘morning’ or ‘pm’ with ‘evening’ (that is, do not write ‘9 am in the morning’ or ‘7 pm in
the evening’), and never use the forms ‘12 am’ and ‘12 pm’ (for noon and midnight).
When exactitude is important, use numerals with ‘am’ and ‘pm’. Note that ‘am’
and ‘pm’ are lower-case without points, that a full stop separates hours from minutes
and that a space precedes ‘am’ or ‘pm’: ‘The seminar meets on Wednesdays at 9.30
41
am.’ Note also that ‘8 am’ need not include minutes (as ‘8.00 am’), though you may
include them if this looks more consistent in a particular context.
In running text use ‘to’ between times: ‘The seminar runs from 9.30 am to 1 pm.’
Elsewhere – for example, in lists or formal timetables – an unspaced en rule (see
dash and typesetting characters) can be used between days and times:
‘Monday–Wednesday, 9–11 am’, ‘Thur–Fri, 2–4 pm’. Note, however, that ‘11 am –
5.30 pm’ requires a spaced en rule, so that ‘am’ and ‘5.30’ are not illogically yoked
together.
titles of people Except in very formal contexts, try to avoid the courtesy titles ‘Mr’,
‘Mrs’, ‘Miss’, ‘Ms’ and ‘Dr’. (Where they are used, be consistent: if Dr John Smith is
given a title, Mr Joe Bloggs should have one too.) Also avoid using job titles as if they
were personal titles, as in ‘Vice-Chancellor Drewry’ (which is awfully reminiscent of
‘Postman Pat’). See also job titles.
titles of publications etc When cited in text, these are treated in various ways. For
the conventional uses of italic (as distinct from roman) type, and of quotation marks,
see italic and quotation marks.
In references to the titles of programmes, modules, publications, etc, where the
style is upper- and lower-case, give a capital initial only to the first word, the last
word, and any important words in between (capitalise all nouns, pronouns, adjectives,
verbs and adverbs, but generally not articles, conjunctions or prepositions such as
‘the’, ‘but’ and ‘to’). Where a hyphenated compound appears in the title, you should
capitalise as if each element were a separate word (write ‘Promoting Cross-Cultural
Research’, ‘An End-of-Year Symposium’, etc) unless one element is a prefix or
combining form such as ‘co-’, ‘pre-’, ‘neo-’, etc (write ‘Co-ownership of Property’, ‘Neoconservatism in the USA’, etc).
Note that these rules apply in all cases, regardless of the style of the title as it
appears on the cover, title page or front page of the cited publication. Do not, for
example, cite Insight as insight just because the designer of that publication happened
to opt for an all-lower-case masthead. That way madness lies. (Why not dispense with
the italic as well as the capital initial, since the designer chose roman type? Why not
set it in exactly the same font?) Remember that the editorial point of style, in this
context, is to distinguish the title as a title, and that any such deviation from the rules
is likely to defeat the object.
‘The’, if it starts the title of a non-periodical work, should be included in the
reference when it is your intention to cite the exact title:
The Origin of Species
The Boke of the Lyon
However, when the work is cited less formally (perhaps because it has already been
mentioned), or when the full title would not mesh grammatically with the main
42
sentence, the definite article may be excluded:
Darwin’s Origin of Species
the lost Boke of the Lyon
See also periodicals.
towards Not ‘toward’ (the US preference).
trademarks Some trade names are now used as common nouns, but proprietors
insist on a capital for their product: for example, Xerox, Kleenex, Thermos. Common
proprietary names are identified in dictionaries, and it may be better to substitute
another term: for example, ‘photocopy’ for Xerox, ‘(paper) tissue’ for Kleenex, ‘vacuum
flask’ for Thermos. Watch out for proprietary names of drugs. It is not necessary to
put any of these names in quotation marks.
typesetting characters Certain typesetting characters such as genuine apostrophes
and quotation marks (as distinct from ‘feet and inches’), the dash or en rule (as
distinct from the hyphen), the one-piece ellipsis, etc, may not be visible on your
keyboard; but they are included in the University’s ‘corporate’ fonts and will therefore
almost certainly be available to you, sometimes through special key combinations.
(Take advice if you can’t find them.) Unfortunately, however, they may not survive
conversion between different systems. If you are submitting copy for inclusion in
centrally prepared publications, we will therefore check this aspect of your text and
make any necessary substitutions.
UCAS This is a kind of acronym, in that it is pronounced as a word (‘yew-cass’), so it
does not require the definite article. Where the indefinite article precedes it, use ‘a’, as
in ‘a UCAS initiative’.
undergraduate One word.
university This is a common noun. It should have a capital ‘U’ only when it is part
of, or functions as shorthand for, a proper name such as ‘University of Hull’. To
determine whether you are dealing with the common noun (lower-case initial) or with
the shortened proper noun (upper-case initial), try mentally substituting ‘University of
Hull’ (or whatever) for ‘university’: if this produces nonsense, you are dealing with the
common noun and the lower-case ‘u’ is appropriate. For example: in ‘the University
has a mission’, where ‘University’ = University of Hull, the word will have a capital
initial; in ‘Hull is a mission-led university’, on the other hand, where the substitution
of ‘University of Hull’ for ‘university’ would make nonsense, it is clear that the word is
functioning as a common noun and should not have a capital ‘U’. This limited use of
the upper-case initial for ‘University’ makes it the sole exception to the important
43
general rule that the common-noun element of a compound proper noun reverts to
lower-case when used on its own – see capitals.
University of Hull, The/the Include ‘The’, with a capital ‘T’, in the full, formal title
(such as it appears in legal documents, for example); but in ordinary prose use a
lower-case ‘t’ when ‘the University of Hull’ occurs in mid sentence. Only in one-word
names of institutions, companies, pubs, etc – such as ‘The Lawns’, ‘The Deep’ or ‘The
Hase’ – does the definite article keep its capital ‘T’ even in mid sentence. (Whether
musical ensembles such as the Beatles or the Buzzcocks should be similarly honoured
with a capital ‘T’ is another question, but we think that it looks a little too pompous for
that context.) In ‘the University of Hull’ and comparable instances (‘the British
Psychological Society’, ‘the Old Grey Mare’, etc), the article is treated grammatically as
part of the main sentence and the ‘t’ is lower-case.
Note that we are ‘University of Hull’ (without the article) in addresses, as we are in
the corporate logo.
upon See on, upon.
URLs There is no need to include ‘http://’ in web locations; but if the site requires
another protocol, use the appropriate tag. Domain names in URLs should be lowercase; pathnames, which follow the first slash, are case-sensitive, so follow the style
dictated by the site.
If the URL ends a sentence, it must be followed by a full stop.We cannot suspend
the most basic rules of punctuation just because a few technologically challenged
readers might be confused by the extra ‘dot’.
Try not to break URLs over two lines. Taking a whole URL over to the next line
can sometimes leave a very short line, but this may be a lesser evil than breaking the
address. Where typographic considerations absolutely require that the address be
broken, however, try to break it after a slash.
via Sometimes useful, like many Latinisms, but prefer native alternatives (‘through’,
‘by way of’, ‘by means of’, etc).
vice-chancellor Hyphen. See also job titles.
visualization Spelled with a ‘z’, not an ‘s’, in computing contexts. Our one
mysterious exception to the ‘-ise’ rule, insisted on by the computer scientists.
viva (voce) Not italic. Prefer ‘oral (examination)’ anyway.
web, the Lower-case ‘w’.
website One word (but write ‘web page’).
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which, that See that, which (relative pronoun).
while Preferable to ‘whilst’.
WISE Stands for ‘Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation’.
The lower-case ‘s’ in ‘study’ breaks the most basic rules of capitalisation and looks like
an error, but in this case it has been decided that the name must be made to fit the
acronym and not vice versa.
worldwide One word.
World Wide Web Three words; three capital initials. But write ‘the web’ (lowercase).
WWW Capitals. But ‘the web’ (two syllables), or even ‘the World Wide Web’ (four
syllables), is preferable to ‘the WWW’ (ten syllables).
years Write ‘first year’, ‘second year’, etc (lower-case), but ‘Year 1’, ‘Year 2’, etc
(upper-case). Write ‘a first-year student’ (hyphen), but ‘a Year 1 student’ (no hyphen).
See also first-year, second-year, third-year, etc.
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